{"id":236,"date":"2018-10-24T05:56:59","date_gmt":"2018-10-24T05:56:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ulasince.com\/?page_id=236"},"modified":"2023-04-24T12:14:11","modified_gmt":"2023-04-24T12:14:11","slug":"between-commerce-and-empire-capitalism-and-the-limits-of-anti-imperial-critique-book-manuscript-in-progress","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.ulasince.com\/home\/between-commerce-and-empire-capitalism-and-the-limits-of-anti-imperial-critique-book-manuscript-in-progress\/","title":{"rendered":"Between Global Commerce and Empire: Capitalism and the Limits of Liberal Anti-Imperialism (in progress)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Between Global Commerce and Empire <\/em>furthers the arguments of my first book, Colonial Capitalism and the Dilemmas of Liberalism.<\/em>\u00a0At the heart of both books is the contradictory and constitutive relationship between capitalism, liberalism, and empire in British international thought. While Colonial Capitalism<\/em> examines this contradiction in liberal defenses of empire, Between Global Commerce and Empire<\/em> investigates the same contradiction in works of liberal anti-imperial criticism.<\/span><\/p>\n

The book examines critiques of European expansionism in the late-eighteenth and early-nineteenth century liberal international thought through the lens of colonial capitalism. I contend that the much-vaunted anti-imperialism of the period reached its limits when trying \u2013 and failing \u2013 to sustain a liberal conception of commerce and capital in the context of empire. Classical political economists welcomed the globalisation of commercial relations and the modern European civilisation that they arguably enabled, but they abhorred the violence and injustice of colonialism that made global commerce a historical reality. Their dilemma, in the pithy formulation of J. G. A. Pocock, was that of \u201cintroducing commerce where it has not previously existed by means which are archaic and destructive when judged by its own standards.\u201d<\/p>\n

The book traces attempts to surmount this contradiction in the works of several political economists in the British Empire who railed against the destruction and iniquities of colonial mercantilism. Liberal denunciations of \u201cempire\u201d (colonial conquest, slavery, and monopoly) often contrasted it with the peaceful and cosmopolitan alternative of \u201cglobal commerce.\u201d However, imagining global commerce as empire\u2019s benign alternative and the herald of a peaceful and prosperous system of interdependence proved to be a difficult task. A liberal conception of global commerce required uncoupling the normative ideal<\/em> of commerce from actually existing commerce<\/em> that had always been steeped in imperial violence. The historical co-constitution of commerce and empire frustrated the intellectual efforts by British liberal international theorists to conjure up a world of commerce without empire.<\/p>\n

I demonstrate these tensions in the writings of Adam Smith, David Hume, and John Crawfurd, three Scottish political economists united by their inveterate criticism of mercantilism and their advocacy of free trade and free labor. I show that the liberal anti-imperialism of each figure reached its limits when the imperial constitution of commerce broke the surface, prompting omissions, elisions, and rhetorical devices that offered theoretical closure. The analysis reconstructs Smith\u2019s portrayal of North American settler colonies in the image of ancient Greek colonies of \u201coccupation without conquest\u201d; Hume\u2019s almost complete silence on colonial slavery despite his voluble treatment of ancient slavery, feudal bondage, and Asiatic despotism; and Crawfurd\u2019s account for the deindustrialisation of India and opium exports to China as natural functions of commercial intercourse. As commercial and imperial principles intermeshed around the dispossessive logic of private property, the commercial incivility of slavery, and the imperialism of free trade, separating the two became imperative to uphold global commerce as the peaceful and universally beneficial contender to empire.<\/p>\n

This book both builds on and diverges from the influential reappraisals that have credited several liberal thinkers in international political theory with a precocious anti-imperialist sensibility. Parting ways with the focus on the \u201cmoral ambivalence\u201d of individual thinkers, the prism of colonial capitalism instead focalizes an institutional-ideological problem<\/em>, namely, the problem of colonial capitalism for liberal political economy, which exceeds the framework of moral commitments. That the same illiberalism of capitalism vexed the liberal defenders and<\/em> the liberal critics of empire suggests that the problem existed independently of personal sensibilities and thereby cannot be captured by textual modes of analysis alone. As a result, an adequate analysis of liberalism\u2019s relationship to empire and more broadly of international political thought calls for tools of social theory and social history.