In Praise of Empires Globalization and Order [Hardcover]

In this timely and controversial book, economist Deepak Lal explores the twin themes of empires and globalization and discusses the place of the US in the current world order. In Praise of Empires argues that not since the fall of the Roman empire has there been a potential imperial power like the United States today, and asks the question: Is a US impirium needed for the globalization which breeds prosperity? What form should this empire take - a direct 'colonial' or 'indirect' empire? Will America be able and willing to run an empire? Lal explores the Islamic threat to the position of the US and the current 'war on terror'.Introduction PART I: PEACE Empires From a British to an American Imperium Challenges to the American Imperium PART TWO: PROSPERITY Liberal International Economic Orders The Challenges of Globalization: There Is No Third Way NGOs and Global Salvationism PART THREE: MORALITY Habits of the Heart Nationalism and Democracy Toward an International Moral Order?

'A brilliant and provocative scourge of pious thinking on international

politics'- Paul Collier, University of Oxford

'In only 216 pages of tautly written, sharply worded and frankly exhilarating text, Lal sets out the case for imperialism in the modern world, and why the United states could bring untold benefits to the planet if only it could shrug off the notion, held ever since the Revolutionary War-era, that empires are bad things per se.' - Andrew Roberts, The Sunday Telegraph

'Controversial, but tight and historically well-informed.' - BBC History

DEEPAK LAL is James S. Coleman Professor of International Development Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles, USA and Professor Emeritus of Political Economy, University College of London, UK. He has advised numerous governments and international agencies and was the Research Administrator at the World Bank from 1984 to 1987. He writes a monthly column for