1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910778222303321

Autore

Bell Duncan <1976->

Titolo

The idea of greater Britain [[electronic resource] ] : empire and the future of world order, 1860-1900 / / Duncan Bell

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Princeton, : Princeton University Press, c2007

ISBN

0-691-15116-4

1-282-15766-3

9786612157660

1-4008-2797-3

Edizione

[Course Book]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (335 p.)

Classificazione

15.70

Disciplina

909/.0971241081

Soggetti

Imperialism - History - 19th century

National characteristics, British

Great Britain Colonies History 19th century

Great Britain Civilization 19th century

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references (p. [273]-311) and index.

Nota di contenuto

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Abbreviations -- 1 Introduction: Building Greater Britain -- 2 Global Competition and Democracy -- 3 Time, Space, Empire -- 4 Empire, Nation, State -- 5 The Politics of the Constitution -- 6 The Apostle of Unity -- 7 The Prophet of Righteousness -- 8 From Ancient to Modern -- 9 Envisioning America -- 10 Conclusion: Lineages of Greater Britain -- Select Bibliography -- Index

Sommario/riassunto

During the tumultuous closing decades of the nineteenth century, as the prospect of democracy loomed and as intensified global economic and strategic competition reshaped the political imagination, British thinkers grappled with the question of how best to organize the empire. Many found an answer to the anxieties of the age in the idea of Greater Britain, a union of the United Kingdom and its settler colonies in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and southern Africa. In The Idea of Greater Britain, Duncan Bell analyzes this fertile yet neglected debate, examining how a wide range of thinkers conceived of this vast "Anglo-Saxon" political community. Their proposals ranged from the



fantastically ambitious--creating a globe-spanning nation-state--to the practical and mundane--reinforcing existing ties between the colonies and Britain. But all of these ideas were motivated by the disquiet generated by democracy, by challenges to British global supremacy, and by new possibilities for global cooperation and communication that anticipated today's globalization debates. Exploring attitudes toward the state, race, space, nationality, and empire, as well as highlighting the vital theoretical functions played by visions of Greece, Rome, and the United States, Bell illuminates important aspects of late-Victorian political thought and intellectual life.