A friend asked why I used that term in my big post yesterday. It was a semi-conscious reference to the (heavily British-dominated) “Anglo-Egyptian Condominum” that controlled the governance of Sudan from 1899 through 1956.
Of course, if you want to look at the many woes assailing the people of Sudan today, you cannot ignore the contribution made by that earlier (and very long-lasting) British imperial intervention in the country’s affairs.
Maybe I should have called the Israeli-US order in the area surrounding Israel as a condominium, not an imperium. But in the U.S. today, “condominium” is simply a kind of property-owning and -management relationship that is very common and generally very desirable. So I thought “imperium” carried more of the tone I wanted to give this concept.
4 thoughts on “Note on the term ‘imperium’”
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I called it “hegemony” when I shared your blog, thinking that some people might stall on “imperium”.
Another suitable word would be “ascendancy”.
The problem lies within Imperialism itself. It cannot escape the nation-state, but it tries, or pretends to.
The metropolis appears to hover, perhaps in mid-Atlantic for the moment. The neo-colonies are unfree, but nobody owns up to being master.
As Humpty-Dumpty said, on the subject of words, what matters is who’s to be master.
Following the slaughter of Omdurman in which 10,800 of the Mahdi’s forces by Kitchener’s Maxim guns:
“What enterprise that an enlightened community may attempt is more noble and more profitable than the reclamation from barbarism of a fertile region and large populations? To give peace to warring tribes, to administer justice where all was violence, to strike the chains off the slave, to draw the richness from the soil, to plant the earliest seeds of commerce and learning, to increase in whole peoples their capacities for pleasure and diminish their chances of pain – what more beautiful ideal or more valuable reward can inspire human effort? The act is virtuous, the exercise invigorating, and the result often extremely profitable.”
Lt W.S. Churchill, The River War. 1899.
Your material and web site is absolutely invaluable as my friends and I try to teach our current college courses. Thank you. Peggy
2/2/2011
Today, as I watch CNN news, I remember the Prophecies of Isaiah:
1 A prophecy against Egypt:
See, the LORD rides on a swift cloud
and is coming to Egypt. (The Spirit of suffering People)
The idols of Egypt tremble before him, (the military power)
and the hearts of the Egyptians melt with fear.
2 “I will stir up Egyptian against Egyptian—
brother will fight against brother,
neighbor against neighbor,
city against city,
kingdom against kingdom.
3 The Egyptians will lose heart,
and I will bring their plans to nothing;
they will consult the idols and the spirits of the dead,
the mediums and the spiritists.
4 I will hand the Egyptians over
to the power of a cruel master,
and a fierce king will rule over them,”
declares the Lord, the LORD Almighty.
And I Know that everything happens as the Lord has said:
19 In that day there will be an altar to the LORD in the heart of Egypt, and a monument to the LORD at its border… … It will be a sign and witness to the LORD Almighty in the land of Egypt. When they cry out to the LORD because of their oppressors, he will send them a savior and defender, and he will rescue them. 21 So the LORD will make himself known to the Egyptians, and in that day they will acknowledge the LORD. They will worship with sacrifices and grain offerings; they will make vows to the LORD and keep them. 22 The LORD will strike Egypt with a plague; he will strike them and heal them. They will turn to the LORD, and he will respond to their pleas and heal them.
23 In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria. The Assyrians will go to Egypt and the Egyptians to Assyria. The Egyptians and Assyrians will worship together. 24 In that day Israel will be the third, along with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing[b] on the earth. 25 The LORD Almighty will bless them, saying, “Blessed be Egypt my people, Assyria my handiwork, and Israel my inheritance.”
The inheritance of faith, Abraham the Father of Faith of many nations… Jewish, Christians, Muslims… Aleuzenev prophet… Prays for you and Peace for the World