Британская имперская идея во второй половине XIX века: основные направления и динамика развития

Abstract

The article is the first in national scholarship to explore the evolution of the imperial idea in Britain in the second half of the XIX century. The author identifies economic, political and cultural aspects of the imperial idea and focuses on the definition of the changes the concept of the Empire underwent over the period from 1850 to 1900. It is pointed out that the shaping of the imperial idea in the 1850s—1860s took place under the direct influence of liberal ideology and colonial policy of Liberal Cabinets. The imperial idea at that time reflected the position of Great Britain as the world's leading industrial country, for which colonial possessions ceased to be of vital economic necessity. The author arrives at a conclusion that the gist of the imperial idea was the concept of self-governing as logical progress of the colonial communities of the Empire. The 1870s are noted to be an important landmark in the development of the imperial idea. For the first time in the long record of British colonial policy the government in 1874—1880 was consistent and open in its course towards consolidation and expansion of the Empire. At the same time, in the late 1870s the imperial idea became an integral part of Conservative ideology. The author comes to a conclusion that the changes which took place in the imperial idea in the last decades of the XIX century were determined both by objective realia of internal political development and overseas policy of Great Britain and by social attitudes to the political, economic and sociocultural problems of the time. In particular, the formation of the imperial economic union was intended to reduce the effect of the activities of the rival states whose policy, in British public opinion, caused the decline of business activity and trade in the country. At the same time, developing of various projects of the imperial federation binding the metropoly and self-governing colonies was determined to a large extent by the aggravation of the Irish problem, in the last third of the XIX century. The author emphasizes the importance of the activities of the civilizing mission as the core of the conservative variant of the imperial idea, spread in Great Britain in the 1880s—1890s. It was at that time that most imperial ideologists elaborated the theme of the imperial mission of the British nation as one of the most important conditions of its existence and survival. The author concludes that the revival of colonial expansion and the increase of the number of projects of consolidation and expansion of the Empire promoted the formation of new approaches to determination of the future of the British Empire. At that period imperialism became the dominant ideology of British society.