Imperialism differed from adventure by presenting unlimited expansion as a permanent common national interest

Evidence

The difference, however, is marked. Adventures are by their very nature limited in time and space; they may succeed temporarily in overcoming conflicts, although as a rule they fail and tend rather to sharpen them. From the very beginning the imperialist adventure of expansion appeared to be an eternal solution, because expansion was conceived as unlimited. Furthermore, imperialism was not an adventure in the usual sense, because it depended less on nationalist slogans than on the seemingly solid basis of economic interests. In a society of clashing interests, where the common good was identified with the sum total of individual interests, expansion as such appeared to be a possible common interest of the nation as a whole. — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 416

Categorization

• DEFINE: Distinguishes the older practice of ‘healing’ domestic conflicts through foreign adventures from imperialism proper, a distinction essential to Arendt’s overall argument.