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Imperialism
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What is Imperialism?

Imperialism refers to the practice by which powerful nations extend political, economic, and cultural dominance over weaker territories and peoples. It appears frequently in political science, history, and international relations courses because it shaped the modern world order in fundamental ways. Students are drawn to the topic because it sits at the intersection of power, ideology, and human consequence, raising questions about how Europe and other dominant nations built empires across Africa, Asia, the Americas, and beyond. Its connections to colonialism, racial hierarchy, industrialization, and both World Wars make it academically rich and persistently relevant to understanding contemporary global politics.

The papers archived on this topic reflect a wide range of approaches. Many take a historical and regional lens, examining imperialism in Africa during the nineteenth century, its aftermath in Asia following World War II, or its dynamics in the Caribbean Basin through foreign policy analysis. Others are comparative, tracing connections between industrial capitalism and imperial expansion, or linking imperialism to racial othering as a broader ideological system. Some papers engage in literary criticism, using Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness to examine how imperial ideology was represented and challenged in literature. Still others adopt a broad survey approach, covering the Protestant Reformation, New Imperialism, and the lead-up to global conflict.

A strong essay on imperialism requires a focused thesis that moves beyond simply cataloguing events toward explaining causes, mechanisms, or consequences. Evidence drawn from specific regions, time periods, or policy decisions carries more weight than sweeping generalizations. Writers should be careful to avoid treating imperialism as a single uniform phenomenon — its expression differed significantly across Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Americas — and a well-scoped essay will acknowledge that complexity without losing argumentative clarity.

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Research Paper Doctorate

Enlightenment principles in Tocqueville, Conrad, and Marx

¶ … Democracy in America by Alex de Tocqueville, Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, and the Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx all reflect the Enlightenment in very different ways. The Enlightenment is a term used to…

Paper Undergraduate

Causes and consequences of World War I

(Causes, America's Contribution to the War, Role of President Woodrow Wilson, Treaty of Versailles Failure)

Paper High School

Paul B. Ryan's analysis of United States Panama Canal politics and diplomacy

This paper covers all 11 chapters of the book by Paul Ryan (not the Ryan who was Mitt Romney's VP candidate), a book which goes into great detail about every aspect of the Panama Canal, from the time when mosquitoes had to be wiped out before work could even begin, to the final stages of negotiations that led to the canal being turned back over to Panama. the book is fascinating and opens the door to many interesting political goings-on throughout the 100 years the U.S. had control

Research Paper Doctorate

The United States role in reconstructing post-World War II Europe

Role of the United States in Europe After WWII

Research Paper Doctorate

Edward Said's Orientalism and Western imperialism in cultural discourse

Uses and Abuses of the Concept of Orientalism

Essay Doctorate

Ernesto Che Guevara's role in the Cuban Revolution

This paper is about Ernesto Che Guevara. Che was a man who believed that freedom doesn't come cheap. Although, he may have been a leftist, he died believing that freedom comes with a price and those beset repeatedly have got to take their fight to the gates of the oppressors. Che disliked the division between the North and South. Countries including U.S in the northern hemisphere and Soviet Union have been dominating the poor people of South. Che believed that the people from North took what they wanted from people of South and in order to maintain their agendas they would set up puppet regimes.

Paper Doctorate

The unnamed narrator's perspective and bias in War of the Worlds

H. G. Wells' "The War of the Worlds" is certainly a thought-provoking novel that addresses a series of divisive topics concerning society and the degree to which people believe they understand the concept of power. The writer provides readers with an account involving an unnamed narrator who generally feels confident concerning the power of humanity and of the British Empire in particular. While Wells has the ability to look at things from a more general point of view, the protagonist seems to be obsessed with introducing his own point of view concerning things that happened as Martians attacked Earth.

Illusory correlation and the social construction of racial categories

Anthropologists and geneticists have re-conceived "race" as a cultural category or social construct. Race such as "whiteness" is a particular way that some people have of talking about themselves and others. As such race is not a useful analytical concept; rather, the usage of the word must be analyzed. Others have held on to the notion that racial differences represent real biological markers.

Paper Doctorate

Wells and Freud on imperialism and human aggression

Wells' book "The War of the Worlds" puts across an account describing a male protagonist going through a series of experiences involving Martians coming to Earth and vainly attempting to conquer the planet.

Essay Doctorate

Imperialism in Western literature and historical justification

This essay shows that imperialism was largely lauded by Western colonializers. According to them they were educating the illiterate; teaching the savage the ways of Jesus Christ; showing the primitive how to till and cultivate his soil as well as manage his business; and, in all ways, positively affecting the inferior race with the gentility and keener intelligence of the superior. Others admitted their stake of personal self-interest, but pegged on the same rationalizations: they were benefitting the inferior savage by occupying his land.

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