The Colonial Sinews of Imperial Power: The Political Economy of Jamaican Taxation, 1768–1838

This article uses a new data-set to calculate the ‘political economy’ or nature and purpose of taxation and spending in Jamaica between 1768 and 1839. It argues that these levels increased considerably, both in absolute terms and relative to the size of the population and economy of the island, and that the assembly raised taxes mainly to protect the white elite and the plantation economy against slave revolts and foreign invasion. Although the balance of spending shifted after Emancipation in 1834, the purpose did not, since military spending was simply redirected to subsidise policing and the cost of public order. Depending on how the national income or gross domestic product of the island is calculated, levels of taxation rose from 2 per cent in peacetime to about 4–6 per cent in wartime, peaking at 6–8 per cent in moments of crisis. White elites therefore made a significant contribution to the cost of their own defence, and to the wider projection of imperial power, and were willing to tolerate increasingly high levels of taxation because it was spent in ways that suited their interests. They thereby formed the colonial sinews of imperial power.     

The Limits of Turkish–Iranian Cooperation, 1974–80

Why did Turkey and Iran fail to become close partners in the 1970s even though they had compelling reasons to do so? This article argues that mutual distrust between Turkish and Iranian leaders, domestic turmoil in the two countries, and diverging geostrategic priorities undermined Ankara and Tehran's efforts to deepen their relations. While the shah of Iran saw his country as the policeman of the Persian Gulf and the Middle East, successive governments in Turkey continued to look west for their security. As economic and political turmoil engulfed the two countries, leading to a revolution in Iran in 1979 and a coup in Turkey in 1980, Iranian and Turkish leaders could not forge a lasting partnership.     

The Scramble for East Africa: British Motives Reconsidered, 1884–95

This article re-examines the partition of East Africa. It first outlines the existing historiography, namely the dominant geo-strategic Nile model, and suggests that there are two major areas of weakness upon close analysis: a lack of documentary evidence; the way the sequence of actual events and policy decisions is inconsistent with the main thesis. Second, using a wide range of sources, a new chronology of events will be proposed that divides the annexation process into three separate stages. The article will first expose the importance of the prelude to partition in determining its ultimate geographical scope, in particular Anglo-German relations, local treaties and the commercial expectations for the lakes region. The second and third sections will expose the importance of public opinion in formulating a forward policy in the region. Finally, building on this, it will be argued that the role of Britain's anti-slave-trade policy needs to be fully acknowledged, with regard to Britain's raison d'être for establishing a formal presence on the mainland in 1885 with the occupation of the territories encompassing modern Kenya and Uganda in successive stages from 1885 to 1895.     

The Persian–Portuguese Encounter in Hormuz: Orientalism Reconsidered

In 2015, the quincentennial commemoration of the Portuguese arrival on the island of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf (1515–1622) revealed the underlying presupposition among Iranians that the Portuguese presence on the island was the harbinger of a long-term pattern of western imperialism. This analysis questions the accuracy of this narrative by advancing a new interpretative framework that does not reduce the holding of Hormuz to simply another dark episode of European colonial history. Circumscribed and limited in aim and reach, Lusitanian activities on Hormuz cannot be brought under the generic rubric of “orientalism,” which is embedded in European colonial tradition, and which, by extension, buttresses Iranian nationalist sentiment about the Persian–Portuguese entanglement. This research demonstrates that Portuguese objectives diverged from the eighteenth and nineteenth century rationalist scientific traditions of the British, French and Germans professing a civilizing mission as a rationale for colonial policies. Whereas the Portuguese operated from a worldview that combined profit, dynastic pride and religious rhetoric, the Portuguese mission to Hormuz was not guided by a grand discourse of civilizing the “other.” While there was a complex interplay of commercial interests and brutal methods on this strategic entrepôt, Portuguese ambitions in Hormuz were confined and elusive, and at best a matter of tribute-taking. The present paper charters some of these complex interactions.     

The Dissolution of a Monetary Union: The Case of Malaysia and Singapore 1963–1974

The abrupt separation of Singapore and Malaysia in 1965 set these two states on separate political trajectories, but the economic ties proved more difficult to untangle. This article explores the nine years of transition required to complete the separation of the monetary systems of the two territories based on new archival evidence. It argues that, while socio-political hostility raged between the two partners, common economic interests prolonged an intimate monetary relationship that extended the interdependence of the two states for many years beyond their formal separation.     

‘The Principles of Steam’: Political Transfer and Transformation in Japan, 1868–89

In the first decades of the Meiji period Japan started a deliberate modernization programme of state and society in which foreign models played a very important role. The speed with which foreign ideas concerning a constitution, a national assembly and popular rights were adopted and adapted is astonishing. Perhaps most impressive is the fact that this policy was not simply an elite matter, issued from above, but involved the general public as well. The various drafts of constitutions that have been found in village storehouses show political modernization had a broad social basis. European political history in the nineteenth century shows numerous instances of the rhetorical use of the foreignness of particular political models or ideas. Their foreign background made rejection or opposition easier. In Japan we meet a proud country that embarked on a course in which the adoption—and adaptation—of foreign political ideas and institutions was simply considered the proper thing to do. Japan became a perfect example of how political practices migrated, in the process were transformed in a national context and were used in political rhetoric.

Résumé:?Dans les premières décennies de l'ère Meiji le Japon commença un programme de modernisation de l'état et de la société dans lequel les modèles étrangers jouaient le plus grand rôle. La rapidité avec laquelle les idées étrangères sur la constitution, l'assemblée nationale et le droit surprend encore. Peut-être plus impressionnant encore est le fait que cette politique n'était pas le fait du pouvoir seul mais aussi celle du public dans son ensemble. Des propositions de constitutions ont été trouvées dans des archives villageoises qui démontrent bien le soutien populaire pour la modernisation. L'histoire européenne est aussi riche de nombreux exemples de l'utilisation rhétorique de modèles étrangers, leur origine étrangère facilitant également leur adoption ou le rejet. Dans le cas japonais l'adoption et l'adaptation de modèles étrangers furent plus simplement la chose à faire. Le Japon représente l'exemple ultime de la migration de pratiques politiques transformées par un contexte national.