Victorian Visions of Global Order
Empire and International Relations in Nineteenth-Century Political Thought

An insight into the climate of political thought surrounding the most powerful empire in history, first published in 2007.

Duncan Bell (Edited by)

9780521153157, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 26 January 2012

316 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.8 cm, 0.46 kg

'… outstanding collection … invaluable to students and scholars… Such an astute account of the Victorian visions of global order will be invaluable to students and scholars of the theory and history of international relations.' Emilian R. Kavalski, Canadian Journal of History

This wide-ranging and original 2007 study provides an insight into the climate of political thought during the lifespan of what was, at this time, the most powerful empire in history. A distinguished group of contributors explores the way in which thinkers in Britain theorised influential views about empire and international relations, exploring topics such as the evolution of international law; the ways in which the world was notionally divided into the 'civilised' and the 'barbarian'; the role of India in shaping visions of civil society; grandiose ideas about a global imperial state; the development of an array of radical critiques of empire; the varieties of liberal imperialism; and the rise and fall of free trade. Together, the chapters form an analysis of political thought in this context; both of the famous (Bentham, Mill, Marx, and Hobson) and of those who, whilst influential at the time, are all but forgotten today.

1. Introduction Duncan Bell
2. Free trade and global order: the rise and fall of a Victorian vision Anthony Howe
3. The foundations of Victorian international law Casper Sylvest
4. Boundaries of Victorian international law Jennifer Pitts
5. 'A legislating empire': Victorian political theorists, codes of law, and empire Sandra Den Otter
6. The crisis of liberal imperialism Karuna Mantena
7. 'Great' versus 'small' nations: scale and national greatness in Victorian political thought Georgios Varouxakis
8. The Victorian idea of a global state Duncan Bell
9. Radicalism and the extra-European-world: the case of Marx Gareth Stedman Jones
10. Radicalism, Gladstone, and the liberal critique of Disraelian 'imperialism' Peter Cain
11. The 'left' and the critique of empire c. 1865–1900: three roots of humanitarian foreign policy Gregory Claeys
12. Consequentialist cosmopolitanism David Weinstein.

Subject Areas: International relations [JPS], Political ideologies [JPF], Political science & theory [JPA], History of ideas [JFCX], 20th century history: c 1900 to c 2000 [HBLW]