The rise and fall of modern colonial empires have had a lasting impact on the development of European political theory and notions of national identity. This book is the first to compare theories of empire as they emerged in, and helped to define, the great colonial powers Spain, Britain and France.

Pagden concludes by looking at the ways in which this hostility to empire was transformed into a cosmopolitan ideal that sought to replace all world empires by federations of equal and independent states....

Includes bibliographical references (p. 222-238) and index.

c1995.

0300074492

9780300064155

0300064152

9780300074499

325.320903

325320903