Legacies of Empire: Imperial Roots of the Contemporary Global Order

The nation-state is a fairly recent historical phenomenon. Human history over the past two to four millennia has been dominated by empires, and the legacies of these empires continues to shape the contemporary world in ways that are not always recognised or fully understood. Much research and writing about European colonial empires has focused on relations between them and their colonies. This book examines the phenomenon of empire from a different perspective. It explores the imprint that imperial institutions, organisational principles, practices, and logics have left on the modern world. It shows that many features of the contemporary world - modern armies, multiculturalism, globalised finance, modern city-states, the United Nations - have been profoundly shaped by past empires. It also applies insights about the impact of past empires to contemporary politics and considers the long-term institutional legacies of the American 'empire'.

Author: Sandra Halperin
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 08/06/2015
Pages: 268
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.80lbs
Size: 8.90h x 6.00w x 0.70d
ISBN: 9781107521612

Review Citation(s):
Choice 06/01/2016

About the Author
Palan, Ronen: - Ronen Palan is Professor of International Political Economy at City University London. He has published many articles and books on the subject of the offshore economy and theories of international political economy.Halperin, Sandra: - Sandra Halperin is Professor of International Relations and co-director of the Centre for Global and Transnational Politics in the Department of Politics and International Relations at Royal Holloway, University of London. She is the author of three cross-regional and trans-historical comparative studies: In the Mirror of the Third World: Capitalist Development in Modern Europe (1997), War and Social Change in Modern Europe: The Great Transformation Revisited (2004) and Re-Envisioning Global Development: A 'Horizontal' Perspective (2013), as well as articles on globalisation, development theory, historical sociology, nationalism, ethnic conflict, Islam, and democracy in the Middle East.