Deminutio capitis: theories of Western Civilization and World Order, 1919-2019

• Main Author: Fletcher, Louis
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: The University of Edinburgh 2020
• Subjects: Western civilization; idea of progress; Europe; Paul Valery; deminutio capitis; post-European world order; concept of civilization; German imperial mundi; British Empire; liberal interventionism; pluralisation; deterritorialization; Armitage; North Atlantic
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.7488/era/558; https://era.ed.ac.uk/handle/1842/37272

During the long nineteenth century 'civilization' was the highest-order concept through which European empire was imagined and justified. It divided the world into a hierarchical space of identity and difference on the basis of the idea of progress. It posited a constitutive identity among...