The Principle of Liberal Imperialism: Human Rights and Human Freedom in the Age of Evangelical Capitalism

Abstract

The paper argues that the principle that underlies liberal imperialism is conceptually incoherent. The Principle of Liberal Imperialism claims that liberal nations have a duty to intervene in non-liberal nations in response to persistent human rights violations for the sake of creating the conditions in which the agency of the population can be realized. The legitimacy of such interventions, however, is rooted in a presupposition that denies the very agency of the oppressed in whose name the intervention is justified. In response to this incoherence the paper concludes with the outline of a materialist conception of agency that prioritises the capability of oppressed populations to find internal resources of critique and social transformation.