IMPERIALISM: A PART OF OUR WORLD HERITAGE , WITH A LEGACY STILL IN PRACTICE TODAY. What is it to become?
To begin, I am providing two different definitions of IMPERIALISM, one from a dictionary and another from my class notes.
*Dictionary Definition: 1. the policy of extending the rule or authority of an empire or nation over foreign countries, or of acquiring and holding colonies and dependencies.#
*Classroom Definition: Imperialism is the ability to impose the will of one people on another people without the other being able to say yes or no.#
The key point I am making here is that, by definition, the people under the control of an imperialist nation, do not have any say in the control extended over them.

*Thinking point* If you lived in a nation under the control of another nation, and had to live under the rules imposed by that nation and did not have the right to live in your traditional way, the way you had been taught all your life was the right way, and did not respect you, how would you feel toward those that ruled over you?

In order to understand what imperialism is, you have to understand a bit about it’s origins and history.
When I used to think of imperialism, the British came to mind, especially in reference to India, due to my childhood exposure to the stories of Rudyard Kipling in The Jungle Book, the Indiana Jones movies and the way they portrayed the British/Indian relationship and the story of the great man known as Gandhi, which included the story of how he walked to the shore and gathered salt there, in violation of the rules established by the British.
However, Britain was only one of many western nations involved in imperialism, whose goals ran alongside their goals of expansionism, the expansion of a country‘s power beyond it‘s own borders. Attainment of these two goals, imperialism and expansionism, were signs of international prestige.
Many western nations did impose their authority over other nations, while not allowing the citizens of those nations the rights of citizenship, they were treated as a sub-class. These rights denied to them included things we take for granted, such as the rights we are guaranteed of through The Bill of Rights and the Constitution here in America, and the freedoms granted in these documents.
In the past, after the industrial and scientific revolutions, European focus was on Africa and Asia, partially to avoid focusing on problems at home and as an opportunity to solve some of them. Because of the national pride driven by the achievements of those revolutions, and the temptation of acquiring cheap natural resources of other lands, Europeans, including Americans, chose to control these lands and their people, for cheap or slave labor rather than establishing trade-fair trade, with them.
Because of the industrial revolution, advances had been made in transportation which allowed for the moving of large amounts of people and machinery, including railroad cars and engines, ships and weaponry. These greatly aided the goals of imperialist nations.
There were some Europeans who found in imperialism the opportunity to do good works for the people of the nation’s being dominated by their countries. Religiously motivated Christians wanted to convert the people to their faith, and humanitarian minded individuals sought to bring aid in the form of medicine and tried to bring social reform, even democracy, to the peoples of these lands.
Though there were some with good intentions, this era was extremely racist. Europeans saw themselves as superior to the inferior people in these less developed nations. This racism was based on the belief of “Social Darwinism”.
Social Darwinism was a flawed theory, based on Darwin’s theory of evolution. It applied Darwin’s theory of evolution, and the “survival of the fittest”, to countries. It allowed for stronger countries to dominate and overtake other countries, proposing the idea that countries were in a struggle to exist against one another.
This chauvinistic and aggressive theory was supported on both sides of the Atlantic, and it would later lead to our two World Wars.
Though the “European White Man” may have felt a responsibility for helping those “inferior” to him, his airs of superiority left the natives of the lands he invaded with feelings of unrest and dissatisfaction. This sometimes lead to revolts which the Europeans swiftly brought down with their superior weapons.
Imperialist control would be enforced by the military. Merchant mariners were dependent upon the protection of the navy.
Imperialism in the past, was about domination, control and wealth, as well as national image. Though some efforts were made to improve the lives of the inhabitants of foreign occupied lands, they were more often exploited and dominated.
There are some lessons of imperialism that are still today used for the baser qualities found in the human race. Foreign investors still exploit foreign workers for their cheap labor, allowing their workers to live in unsafe, unsanitary conditions and destroy foreign lands with fragile ecosystems, not caring for the consequences that may affect future generations, because laws are not in place to protect against this. There are nations that are at war against their own people, killing innocent men, women and children in their effort to establish themselves a power, ruling through brutality.
Greedy consumers condemn themselves, buying foreign goods that illegally make it into the legal market through back channels that would not exist without a market. Poor parents sell their children into slavery, so that they may all survive, and only again because there is a market for this. These are but a few examples of the misuses of power we have consequently learned from imperialism.
We are still a world recovering from the racism of prior generations. We have not recovered yet from this ailment of the human psyche as we spread out into the world, through our modern technology, through the world marketplace, where there is more than racial diversity to overcome, such as the differences we have with others of different religions, customs, diets and beliefs. We must stop seeing those who differ from us as a threat to who we are and let go of the notions of social Darwinism that helped shape what imperialism was and what it has become.
Lessons learned from imperialism can be used for good things, as intended by the humanitarians of the past, and those who continue on with that tradition today. Groups such as the Peace Corps, Doctors without Borders, UNICEF, and other charitable societies who truly wish to make a difference in the world for the betterment of life for people of foreign lands.
To provide the sick with medicine, so that they may be able to care for themselves and their families is a responsibility we should not be afraid to take on. To give the technology to the hungry to grow food in an ecologically responsible and realistic manner for the long-term, in addition to getting them to a healthy level to do this, is a good thing to do, a realistic thing we can do. To teach trades that will enable people to responsibly harvest their natural resources, in order to trade on the world market as an option to them, not in a forced manner, would also be the ethical thing to do.
However, to reach the people that need us the most, we do need the military. Right now, we are in a battle over resources we need to keep this country running. As much as I do not like to admit this, we are not yet at a stage where we are as an entire nation able to use environmentally friendly vehicles and appliances, partially due to the poor in this nation who cannot afford to switch to these newer, more expensive technologies. As more of a demand opens for this market, the prices will lower and more will be able to afford to make the switch, allowing the United States to become a stronger influence in the environmental market.
We must put a stop to the bad practices imperialism has taught us, and the way to do that is in the market place. Government concession of negative industrial imperialism must stop. Capitalism is good when it is based on fair business practices and fair-trade, not on exploitation and unchecked destruction of limited natural resources. Unethical practices must be stopped.
We should have learned from earlier efforts and aims of imperialism that domination, exploitation and control of other people are not successful ways of establishing a world trade market. We need to accept people from other lands as our equals, not as our subjects, and respect their openness to trade on the fair market, and there should be laws in place not allowing their natural resources to be depleted.
We can make a difference in the world through the positive things we learned from past imperialism, making the world a better place for all it‘s people.

Article by JKR
A.K.A TEETHANDCLAWS