Modern Age empires: colony management principles on the example of Great Britain and France

Abstract

The object of this research is the colonial policy of the two largest European empires of the Modern Age: France and Great Britain. In the course of conquering new lands, these countries faced the problem of managing vast territories and diverse indigenous population. The solution consisted in establishment of effective colonial management systems. The peculiarities of functionality of such systems became the subject of this research. The goal lies in determination of specificity of organization and operation of the systems of colonial management in the British and French Empires from the perspective of their interrelation with cultural factors. The conclusion is made that the British Empire retained the traditional government system on the conquered territories – indirect management. The French Empire either replaced the traditional government institutions with European analogues or included traditional system into their system of management as a lower administrative link – direct management. Comparing the described management system, the author notes the French approach was more resource-intensive and did not allow gaining a large profit. This lead to an assumption that the colonial management policy was affected by both, cultural and economic factors. The scientific novelty consists in examination of the systems of colonial management from the perspective of their interrelation with the imperial strategies that are based on the policy of recognition of population differences. Such strategies could be implemented within the framework of two paradigms: unification (formation of the unified imperial culture and institutions in all subordinated territories), and diversity (preservation on the conquered territories of the local cultural and political institutions). Further on, the examples of India, Africa and other regions would demonstrate that there is a direct link between the indicated British and French imperial strategies and systems of colonial management.