¹I am grateful to Nauman Naqvi, Gil Anidjar, and especially to James Ingram for comments on this text.

Abstract

Nermeen Shaikh goes underneath the benevolent face of power to examine the forms that imperialism has assumed, along with its enduring legacies, even as its own humanitarian ideals have been betrayed. She traces its evolution from the civilizing mission to the spread of freedom and democracy and reveals some of the consequences of interventions made in the name of charity.