Essay On European Imperialism

Imperialism is simply the building or the expansion of on empire by a state nation in another different nation. The imperial nation has to be strong enough to overcome all the obstacles of the empire expansions such the citizens and other competing nations. Regressive imperialism is the forceful imposition by an imperial nation on a foreign land. This was the most common form of European imperialism in the past years. The regressive imperialism was very exploitative and often left the native citizens deprived of their resources. It is very interesting how the European nations competed for territories in non-Europeans continents such Africa. In most cases, they applied the terra nullius (empty land) policy to occupy the foreign lands. A good example is when Britain took on Australia in the early 19th Century (Benedict 2011).
Today, imperialism has widely adapted to progressive policies. In progressive imperialism, the empire state is seen to be partially benefiting its territory by starting number of technological and infrastructural projects. This had been seen as a justification of imperialism in the past. In real sense, it is the powerful state that actually develops. The powerful nations of the world have influence on the economy of the most developing countries. Imperialism is policies are now centrally coordinated and the focus has been shifted from the commodity production to finance and banking. Neo-imperialism has taken several hidden forms. For instance, the US army bases in Afghanistan can be deemed imperialism. The US could be playing safe with dirty hands; they must be just eyeing the oil wells in disguise for peace keeping. Another form of neo-imperialism is the cultural imperialism. The rest of the world is borrowing quiet a culture from the West; from music to religion.

Works Cited

Stuchtey, Benedict. Colonialism and Imperialism. Mainz, Institute of European History. 2011. Print