ABSTRACT
This conclusion presents some closing thoughts on the concepts covered in the preceding chapters of this book. The book focuses on the imperialists thought that they denigrated or diminished their empire; anti-imperialists that they were providing excuses for it: giving comfort to British reactionaries and even balm to present-day American imperialists. Many of Britain's external policies in the first decade of the twenty-first century can be seen as mere extensions of the imperialism military, economic or humanitarian of her earlier years. A final reason for acknowledging the downside of British imperialism is that so many of its contemporaries did. This is an aspect that hardly ever appears in any of the empires more popular after-images: the extent and passion of the debate that invariably surrounded both the empire. A direct and unbroken line can also be drawn between what is often called Britain's informal or free trade empire in the nineteenth century, and globalisation today.
