Victorian Visions of Global Order

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.