New Imperialism (1870–1914) and the European Legal Traditions: A (Dis)integrative Episode

Abstract

During the partition of Africa at the end of the 19th century, the focus of European states was no longer on just maximizing power and profits by extending markets for the mother country by monopolizing trade. A political dimension was added by the belief of Europeans that they were responsible for promoting civilization and establishing governments in the countries under their imperial authority. This integrative movement, from a European point of view, fuelled by the legal doctrine of positivism, developed into our familiar and present-day system of international law, which applies to all participating states, including those from the African continent. However, in the days of the partition of Africa, New Imperialism was seen as a disintegrative force by the African populations. It implicated that border lines were drawn, territory was divided and whole peoples were disturbed, split up and assimilated to European civilization. New Imperialism forms an ambiguous European tradition, also considering the international tradition in the 19th century: it was simultaneously integrative in its motivation and disintegrative in its effect.