On Teaching Column: What Is Informal Imperialism?

Column: What Is Informal Imperialism?

Mathieu Gotteland, M.A., Doctorant en histoire, allocataire du Ministère de la Défense, Université Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne

Abstract: This article aims to explain in a theoretical way, but with practical historical examples the complex notion of informal imperialism. First analyzing imperialism(s) and colonialism as a whole, it will then try to characterize and categorize more specifically what is informal imperialism. Comparing imperialism with the our understanding of space, a grid of understanding is thus applied to imperialism as a whole, to then qualify and address the informality of the phenomenon, and give theoretical tools based on practical historical cases for the historian and the political scientist.

Keywords: informal imperialism, imperialism, empire, colonialism, colony

For full article: GottelandMOnTeachingFall2017themiddlegroundjournal.org

(c) 2017 The Middle Ground Journal, Number 15, Fall, 2017. http://TheMiddleGroundJournal.org See Submission Guidelines page for the journal’s not-for-profit educational open-access policy.