The Imperial Security State
British Colonial Knowledge and Empire-Building in Asia

An important new study of the information systems of the British empire and of how knowledge was used to maintain empire.

James Hevia (Author)

9780521896085, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 28 June 2012

312 pages, 20 b/w illus.
23.5 x 15.6 x 1.9 cm, 0.61 kg

'… an elegant, thoughtful and often provocative analysis of how security imperatives dictated the collection, analysis, and dissemination of military information … The Imperial Security State makes a persuasive and passionate argument for the centrality of military intelligence in not only developing strategies to intervene in Asia but more significantly in defining what Asia actually meant then and now. It is a very compelling account, lucidly presented, solidly researched and theoretically sophisticated.' Douglas M. Peers, Journal of Colonialism and Colonial History

The Imperial Security State explores an important but under-explored dimension of British imperialism - its information system and the close links between military knowledge and the maintenance of empire. James Hevia's innovative study focuses on route books and military reports produced by the British Indian Army military intelligence between 1880 and 1940. He shows that together these formed a renewable and authoritative archive that was used to train intelligence officers, to inform civilian policy makers and to provide vital information to commanders as they approached the battlefield. The strategic, geographical, political and ethnographical knowledge that was gathered not only framed imperial strategies towards colonized areas to the east but also produced the very object of intervention: Asia itself. Finally, the book addresses the long-term impact of the security regime, revealing how elements of British colonial knowledge have continued to influence contemporary tactics of counterinsurgency in twenty-first-century Iraq and Afghanistan.

1. Introduction
2. The military revolution of the nineteenth century
3. Imperial state formation, the professionalization of the army, and the making of experts
4. Forming intelligence, making an archive
5. Disciplining the space of Asia: triangulation and route books
6. Regulating the facts of Asia: military reports and handbooks
7. The uses of intelligence
8. The effects of the imperial security regime in Asia and Great Britain
9. Imperial security and the transformation of Asia
Bibliography.

Subject Areas: Colonialism & imperialism [HBTQ], British & Irish history [HBJD1], General & world history [HBG], History [HB]