Political Imperialism: an Introduction
"The conquest of the earth, which mostly means the taking it away from those who have a different complexion or slightly flatter noses than ourselves, is not a pretty thing when you look into it too much." – Joseph Conrad
For the pioneering of ones power and expansion of rule, new methods were employed in all ages. There always stands an Ideology behind these methods. Imperialism and Neo-colonialism is also such a method which blushed in the 19th century in Europe. Imperialism and Neo-colonialism were inherently inevitable post the Age of Enlightenment and Industrial Revolution in Europe. Jules Ferry, prime minister of France in 1884 said: “In the area of economics, I am placing before you, with the support of some statistics, the considerations that justify the policy of colonial expansion, as seen from the perspective of a need, felt more and more urgently by the industrialized population of Europe and especially the people of our rich and hardworking country of France: the need for outlets [for exports]. Is this a fantasy? Is this a concern [that can wait] for the future? Or is this not a pressing need, one may say a crying need, of our industrial population?”
History is evident of the fact that war campaigns are not something new employed for the expansion of a nation. But the Age of Enlightenment and Industrial Revolution gave new ways, new direction, new ideology and new approach to it. Hence, the expansions and war campaigns post Industrial Revolution are very different from the expansions before. This difference is because of the evolution of terminologies “Neo-colonialism” and “Imperialism”.
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