Imperialism Definition: Power Beyond a Nation’s Borders

Imperialism definition in three parts

Most scholars who define imperialism agree on three parts:

1. A stronger power, usually a state, that wants to extend its reach.
2. Control over others, which can be direct (governing a territory) or indirect (shaping its economy or politics from outside).
3. Unequal relations, where decisions about the controlled area are made largely in the interest of the dominant power.

Historians use the word for ancient empires such as Rome and for the European, Japanese and other empires of the modern era. Political scientists also use it for situations where no flag is raised over a territory, but outside economic or military power shapes what local people can decide.

Forms imperialism can take

Whether the last two count as true imperialism is debated. Some scholars keep the word for direct political control; others think the label fits any lasting, unequal influence.

A short history of the idea

Empires are ancient, but the word is fairly new. English first recorded imperialism in 1826, when it meant support for an empire or for imperial interests. Around the late 1870s writers applied it in the wider sense of one country ruling another. Even early on it was often a term of criticism, though some people used it proudly.

The period from about the 1870s to the First World War is often called the age of "new imperialism", when European powers rapidly divided much of Africa and expanded across Asia and the Pacific. The British Crown took direct rule of India in 1858, which lasted until independence in 1947. After the Second World War, a wave of decolonisation created dozens of new independent states.

Imperialism and colonialism: the difference

The two overlap, and many people use them almost interchangeably, but there is a useful distinction:

• Colonialism usually means settling or directly governing a territory, often with settlers or administrators moving there.
• Imperialism is the broader idea of extending power, which may or may not involve colonies.

A simple way to remember it: every colonial project is imperial, but not all imperialism needs colonies. Related concepts include hegemony, which means dominant influence, and nationalism, which both fuelled empires and later drove independence movements.

Why people disagree about it

Debate around imperialism tends to centre on a few questions:

• Its effects: some writers point to railways, schools or legal systems built under imperial rule; others stress lost lives, famine, forced labour, drained wealth and denied self rule. Many historians argue the balance must be judged region by region.
• Its scope today: people disagree on whether modern military bases, trade deals under global capitalism, aid or global companies amount to imperialism, or whether that stretches the term too far.
• Its use as a label: in political speech, calling a rival "imperialist" is a strong charge, and different sides apply it to different countries.

A careful reader asks who is using the word, for which situation, and what kind of control they mean. Words such as colony, empire and treaty belong with our law, politics and society collection.

Imperialism in example sentences

• Our history unit compares Roman imperialism with the European empires of the nineteenth century.
• The museum exhibit shows how imperialism changed farming and trade routes across the region.
• Some economists argue that heavy foreign debt can work like a quiet form of economic imperialism.
• She wrote her thesis on resistance to imperialism in coastal West Africa.
• Critics described the film industry's global reach as cultural imperialism, while supporters called it simple popularity.