If you conducted a survey one hundred years ago on the thoughts of the British people on the Empire, I am sure the results would have overwhelmingly displayed feelings of pride and accomplishment.
However, conduct the survey today, and I am sure a good proportion of the responses would be mixed, and would question the moral and ethical decisions that the British government made in their campaigns to bring civilisation and order to foreign lands they saw as wild, and undeveloped.
The shift in attitudes in some members of the British populace can be attributed to changing cultural attitudes to imperialism; a vast, rapid and highly critical media; and a re-interpretation and re-evaluation of history.
People now see imperialism as an arrogant belief in one’s superiority over other nations and cultures, and that attempts to impose one’s way of living on to others is unjust. This has been particularly evident in the rise of demonstrations against government intervention in foreign lands, which started in the 1960s with the protests in America against the Vietnam war, and have been continuing ever since with protests against British and American intervention in Iraq in recent years.
The media and its technological advances has disseminated information and reported on events that were previously extremely one sided or unknown to people back at home. When a war breaks out in Iraq, a journalist is already there reporting on the loss of civilian life and destroying of people’s homes and livelihood. We realize that there are two sides to every coin.
And now, history is no longer taught with a glorified sense of British achievements in foreign lands. We are also taught the ugly side of history – of the negatives British rule also brought; and the atrocities that some committed.
Perhaps it is no wonder than that even a Conservative Prime Minister has admitted that Britain’s history with the world has been problematic.
However it would be unfair to say that the British Empire was all bad. It did bring stability, technological advances and economic development to many regions. It did lead to the establishment of the commonwealth which has promoted just political causes.
Therefore this presents political leaders with a problem when they choose to praise or criticize British imperialism. They are damned if they do, but damned if they don’t.
