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The publication of P J Cain and A G Hopkins' two-volume study of "British Imperialism" was a major event for historians of European imperialism and international economic history. The theory of 'gentlemanly capitalism', which they pioneered to explain Britain's imperial expansion, has since been developed, both in its original theory and its implications. This book reviews the latest state of scholarship in the field and further develops the idea of gentlemanly capitalism by exploring its role in a wide variety of international contexts, both in and out of the British Empire.
List of contents
1. Introduction: Exploring the Cain/Hopkins Paradigm, Issues for Debate; Critique and Topics for New Research. 2. Gentlemanly Capitalism and British Economic Policy, 1880-1914, The Debate Over Bimetallism and Protectionism.
3. Profit and Power: Informal Empire, the Navy and Latin America. 4. The Late Nineteenth Century Imperialist: Specification, Quantification and Controlled Conjectures. 5. Economic Power at the Periphery: Canada, Australia and South Africa 1850-1914. 6. Imperial Economic Controls Through Sterling in the Twentieth Century. 7. British Informal Empire in the Far East 1880-1939: A Japanese Perspective. 8. Gentlemanly Capitalism and the Raj: British Policy in India Between the World Wars. 9. Gentlemanly Capitalism and Empire in the Twentieth Century: the Forgotten Case of Malaya. 10. The Theory and Practice of British Imperialism.
About the author
Raymond E. Dumett
Summary
The publication by Longman of P J Cain and A.G. Hopkins two-volume study of "British Imperialism" (1688-1914; 1914-1994) caused a sensation amongst historians of European imperialism and economic international history. The theory of `gentlemanly capitalism' - the complex of economic, social and political power centring on the City of London - which they developed to explain Britain's imperial expansion has since been expanded , both in its original theory and its implications. Here now is a purpose-built volume prepared in collaboration with the original authors which reviews the latest state of scholarship in the field and develops it further.
