Menu Close

Articles on Empire

Displaying 1 - 20 of 28 articles

In this photo provided by Chad Fish, a large balloon drifts above the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of South Carolina, with a fighter jet and its contrail seen below it, on Feb. 4, 2023. (Chad Fish via AP)

Chinese balloon saga is part of a long history of U.S.-China tensions

Chinese balloons must be assessed within the context of decades of mutual espionage and an awareness of the many storms in the U.S.-China relationship — and the history of empires.
The university, and its pursuit of knowledge, was part of the colonial project. And historians, writes Satia, were key architects of empire. Dave Hunt/AAP

The book that changed me: how Priya Satia’s Time’s Monster landed like a bomb in my historian’s brain

From the 18th century, historians taught us to understand the world as a story of linear progress. But this viewpoint made them architects of empire. History, writes Yves Rees, has blood on its hands.
The Dead Sea scrolls show scribes using the theme of four kingdoms (Babylon-Persia, Greece, Rome and the kingdom of God) as a flexible way to prophecize. (Shutterstock)

How scribes of the ancient world were the pollsters of their day

There is a long history of recalculating historical prophecies and projections based on the theme of four kingdoms.
Zambian President Edgar Lungu’s increasingly repressive government uses colonial-era laws to silence dissent. EFE-EPA/ EPA/Phillipe Wojazer

How colonial rule predisposed Africa to fragile authoritarianism

The unstable authoritarian pathway that many post-colonial African states followed was facilitated by the way in which European empires undermined democratic elements within African societies.

Top contributors

More