Informal empire : the case of Siam and the Middle East

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    Abstract

    “These half-civilized Governments such as those in China, Portugal, Spanish America all require a dressing every eight or ten years to keep them in order, ”Lord Palmerston remarked in Parliament. The year was 1850, and these words marked the high noon of British power under the influence of Henry Temple Palmerston. First as foreign secretary (in and out of office) and then as prime minister, Lord Palmerston exerted a great deal of influence on the British approach to informal empire between 1830 and 1865. He laid the foundations for the expansion of the formal and informal empire and reflected the prevailing idea in the mid-Victorian period that britain stood "at the head of moral, social, and political civilization" with the task to "lead the way and direct the march of other nations." Few doubted in this period that Britain had the role of "world bettering," as he put it.
    Original languageEnglish
    Title of host publicationEndless Empire: Spain’s Retreat, Europe’s Eclipse, America’s Decline
    EditorsAlfred W. McCoy, Josep M. Fradera, Stephen Jacobson
    Place of PublicationU.S.
    PublisherUniversity of Wisconsin Press
    Pages247-261
    Number of pages15
    ISBN (Electronic)9780299290238
    ISBN (Print)9780299290245
    Publication statusPublished - 2012

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