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Quote by: Anmon  Depends who for doesn't it. |
Not in an honest assessment, it doesn't. Lets look at the issue. I will grant you that empire reaps short term benefits. So if the question was, "Can a select few enrich themselves through empire?", your answer would make some sense. But that is not the issue at hand. The issue at hand is "Can Empire be a force for good?"
The British Empire was not a force for good in southern Asia. Its results are there for all the world to see. In order to maintain the empire, they had to divide to rule. Now we have endless conflict between India and Pakistan that could become nuclear in nature. The British reaped few, if any, long term benefits as a nation and they, along with the rest of the world, have to face the consequences that decades of oppression has wrought on the people of India and Pakistan. The Western Imperial policies in the Middle East have left us with the same type of raging conflict. Kurds wanting independence, but divided as a people between multiple states that seek to maintain control of traditionally Kurdish territory. A map filled with artificial dividing lines between old tribal and religious affiliations.
China? Well, that was a whopping success, now wasn't it?
The French gave us the problems in Algeria and South East Asia. The Belgians gave us the gift of the Rwandan genocide. US policies have birthed the Latin American mess and the virtual disappearance of the aboriginal populations in the "New World". How, in the name of all that is good and right, can you claim that Empire has been a net gain to humanity. If what the imperial west was selling was better, why wasn't it accepted willingly? Isn't that the supposed truth behind our culture and technology?
I am not saying that western culture and advances are all bad. I am saying our incessant need to conquer and establish empire has led to most of the modern misery. I am saying our love affair with Capitalism is sucking the planet dry. We bring lots of crap that people find appealing, but with little balance. We need to step back and stop patting ourselves on the back for polio vaccines and air conditioning and start figuring out how to fix all the mess we brought along with those advances. The first step is developing an understanding of how Empire has offered more problems than solutions in the final cost/benefit equation.