Reordering the World: Essays on Liberalism and Empire

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A leading scholar of British political thought explores the relationship between liberalism and empire Reordering the World is a penetrating account of the complexity and contradictions found in liberal visions of empire. Focusing mainly on nineteenth-century Britain-at the time the largest empire in history and a key incubator of liberal political thought-Duncan Bell sheds new light on some of the most important themes in modern imperial ideology. The book ranges widely across Victorian intellectual life and beyond. The opening essays explore the nature of liberalism, varieties of imperial ideology, the uses and abuses of ancient history, the imaginative functions of the monarchy, and fantasies of Anglo-Saxon global domination. They are followed by illuminating studies of prominent thinkers, including J. A. Hobson, L. T. Hobhouse, John Stuart Mill, Henry Sidgwick, Herbert Spencer, and J. R. Seeley. While insisting that liberal attitudes to empire were multiple and varied, Bell emphasizes the liberal fascination with settler colonialism. It was in the settler empire that many liberal imperialists found the place of their political dreams. Reordering the World is a significant contribution to the history of modern political thought and political theory.

Reviews

"Runner-Up for the 2018 Francisco Guiccardini Prize for Best Book in Historical International Relations, International Studies Association"
"One of Foreign Affairs' Best Books"
"Bell's masterful study represents one of the best efforts yet to untangle the many ideological and political knots that bind liberalism and imperialism."---G. John Ikenberry, Foreign Affairs
"In what is a preeminent study of the social and political construction of the world, Bell goes way beyond the typical discussions by demonstrating the shifting definitions of empire and the political ramifications of conquest. In a detailed historical and political analysis of colonial interventions in human history, he meticulously unpicks' the connections that lie at the heart of both imperialism and human freedom. It is indeed a brilliant amalgam of history and politics, thought-provoking and relevant at a juncture when the nation and its concept are subjects of passionate, wide-reaching debate and of profound interest to sociologists and postcolonial theorists."---Shelley Walia, Frontline
"In this collection of articles and essays, Bell achieves an impressive synthesis of liberal political thought and British ideologies of empire." * Choice *
"Reordering the World collects together some of Duncan Bell's most notable writings of the past 10 years, focusing in particular on British imperial thought in the Victorian era. . . . It is a mark of the quality of Bells scholarship, and the integration of his thought, that their assembly here works as well--indeed, better--than many freestanding monographs."---Paul Sagar, Political Studies Review
"Subtle, well-documented, and fine-grained, but still extraordinarily wide-ranging study of liberal imperialism in all its many shades."---Joshua Simon, The Review of Politics
"The conceptual grasp is exceptionally broad, the range of texts and problems addressed similarly imposing, and the command of literature from across several disciplines hugely impressive. Bell is a compelling writer on political argument, and every pen-portrait of a thinker and every anatomy of a doctrine is beautifully turned and superbly supported."---Alex Middleton, English Historical Review
"This volume will no doubt become a classic, to be read alongside Bells justly acclaimed first book, The Idea of Greater Britain: Empire and the Future of World Order, 18601900 (Princeton). With their compelling turn of the focus of attention toward reflection and debates on the settler colonies, these monographs dramatically change the way political thought on empire is understood and evaluated."---Georgios Varouxakis, Victorian Studies
"This book provides a wealth of historical material."---Paul Patton, The European Legacy

Author Bio

Duncan Bell is Reader in Political Thought and International Relations at the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of Christ's College. His books include The Idea of Greater Britain: Empire and the Future of World Order, 18601900 (Princeton).