Arguments Against Imperialism
Source: The Benefit of Interest Groups
Critics of imperialism accused it of benefiting certain social groups almost exclusively. They believed that the colonies were not necessary for national development and were undesirable. They argued that imperialism was an instrument of the oligarchs and served the needs of financial capitalism.
Others argued that imperialism was an essential stage in the evolution of global capitalism. Colonies were necessary for capitalist development and, therefore, were not desirable for a future triumph of socialism.
The Causes Contributing to Imperialism
- European economic expansion.
- Expeditions were mostly carried out by adventurers, explorers, or missionaries.
- The military and technological superiority of the colonizers and scientific progress. In the nineteenth century, the superiority of the land and naval armament of European hosts was decisive in subjugating extensive territories like India and Africa.
- Advances in medicine (chemical use) allowed white settlers to live in tropical areas where diseases such as cholera, typhoid, and malaria were almost endemic.
- Rivalries between the powers and the hostility of the native population. Apparently, territories without much economic interest were occupied or converted into colonies only to protect existing ones.
Source: Imperialism and Theory
Towards the end of the nineteenth century, a new term emerged in politics: imperialism. It referred to the formation of major overseas empires by the great European powers in the nineteenth century in Asia, Africa, and Oceania.
Throughout the nineteenth century, the formation of new territorial empires that replaced the old was increasingly striking. This trend increased between 1880 and 1914, during which the European powers divided Africa, Oceania, and exerted influence on China. In addition, during these years, territorial colonial countries without any colonial tradition emerged, like Germany, Italy, Belgium, the USA, and Japan.
This phenomenon, despite having emerged at a time of triumph for the ideas of political and economic liberalism in Europe, refused to allow non-European colonies to participate in political and economic freedom.
Main Argument: The National Interest of the Powers
Supporters of imperialism said that colonial expansion would benefit the nation as a whole. Colonies were necessary for the development of the nation and, at the same time, desirable because they helped to improve the living conditions of the inhabitants of the metropolis.
The White Man’s Civilizing Mission
Western civilization had a mission “to meet” by offering the benefits of Western civilization to backward peoples, considered wild, to convert them to the true religion (Christianity), or to bring them under the protection of a nation or master race (the white).
According to these theories, the colonies may not have been absolutely necessary for national development, but they were desirable for the best fulfillment of the West’s civilizing mission.