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April 30, 2005
'Take up the Western Man's Burden'
David R. Francis, The Christian Science Monitor's senior economics correspondent, commented April 28, 2005 on what is often described as "the New Imperialism" being promoted in some quarters. He writes: When the United States took over the Philippines after the Spanish-American War in 1899, British poet Rudyard Kipling wrote a poem in praise of imperialism. Each stanza began: "Take up the White Man's burden." After World War II, colonialism became a nasty word. The Philippines - and just about every other colony - won political independence.
But today Kipling's call to spread, as he saw it, civilization to remote parts of the world could be rephrased "Take up the Western Man's burden." The industrial nations are once again asking how much they should help poor countries establish good government and greater prosperity. University of Rochester economist Stanley Engerman calls it a "new, good imperialism." Mr. Francis said, "Good imperialism - if it exists - deals more with economics than the political control of the past."
No matter how you package it, domination is domination and economic exploitation is still exploitation. The real test of the new thinking in the U.S. is whether national political leaders will allow an economically rising China to apply the new imperialism doctrine in its relations with the world's most powerful nation. I predict that Americans would fight an attempt to economically dominate the U.S. Whether it succeeds is another story in this age of globalization, which can be a double-edged sword. Secondly, I suspect that, as in the past, the new imperialism will be directed at non-Europeans or non-Christians primarily in Africa and Asia, which includes the Middle East. I also think China will be among the major practitioners of the doctrine. Here's more of "The New Imperialism."
Posted by Munir Umrani at April 30, 2005 06:46 AM
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