<\/p>\n<\/body>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Between Global Commerce and Empire furthers the arguments of my first book, Colonial Capitalism and the Dilemmas of Liberalism.\u00a0At the heart of both books is the contradictory and constitutive relationship between capitalism, liberalism, and empire in British international thought. While Colonial Capitalism examines this contradiction in liberal defenses of empire, Between Global Commerce and Empire … Continue reading “Between Global Commerce and Empire: Capitalism and the Limits of Liberal Anti-Imperialism (in progress)”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-236","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nBetween Global Commerce and Empire: Capitalism and the Limits of Liberal Anti-Imperialism (in progress) - Onur Ulas Ince<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ulasince.com\/home\/between-commerce-and-empire-capitalism-and-the-limits-of-anti-imperial-critique-book-manuscript-in-progress\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Between Global Commerce and Empire: Capitalism and the Limits of Liberal Anti-Imperialism (in progress) - Onur Ulas Ince\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Between Global Commerce and Empire furthers the arguments of my first book, Colonial Capitalism and the Dilemmas of Liberalism.\u00a0At the heart of both books is the contradictory and constitutive relationship between capitalism, liberalism, and empire in British international thought. While Colonial Capitalism examines this contradiction in liberal defenses of empire, Between Global Commerce and Empire … Continue reading "Between Global Commerce and Empire: Capitalism and the Limits of Liberal Anti-Imperialism (in progress)"\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ulasince.com\/home\/between-commerce-and-empire-capitalism-and-the-limits-of-anti-imperial-critique-book-manuscript-in-progress\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Onur Ulas Ince\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-04-24T12:14:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ulasince.com\\\/home\\\/between-commerce-and-empire-capitalism-and-the-limits-of-anti-imperial-critique-book-manuscript-in-progress\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ulasince.com\\\/home\\\/between-commerce-and-empire-capitalism-and-the-limits-of-anti-imperial-critique-book-manuscript-in-progress\\\/\",\"name\":\"Between Global Commerce and Empire: Capitalism and the Limits of Liberal Anti-Imperialism (in progress) - Onur Ulas Ince\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ulasince.com\\\/home\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2018-10-24T05:56:59+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-04-24T12:14:11+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ulasince.com\\\/home\\\/between-commerce-and-empire-capitalism-and-the-limits-of-anti-imperial-critique-book-manuscript-in-progress\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ulasince.com\\\/home\\\/between-commerce-and-empire-capitalism-and-the-limits-of-anti-imperial-critique-book-manuscript-in-progress\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ulasince.com\\\/home\\\/between-commerce-and-empire-capitalism-and-the-limits-of-anti-imperial-critique-book-manuscript-in-progress\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ulasince.com\\\/home\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Between Global Commerce and Empire: Capitalism and the Limits of Liberal Anti-Imperialism (in progress)\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ulasince.com\\\/home\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ulasince.com\\\/home\\\/\",\"name\":\"Onur Ulas Ince\",\"description\":\"Associate Professor of Political Theory, SOAS University of London\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ulasince.com\\\/home\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Between Global Commerce and Empire: Capitalism and the Limits of Liberal Anti-Imperialism (in progress) - Onur Ulas Ince","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ulasince.com\/home\/between-commerce-and-empire-capitalism-and-the-limits-of-anti-imperial-critique-book-manuscript-in-progress\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Between Global Commerce and Empire: Capitalism and the Limits of Liberal Anti-Imperialism (in progress) - Onur Ulas Ince","og_description":"Between Global Commerce and Empire furthers the arguments of my first book, Colonial Capitalism and the Dilemmas of Liberalism.