Understanding Modern Imperialism

Phillip Curtin defines colonialism as a “domination of people of another culture.” (Osterhammel, 15). Osterhammel uses Curtin’s formula as a foundation in order to create a definition for modern colonialism. Osterhammel underscores that modern colonialism’s uniqueness and innovation in that “the fundamental decisions affecting the lives of the colonized people are made and implemented by the colonial rulers in pursuit of interests that are often defined in a distant metropolis.” (Osterhammel, 16) Modern colonialism has made it possible for governments to exist and make rulings outside of the colonized land. The leaders or rulers are unwilling to make “cultural compromises” with the subjugated population, inducing a feeling of superiority in the colonizers. The feeling of authority and dominance over the occupied population creates an “ethnocentric arrogance” (Osterhammel, 17) and a perception of an “ordained mandate to rule.” (Osterhammel, 17)

Osterhammel defines Imperialism as “the concept that comprises all forces and activities contributing to the construction and the maintenance of transcolonial empires”(Osterhammel, 21). Imperialism assumes that a country is willing and able to put its own interests first and enforce them on an international scale. Therefore imperialism not only deals with colonial politics, but also international politics, in which colonies become “pawns in global power games.” (Osterhammel, 21) The colonies would becoming bargaining chips to be used in deals between the most powerful countries of the time. Imperialism, unlike colonialism, allows for the international, worldwide protection of an empire’s interests as well as “capitalist penetration of large economic areas.” (Ostenhammer, 22) Avid colonialism seems to be a symptom of imperialism.

Ancient colonizers employed military force and violence in order to take over other territories, nations, or countries. (I.e. Gengkis Khan, Alexander the Great, Cyrus of Persia) These ruthless conquerors were set out to acquire as many territories as possible, seeking control and power. Pre-modern empires would annex newly conquered regions to existing governments. Modern colonization, however, has had a pattern of selecting separate authorities to serve in the metropolis to oversee the government on the periphery territories. This was largely due to the fact that most modern colonization was focused on economic gain rather than controlling land and acquiring citizens. Modern colonization was fixated on the formation of trading centers, inducing the notion of free trade. Unlike early colonization, which spurred competition and war among nations, modern colonization fostered business alliances between nations. Although competition naturally existed in the modern world, it was fueled by economic gain. For example, the expansion into the Caribbean islands by European countries like the Netherlands, France, and England was obviously embedded in a quest of power, but was chiefly driven by desire to imitate Spanish economic success in the sugar industry. Modern imperialism and colonialism was a business affair rather than a scare tactic. Unlike the “anarchic plundering” of early colonization, modern colonization induced “regular administration and systematic economic exploitation.” (Osterhammel, 25) All in all, the history of colonialism is “the history of state structures and societal forms and their geographic expansion or contraction within nominally claimed regions.”

Working Definitions

Colonialism: a system and relationship of authority between indigenous people and their foreign invaders

Imperialism: the system of creating a transcolonial empire to protect and enforce a nation’s political and economic interests

Colony: a political organization consisting of a group people in a region under the control of another nation or country

Empire: a collection of regions or colonies under the control of a single nation or country

Colonialist Ideology: establishment of a feeling of superiority, dominance, righteousness to rule in the colonizers over the colonized

Questions for Further Inquiry

1. How did the process of modern colonization affect international politics and how does it continue to inform modern international policies and laws?
2. What kind of effect does imperialism have on modern global economy?

About the Image

Title: Empire Marketing Board 1927-1933 poster, A Contract For India

I chose this image because it captures the spirit of Modern Imperialism (as well as colonialism). The poster was designed to market Indian goods to people living in the UK at the time that India was colonized by the British Empire, from 1858 until 1947. The British were economically prospering from trade with India. Additionally, India was very far away from Great Britain, one of the facets of modern colonialism.