The British Empire was a force for good

The principle of empire is morally bankcrupt

Speaker: Yasmin Alibhai-Brown

Arguing against the motion ‘The British Empire was a force for good’, Yasmin Alibhai-Brown concedes that the British Empire was a force for good in some ways, looking at the wealth generated and certain ideas that were spread. Moreover, she states that Britain was not as bad as the Germans or the Ottomans. However, in her view, the very principle of empire is morally bankrupt. She employs the words of Napoleon who said that 'in the eyes of empire builders, men are not men but instruments.' Alibhai-Brown believes that Britain was not as benign as it thinks it was. She believes there can never be a benevolent colonial power, and that relationship of empire is always unequal.