Liberalism historically frames empire as benevolent uplift

Evidence

How Egypt’s moral prosperity was measured, Balfour did not venture to say. British exports to Egypt equaled those to the whole of Africa; that certainly indicated a sort of financial prosperity, for Egypt and England (somewhat unevenly) together. But what really mattered was the unbroken, all-embracing Western tutelage of an Oriental country, from the scholars, missionaries, businessmen, soldiers, and teachers who prepared and then implemented the occupation to the high functionaries like Cromer and Balfour who saw themselves as providing for, directing, and sometimes even forcing Egypt’s rise from Oriental neglect to its present lonely eminence. — Edward W. Said, Orientalism, 117 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Liberal rights discourse has historically justified rather than opposed empire — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of…, 72; Liberal universalism has long coexisted with justifying empire; Imperial economic gain was recast as Western moral tutelage — Edward W. Said, Orientalism, 117 (+6 more)

Broader Connections

• Liberal universalism has long coexisted with justifying empire #corroborates (0.95)
• Imperial economic gain was recast as Western moral tutelage #corroborates (0.90) — Edward W. Said, Orientalism, 117
• Liberal rights discourse has historically been used to justify imperial domination and war. #corroborates (0.90)
• Liberal rhetoric can mask imperial racism as benevolence #expands (0.90)
• Liberalism must dominate the unredeemed world by reason or by force #expands (0.80)
• French colonialists justified empire as a slow gradual uplift rather than rapid assimilation #exemplifies (0.72) — Alice L. Conklin, A Mission to Civilize_ The Republican…, 484