Book review : The ends of empire : the last colonies revisited [Fisher]

Abstract

Eminent Sydney University academics Robert Aldrich and John Connell have teamed up once more to produce The ends of empire, an update of The last colonies published in 1998. The volume is both an invaluable update and stand-alone review of the current context and issues relating to the lingering overseas territories of the Western powers to which the authors limit their focus (France, United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Denmark, United States, Australia and New Zealand). It is a dispassionate analysis of the benefits and costs, to both metropolitan states and their territories, of continued metropolitan sovereignty, and provides strong insights into the meaning and blurring of independence and sovereignty in today’s world. [excerpt]