After thinking about it for some time, I think “liberation” would have been the right word.

As popular as it is to run down colonization and imperialism, many historical examples exist of very beneficial empires. Nial Ferguson’s “British Imperialism Revised: The costs and benefits of ‘Anglobalization” (PDF), for instance, argues that the British Empire was beneficial not just to the white dominions such as Canada, but also to more culturally alien states such as India.

I think good arguments can be made for other empires too, such as the United States, France, and Japan (at least during the years of peace). Even empires that we are glad are gone, such as the Soviet Union, managed to provide a lower-middle-class lifestyle to millions who would otherwise not have obtained that.

A few months back I overheard a podcast interview with a blogger who was obviously angered by a comparison between America and the British Empire, and who responded by saying that British imperialism was a well known evil, that many studies demonstrate that, etc. Some, like Michelle Obama, seem to be agree. However, I think a more balanced view shows that wise imperialism can be beneficial to states subjected to it.

It is a tragedy that such imperial powers barely exist anymore. And not just in terms of wasted lives and generations, but in the genocides that exist in anarchies where no civilizing, imperial power is present.

“Muslim girl wins dress appeal,” This is London, http://www.thisislondon.com/news/articles/16979456?source=PA, 2 March 2005.

Anglo-Saxon Freedom, French Bigotry

A Muslim girl today won her battle to wear traditional “head-to-toe” dress in the classroom after the Court of Appeal ruled her school had acted unlawfully in barring her.

Shabina Begum, 15, accused the head teachers and governors of Denbigh High School, Luton, Beds, of denying her the “right to education and to manifest her religious beliefs”.

Lord Justice Brooke, vice president of the civil division of the Court of Appeal, called on the Department of Education to give schools more guidance on how to comply with their obligations under the Human Rights Act.
He ruled that that her school had:

# Unlawfully excluded her

# Unlawfully denied her the right to manifest her religion

# Unlawfully denied her access to suitable and appropriate education.

The US justice department has filed a complaint on behalf of a Muslim girl who was twice sent home from school for wearing a headscarf.

The education authorities said the hijab breached the dress code of the school in Oklahoma.

But the justice department says it amounts to religious discrimination.

America has a long history of giving refuge to immigrants who “dress funny”

Unlike some places, like No Human Rights for Muslims in France

Update: Big Pharoah is less-than-pleased.

Update 2: Some kook with an obscure blog is a fan.

Update 3: When “liberal” “progress” is more important than liberty, freedom, or tradition. Why I am not a leftist.