\u00a0At the heart of both books is the contradictory and constitutive relationship between capitalism, liberalism, and empire in British international thought. While Colonial Capitalism examines this contradiction in liberal defenses of empire, Between Global Commerce and Empire … Continue reading \"Between Global Commerce and Empire: Capitalism and the Limits of Liberal Anti-Imperialism (in progress)\"","og_url":"https:\/\/www.ulasince.com\/home\/between-commerce-and-empire-capitalism-and-the-limits-of-anti-imperial-critique-book-manuscript-in-progress\/","og_site_name":"Onur Ulas Ince","article_modified_time":"2023-04-24T12:14:11+00:00","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.ulasince.com\/home\/between-commerce-and-empire-capitalism-and-the-limits-of-anti-imperial-critique-book-manuscript-in-progress\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ulasince.com\/home\/between-commerce-and-empire-capitalism-and-the-limits-of-anti-imperial-critique-book-manuscript-in-progress\/","name":"Between Global Commerce and Empire: Capitalism and the Limits of Liberal Anti-Imperialism (in progress) - Onur Ulas Ince","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ulasince.com\/home\/#website"},"datePublished":"2018-10-24T05:56:59+00:00","dateModified":"2023-04-24T12:14:11+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ulasince.com\/home\/between-commerce-and-empire-capitalism-and-the-limits-of-anti-imperial-critique-book-manuscript-in-progress\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.ulasince.com\/home\/between-commerce-and-empire-capitalism-and-the-limits-of-anti-imperial-critique-book-manuscript-in-progress\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.ulasince.com\/home\/between-commerce-and-empire-capitalism-and-the-limits-of-anti-imperial-critique-book-manuscript-in-progress\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.ulasince.com\/home\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Between Global Commerce and Empire: Capitalism and the Limits of Liberal Anti-Imperialism (in progress)"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.ulasince.com\/home\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.ulasince.com\/home\/","name":"Onur Ulas Ince","description":"Associate Professor of Political Theory, SOAS University of London","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.ulasince.com\/home\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/P9k8Zi-3O","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":13,"url":"https:\/\/www.ulasince.com\/home\/book-colonial-capitalism-and-the-dilemmas-of-liberalism\/","url_meta":{"origin":236,"position":0},"title":"Colonial Capitalism and the Dilemmas of Liberalism (Oxford UP, 2018)","author":"admin","date":"October 28, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Colonial Capitalism and the Dilemmas of Liberalism (Oxford University Press, 2018) Winner of the 2020 David and Elaine Spitz Prize, International Conference for the Study of Political Thought Finalist for the 2020 C. B. Macpherson Prize, Canadian Political Science Association (Introduction and the table of contents available for download here)\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ulasince.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Comp_R2_ColonialCapitalism_Ince-674x1024.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3,"url":"https:\/\/www.ulasince.com\/home\/","url_meta":{"origin":236,"position":1},"title":"Home","author":"admin","date":"October 28, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"I am an Associate Professor of Political Theory at SOAS University of London. In 2024, I was awarded a British Academy\/Leverhulme Senior Research Fellowship and The Britain and Ireland Association for Political Thought Mid-Career Prize. 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From 'Chinese Colonist' to 'Yellow Peril': Capitalist Racialization in the British Empire, American Political Science Review, (November 2023). Open Access. Literature on \u201cracial capitalism\u201d exhibits a tension between the term\u2019s evocative power and its conceptual imprecision. 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First, the book illuminates the \u201cprehistory of the global color line\u201d by locating the ideational antecedents of nineteenth-century racial categories\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":29,"url":"https:\/\/www.ulasince.com\/home\/invited-talks-and-conference-presentations\/","url_meta":{"origin":236,"position":5},"title":"Invited talks","author":"admin","date":"October 28, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"\u201cCapitalism and Race in Imperial Perspective: Beyond Methodological Atlanticism,\u201d King\u2019s College London (January 2024, London) \u201cFrom \u2018Civilization\u2019 to \u2018Race\u2019: The Political Economy of Imperial Subjecthood,\u201d University of Oxford, Political Theory Workshop (October 2023, Oxford);\u00a0 University College Dublin and Australian Catholic University, Subjecthood in the Nineteenth-Century Anglosphere Workshop (August 2023, Rome)\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ulasince.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/236","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ulasince.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ulasince.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ulasince.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ulasince.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=236"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/www.ulasince.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/236\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1143,"href":"https:\/\/www.ulasince.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/236\/revisions\/1143"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ulasince.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}