Liberal universalism has long coexisted with justifying empire

Evidence

France’s culture and democratic ideals have taken root most firmly overseas when not accompanied by a “mission” to civilize predicated upon first becoming rulers in another people’s land. The question is why it took a country with as strong a republican tradition as France so long to see the discrepancy between ideal and reality, between ends and means. Racist assumptions about Africans, the spoils the empire yielded, and the prestige it bestowed upon la grande nation are only half the answer. Equally to blame was a civilizing ideology that was never only racist in content. While racism was always present between 1895 and 1930, it came shrouded first in emancipationist rhetoric and subsequently in scientific “respect” for traditional cultures. Both claims made it difficult for many liberals to see how inconsistent the very notion of a civilizing mission was with the Republic’s universalist commitments. If the empire endured as long as it did, it was in part because French racism often worked hand-inglove with more progressive values. — Alice L. Conklin, A Mission to Civilize_ The Republican…, 894 (#exemplifies, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Early liberal parliamentarism presupposed an elite excluding universal suffrage — Alex Callinicos, Against Postmodernism: A Marxist…, 450; Liberal rights discourse has historically justified rather than opposed empire — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of…, 72; Liberalism historically frames empire as benevolent uplift (+15 more)

Broader Connections

• Liberal rights discourse has historically been used to justify imperial domination and war. #exemplifies (0.95)
• French universalist values paradoxically sustained the colonial empire they contradicted #exemplifies (0.94) — Alice L. Conklin, A Mission to Civilize_ The Republican…, 894