Imperialism in Decline? Tendencies in British Imperial policy between the wars
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 8958878 |
|---|---|
| Authors | John Darwin (University of Reading, corresponding author) |
| Year | 1980 |
| Volume | 23 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 657-679 |
| Publication date | 1980-09-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The Historical Journal (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0018-246X • E-ISSN: 1469-5103 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/s0018246x00024936 |
| OpenAlex | W2122439072 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 52 |
| References cited | 45 |
The inter-war years are a nomansland in the history of British decolonization. Conventional as it is to see the first World War as a great watershed in British imperial history, separating the era of strength and success from the age of decline and dissolution, it remains difficult to show conclusively that the disintegration of the imperial system had become inevitable before the second World War. Yet historians have felt instinctively that after 1918 much of the crude self-confidence had drained out of British imperialism. The age when Curzon could proclaim heroically that ‘efficiency of administration is in my view a synonym for the contentment of the governed’; when Cromer could lecture the khedive of Egypt like a schoolboy; or when Milner could set out to demolish everything that preserved a separate identity to the Afrikaners, appears in striking contrast to the post-war era when statesmen spoke the language of trusts and mandates, genuflected before the image of self-determination and claimed that self-government was the ultimate purpose of colonial rule. But for all the piety of its new principles, post-war imperial policy seemed strangely reluctant to liberate Britain's dependencies or hold out firm promises of independence; and the imperial government periodically repressed its recalcitrant subjects with a vigour and efficiency that would have impressed Lord Kitchener
Ancient history · Archaeology · Colonialism · Contentment · Decolonization · Economic history · Empire · Government (linguistics · Imperial unit system · Independence (probability theory · Political science · Politics · Synonym (taxonomy · Australian History and Society · History · Law · Philosophy · Psychology
British policy and unequal development in rural Tanganyika, 1920–1961
Aspects of economic history
British West Africa and Liberia
Portuguese Africa
Islam
Belgian Africa
Aspects of economic history
The Maghrib
East Africa
British Central Africa
African cross-currents
Island Colony and the Penal Settlement
French black Africa
Ideologies of the Raj
The Cambridge History of Africa
THe Fear of Falling
Provincial autonomy, decolonization, war and nationalism
The Queen’s Dolls’ House within the British Empire Exhibition
The Thin Edge of the Wedge’
The Bhangi and the Chamar should be Called to the Councils of Empire’
A Damnable Blaze”
The imperialism of decolonization
Spectres of Pan-Islam
Gentlemanly capitalism’ and empire
Unfinished Decolonisation and Globalisation
The contraction of England
Diplomacy and decolonization
Democratisation and the British Empire
Anglo‐Canadian relations, the empire marketing board and Canadian national autonomy between the wars
Transfer of power in India
Imperial Legacies and Internationalist Discourses
The Commonwealth and the Oath of Allegiance Crisis
The Politics of Empire
Prisms of Work
The Costs and Benefits for Europeans from their Empires Overseas
The transfer of power
The Montagu‐Chelmsford reforms (1919)
The Construction of Racial Difference in Twentieth-Century Britain
The captive dominion
Imperialism, air transport and colonial development
The Burden of Imperial Defence and the Continental Commitment Reconsidered
The British Way in Warfare Revisited
Great Power Rivalry in the Middle East
The Assassination Culture of Imperial Britain, 1909–1979
The Impact of Henry Parker-Willis and the Federal Reserve on the Institutional Design of the Irish Currency Act 1927
British Empire in metals’
A Remarkable Gathering”
Antisystemic Movement Analysis
Gentlemanly Imperialism at Work
Sterling, the'minor'territories, and the end of formal empire, 1939-19581
The Problem of Government Finance in British India
Gentlemanly capitalism and British expansion overseas II
Migration and economic growth
The formation of the Soviet Union
Politics in Congo
The Emergence of Provincial Politics
The Agrarian History of England and Wales
Afrikaner Politics in South Africa, 1934–1948
A note on the Irwin declaration
Conservatism and Indian reform (1929–39)
A self‐evident national duty’
In search of common causes
The Commonwealth and the Nations
Mr De Valera's dominion
Bruce of Melbourne
Syria and Lebanon under French Mandate
Imperial Military Geography
Problems of Constitutional Reform in Jamaica, Mauritius and Trinidad, 1880–1895
Caliban in Africa
An Economic History of Australia
British Economic Foreign Policy
Colonial Self-Government
Rebirth of a Nation
Britain and Germany in Africa
An Economic History of Australia
Imperial Military Geography
The Pioneer Fringe
Manpower Shortage and the End of Colonialism The Case of the Indian Civil Service
Imperialism and Nationalism in India
Foreign Private Investment in India 1920-1950
The British Government and Colonial Economic Policy, 1919-39
British Economic Policy and the Empire 1919-1939
The British Government and Colonial Economic Policy, 1919-391
Survey of British Commonwealth Affairs. Problems of Wartime Co-operation and Post-War Change, 1939-1952
The Transfer of Power, 1942-7
Great Britain and the Origins of the Pacific War
| Unique citing works | 52 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1,18 |
| Citation span | 1982 - 2026 (45) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 51 |