Alibis of Empire : Henry Maine and the Ends of Liberal Imperialism

Alibis of Empire presents a novel account of the origins, substance, and afterlife of late imperial ideology. Karuna Mantena challenges the idea that Victorian empire was primarily legitimated by liberal notions of progress and civilization. In fact, as the British Empire gained its farthest reach, its ideology was being dramatically transformed by a self-conscious rejection of the liberal model. The collapse of liberal imperialism enabled a new culturalism that stressed the dangers and difficulties of trying to "civilize" native peoples. And, hand in hand with this shift in thinking was a shift in practice toward models of indirect rule. As Mantena shows, the work of Victorian legal scholar Henry Maine was at the center of these momentous changes. Alibis of Empire examines how Maine's sociotheoretic model of "traditional" society laid the groundwork for the culturalist logic of late empire. In charting the movement from liberal idealism, through culturalist explanation, to retroactive alibi within nineteenth-century British imperial ideology, Alibis of Empire unearths a striking and pervasive dynamic of modern empire.

"In this unprecedented book, Karuna Mantena engages in a dialogue with the history of political thought, the history of nineteenth-century imperialism, and the genealogies of modern social theory. It will be widely influential."--Seyla Benhabib, Yale University

"Karuna Mantena provides the first comprehensive account of the centrality of Henry Maine in the transformation of British imperial ideology in the late nineteenth century. With great insight and erudition, Mantena elucidates the connections between Maine's sociotheoretic model of traditional society and the ideology and practice of British indirect rule."--Mahmood Mamdani, Columbia University

"Alibis of Empire offers indispensable correctives to the standard intellectual histories of empire. It shifts the focus from political to social theory and concentrates attention on Henry Maine, a figure whose contribution to British imperial ideology was probably greater than that of any other thinker of his time. The book is written with economy and subtlety, and its argument is persuasive and important. It will be of great interest to a variety of readers, especially intellectual historians, historians of empire, and political theorists."--David Armitage, Harvard University

"This is an important contribution to scholarship on the British empire, one that provides new insights into debates about the changing nature of colonial discourse in nineteenth-century England, the relative strengths of social and political theory at the time and well into the twentieth century, the meaning of 'culture,' and the legacy of Henry Maine's writings for English colonial practice in India and beyond."--Barbara Arneil, University of British Columbia

Contents ......Page 8 Acknowledgments ......Page 10 Introduction: The Ideological Origins of Indirect Rule ......Page 12 1. The Crisis of Liberal Imperialism ......Page 32 2. Inventing Traditional Society: Empire and the Origins of Social Theory ......Page 67 3. Codification in the East and West ......Page 100 4. The Nineteenth-Century Debate on Property......Page 130 5. Native Society in Crisis: Conceptual Foundations of Indirect Rule ......Page 159 Coda: Liberalism and Empire Reconsidered ......Page 190 Notes ......Page 200 Bibliography ......Page 238 Index ......Page 266 Contents 8 Acknowledgments 10 Introduction: The Ideological Origins of Indirect Rule 12 1. The Crisis of Liberal Imperialism 32 2. Inventing Traditional Society: Empire and the Origins of Social Theory 67 3. Codification in the East and West 100 4. The Nineteenth-Century Debate on Property 130 5. Native Society in Crisis: Conceptual Foundations of Indirect Rule 159 Coda: Liberalism and Empire Reconsidered 190 Notes 200 Bibliography 238 Index 266 9780691128160 Chronicles the origins, and afterlife of late imperial ideology. This title challenges the idea that Victorian empire was legitimated by liberal notions of progress and civilization. It examines how the Victorian legal scholar Henry Maine's sociotheoretic model of 'traditional' society laid the groundwork for the culturalist logic of late empire.