Securing Empire: Imperial Cooperation and Competition in the Nineteenth Century

by Beatrice de Graaf (Editor), Ozan Ozavci (Editor), Erik de Lange (Editor)

Overview

This volume explores how the quest for security reshaped the world over the course of the 19th century, altering the structures, hierarchies and dynamics of international relations during a pivotal moment in world history.

Taking a unique approach to imperial and international history, the essays in this volume show how security propelled imperial expansion, supported institutions of cooperation, maintained networks of imperial actors and shaped experiences of imperial rule. Contending that security should be studied as a force in its own right, one that drove processes of colonization, civilization and commerce, Securing Empire shows how cooperation between and across empires hinged on shared notions of threats and common ways of countering them.

In showing that security did not solely inform, support and complicate unilateral imperial endeavours, but also brought different imperial entities together and forged global modes of government, this book shows how integral security was to the 'global transformation' of the 19th century and the new world order that emerged.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781350378544
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Publishing
Publication date:	10/17/2024
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	280
File size:	745 KB

About the Author

Beatrice de Graaf is Professor of History at University of Utrecht, Netherlands. A historian in the field of security and terrorism, her research focuses on security-related themes in the 19th century and on modern and contemporary cases of conflict and terrorism. She was awarded with the Stevin Prize in 2018 for her work.

Ozan Ozavi is Assistant Professor of Transimperial History at Utrecht University, Netherlands, and co-convenor of the Lausanne Project and the Security History Network. His current research looks at military presence and imperial cooperation in the nineteenth-century Mediterranean.

Erik de Lange is Assistant Professor of Transimperial History at Utrecht University, Netherlands, and co-convenor of the Lausanne Project and the Security History Network. His publications include Dangerous Gifts: Imperialism, Security, and Civil Wars in the Levant, 1798-1864 (2021), and Intellectual Origins of the Republic: Ahmet Agaoglu and the Genealogy of Liberalism in Turkey (2015).

Table of Contents

Introduction: Historicizing Security in an Age of Empires, Beatrice de Graaf, Ozan Ozavci&Erik de Lange (Utrecht University, The Netherlands)

Part I - Actors, Allies and Adversaries

1. Dynamics and Limits of the Anglo-French Global Condominium, 1820-1880, David Todd (Sciences Po Paris, France)
2. The Egyptian Mixed Courts: Negotiating a Nexus Between Property, Progress, Justice and Security in a Situation of Imperial Entanglement, 1867-1875, Beatrice de Graaf (Utrecht University, The Netherlands)
3. State Rebuilding and the Modernization of Police Organizations in Korea and Japan, Seo-Hyun Park (Lafayette College, USA)

Part II - Threats and Interests: Imperial Anxieties

4. 'Let Them Have What Name They Will': Piracy and Imperial Encroachment from North Africa to the Americas, Erik de Lange (Utrecht University, The Netherlands)
5. Protecting the Health of the American Empire in the “Orient”: U.S. Sanitary Measures in and Beyond its Pacific Colonies (c. 1898-1910), Andrea Wiegeshoff (Philipps-University Marburg, Germany)
6. Securitising 'Civilised' Identity in Asia: The Case of Japanese Imperialism, Shogo Suzuki (University of Manchester, UK)

Part III - Practices: Enacting and Contesting Security

7. Imperial Cooperation at the Rhine and Lower Danube: European Riverine Commissions and the Financial Dimension of Security, Constantin Ardeleanu&Joep Schenk (Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin, Germany, and Utrecht University, The Netherlands)
8. Returning the Sense of Security: The 1860 Civil War in Ottoman Syria and the European Commission, Ozan Ozavci (Utrecht University, The Netherlands)
9. Creating Empire, Resisting Empire: Visions of Security in the Boxer Rebellion, 1899-1902, David Silbey (Cornell University, USA)
10. Forgetting Two Histories: European Institutional Models, Empty Spaces, and the Failure of the 1885 Congo River Commission, Joanne Yo (Queen Mary University of London, UK)

Conclusion: Junction 1815, An Epilogue: Globalising the History of European Peace and Security After the Congress of Vienna, Maartje Abbenhuis (University of Auckland, New Zealand)

Editorial Reviews

We can now confidently identify a 'Dutch' school of international history, rich in thematic and geopolitical breadth, injecting new ideas and new perspectives into older topics. 'Securing Empires' is no exception. Working with their concept of a 'trans-imperial security culture', this Leiden-based collaboration rewrites the long 19th century history of security, and our understanding of its importance for empires across Europe, the Americas, Africa, the Middle East and East Asia. It will be of immense value to IR and historical scholars alike, exemplary of how the historical turban in international politics is challenging our understanding of politics today.” —Glenda Sluga, Professor of International History, European University Institute, Italy

“Securing Empires takes the reader through a comprehensive global tour of nineteenth century empires, with a focus security in liminal zones. By doing so it also historicizes our understanding of security, conflict and cooperation. With a stellar cast of contributors, each chapter is full of insights that will be of great use to both historians and International Relations scholars. This volume is a major intervention in the growing scholarship on empires of the nineteenth century. I strongly recommend it.” —Ayse Zarakol, Professor of International Relations, FBA, University of Cambridge, UK

From the Publisher