Colonial Capitalism and the Dilemmas of Liberalism

By the mid-nineteenth century, Britain celebrated its possession of a unique "empire of liberty" that propagated the rule of private property, free trade, and free labor across the globe. The British also knew that their empire had been built by conquering overseas territories, trading slaves, and extorting tribute from other societies. Set in the context of the early-modern British Empire, Colonial Capitalism and the Dilemmas of Liberalism paints astriking picture of these tensions between the illiberal origins of capitalism and its liberal imaginations in metropolitan thought. Onur Ulas Ince combines an analysis of political economy andpolitical theory to examine the impact of colonial economic relations on the development of liberal thought in Britain. He shows how a liberal self-image for the British Empire was constructed in the face of the systematic expropriation, exploitation, and servitude that built its transoceanic capitalist economy. The resilience of Britain's self-image was due in large part to the liberal intellectuals of empire, such as John Locke, Edmund Burke, and Edward Gibbon Wakefield, and their efforts todisavow the violent transformations that propelled British colonial capitalism. Ince forcefully demonstrates that liberalism as a language of politics was elaborated in and through the politicaleconomic debates around the contested meanings of private property, market exchange, and free labor.Weaving together intellectual history, critical theory, and colonial studies, this book is a bold attempt to reconceptualize the historical relationship between capitalism, liberalism, and empire in a way that continues to resonate with our present moment.

“"This is an original and important survey of the co-creation of the intertwined languages of both English political economy and liberal political theory in relation to colonization and capitalism from the seventeenth to the nineteenth centuries." JAMES TULLY, Professor Emeritus, University of Victoria "This innovative, superbly written book challenges political theory's 'turn to empire' by pressing inquiry into the historical relationship between imperialism and liberalism beyond philosophical questions and symbolic politics. Rather, Ince insists we reintegrate the exploitative violence of colonial capitalism into analyses of the conceptual universe in which ideological liberalism was first articulated. In so doing, he illuminates the historical complexity of liberalism in our 'colonial present." JEANNE MOREFIELD, author of Empires Without Imperialism "Over the past fifty years, the dialogue between political economy, social history, and intellectual history has been minimal even while all three disciplines have turned their focus upon the relationship between liberalism and empire. In a challenge to us all, this book reconnects these disciplines in order to achieve a deeper understanding of a relationship which is foundational to the increasingly globalized present." ANDREW FITZMAURICE, University of Sydney "Onur Ulas Ince's Colonial Capitalism and the Dilemmas of Liberalism succeeds in demonstrating the importance of political economy for political theory's imperial turn, preoccupied as it has been with a discursive approach to cultural difference." - Corey Snelgrove, University of British Columbia”

"In a lively, original analysis of British imperialism, one that ranges across continents as well as centuries, Ince provocatively makes the case for taking the history of capitalism seriously. It deserves to be read by anyone invested in the liberalism and empire debate." -- Matthew Birchall, The Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History"Ince's clever historical study of liberal ideology analyzes the attempt by John Locke, Edmund Burke, and Edward Gibbon Wakefield to figure liberal democratic values as compatible with capitalism in the British colonies. ... Against but also augmenting competing arguments that explain colonialism via British culturalist arrogance or one-dimensional universal cosmopolitanism, Ince (Singapore Management Univ., Singapore) shows how key aspects of political economy(in Locke, money; in Burke, commercial society; in Wakefield, nominally "free" labor and artificially produced scarcity in land) provided moral insulation for imperial expansion: a distinctivelyBritish empire of liberty." --G. D. Miller"This is an original and important survey of the co-creation of the intertwined languages of both English political economy and liberal political theory in relation to colonization and capitalism from the seventeenth to the nineteenth centuries."JAMES TULLY, Professor Emeritus, University of Victoria"This innovative, superbly written book challenges political theory's 'turn to empire' by pressing inquiry into the historical relationship between imperialism and liberalism beyond philosophical questions and symbolic politics. Rather, Ince insists we reintegrate the exploitative violence of colonial capitalism into analyses of the conceptual universe in which ideological liberalism was first articulated. In so doing, he illuminates the historical complexityof liberalism in our 'colonial present."JEANNE MOREFIELD, author of Empires Without Imperialism"Over the past fifty years, the dialogue between political economy, social history, and intellectual history has been minimal even while all three disciplines have turned their focus upon the relationship between liberalism and empire. In a challenge to us all, this book reconnects these disciplines in order to achieve a deeper understanding of a relationship which is foundational to the increasingly globalized present."ANDREW FITZMAURICE, University of Sydney"Onur Ulas Ince's Colonial Capitalism and the Dilemmas of Liberalism succeeds in demonstrating the importance of political economy for political theory's imperial turn, preoccupied as it has been with a discursive approach to cultural difference." - Corey Snelgrove, University of British Columbia"That in the course of his intrepid and penetrating study Ince both decisively renovates and effectively supersedes the Macphersonite scheme is thrilling." - Samuel Moyn, Perspectives on Politics

Onur Ulas Ince is Assistant Professor of Political Science at Singapore Management University and a political theorist with research interests in the history of political thought, political economy, history of capitalism, and imperial studies. He mainly investigates how socioeconomic transformations constitutive of global capitalism have shaped and in turn have been shaped by various discourses of political economy since the early-modern period.His research has been published in The Journal of Politics, History of Political Thought, New Political Economy, The Review of Politics, Polity, and Rural Sociology. He has received his PhD in Government from CornellUniversity.

By the mid-nineteenth century, Britain celebrated its possession of a unique "empire of liberty" that propagated the rule of private property, free trade, and free labor across the globe. The British also knew that their empire had been built by conquering overseas territories, trading slaves, and extorting tribute from other societies. Set in the context of the early-modern British Empire, Colonial Capitalism and the Dilemmas of Liberalism paints a strikingpicture of these tensions between the illiberal origins of capitalism and its liberal imaginations in metropolitan thought. Onur Ulas Ince combines an analysis of political economy and political theory to examine the impact of colonial economic relations on the development of liberal thought in Britain. He shows how a liberal self-image for the British Empire was constructed in the face of the systematic expropriation, exploitation, and servitude that built its transoceanic capitalist economy. The resilience of Britain's self-image was due in large part to the liberal intellectuals of empire, such as John Locke,Edmund Burke, and Edward Gibbon Wakefield, and their efforts to disavow the violent transformations that propelled British colonial capitalism. Ince forcefully demonstrates that liberalism as a language of politics was elaborated in and through the political economic debates around the contestedmeanings of private property, market exchange, and free labor.Weaving together intellectual history, critical theory, and colonial studies, this book is a bold attempt to reconceptualize the historical relationship between capitalism, liberalism, and empire in a way that continues to resonate with our present moment.

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