The fall of Imperial Britain in South-East Asia /

Tarling argues that the British developed a vision of world politics based on the relationship between the elites of nation states and that they stuck to that vision for a century and a half. Territorial control was generally limited in extent, and where it was not limited in extent, it was limited in duration. The collaborator played an essential role in the British world system, and here Tarling approvingly quotes Robinson and Gallagher's well-known theory of collaboration. Britain's interests fell into two circles, one economic and the other territorial; at times Britain had two foreign policies, depending on whether the issue affected a territory--especially India--or its economic interest. A study of Southeast Asia, the author asserts, helps to explain the nature and objectives of British imperialism. Tarling is the author of more than a dozen books on British imperialism in Southeast Asia, including the Cambridge History of Southeast Asia (1992). This book is a very useful contribution to British imperial studies and to the modern history of Southeast Asia. Undergraduate; graduate. R. D. Long; Eastern Michigan University