Accommodating empire: progressive politics and imperial discourses, 1918-1960

Thesis

This thesis investigates the breadth of progressive thought on empire between 1918 and 1960. Challenging the narrative of the left’s indifferent or shallow approach to imperial policymaking, this thesis gives serious attention to the place of ideology in progressive policies on empire. Using a range of detailed textual sources, including internal party research papers, party conference debates, and published essays and monographs, it identifies the firm ideological basis for distinctly progressive positions on empire. This thesis reintegrates the Liberal Party in to the history of progressive politics and empire, demonstrating the multiplicity of ways in which progressive values, including liberal, radical and socialist strands, could be refracted through imperial problems. This study builds upon the rich, intersecting historiographies of imperialism, internationalism and humanitarianism with its analysis of how British progressives themselves perceived the interconnectedness of these discourses, and how they relied upon those connections to form a credibly progressive imperial policy. It offers a new framework for the left’s handling of imperial policy, by rejecting a conceptualisation of imperial policymaking as a battle between progressive principles and pragmatism. Instead, this thesis posits a dynamic body of imperial thought, firmly grounded in progressive ideology but also responsive to geopolitical shifts. This study argues that British progressives reached for a series of discourses – peace, internationalism, and trusteeship – when articulating imperialism, with each discourse providing an intellectual and rhetorical space through which they might reasonably advocate imperialist policies. Finally, this thesis finds that the moral politics of empire were fundamental to the accommodation of empire by progressives; it therefore excavates the moral foundations of imperial thought, uncovering the basis upon which the legitimacy of various imperial policies were decided.

Authors: Mistry, A

• DOI: 10.5287/ora-j1bz2voxk
• Type of award: DPhil
• Level of award: Doctoral
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford
• Language: English