Beyond Sovereignty

A key objective of this collection is to substantiate the argument that the ‘seeds of transnationalism are imperial, rather than post-colonial’ (p. 2). It is further contended that by juxtaposing empire and transnationalism ‘in the same frame of analysis, this volume also advances foundational debates about the fields of British and imperial history’ (p. 7). Transnationalism is defined as ‘a multifaceted set of ideas, networks, identities, and movements transcending the state in specific historical circumstances’. The editors claim that imperial institutions, ideas and policies ‘shaped these historical circumstances and all fields of transnational experience’ (p. 8). The focus is on the British empire from its heyday in the 1880s to the immediate post-Second World War years. This volume is a welcome and valuable initiative in widening the debates around, and the scope of, transnationalism—not least in expanding its predominantly post-colonial and contemporary foci—to emphasise the critical historical dimensions. However, it remains to be seen how far the essays do in fact succeed in stimulating further debate around the foundational themes in British imperial history which they identify

Argument (complex analysis · Colonialism · Empire · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Sovereignty · State (computer science · Transnationalism · Anthropology · Australian History and Society · Gender Studies · History · Law

• A Colonial Affair

  Open Access•Danna Agmon•A Colonial Affair•2017

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