68 JULY AUGUST 2024 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL South Pacific, Parker expertly sketches the actions, successes, and mistakes that ultimately led to the end of the empire and its conversion into the loose and vaguely conceived Commonwealth of Nations. He is scathing about the human rights abuses, mass killing, torture, and sheer disregard of native populations that characterize much of the empire’s history, but he also devotes extensive discussion to its remarkable achievements. Simply stated, the British Empire was far more successful in every respect than any other modern colonial empire, including America’s in the Philippines, the South Pacific, and the Caribbean. To this day, the cultural and linguistic legacy of the British Empire remains vivid and important. And any serious consideration of the “liberal” side of British imperialism must recognize that, more than any other European empire by far, the British laid the groundwork for independence and mutual respect, despite the uglier moments that Parker does not shy away from discussing. It is not an accident that much of the current U.K. economy, including most of its automotive industry and much of its retail sector, is owned by Indians descended from Britain’s former subjects (Indian citizens, not British citizens of Indian descent, who also have been more successful overall than Britain’s total population). And while plenty of former British colonies have succumbed to dictatorship and misrule, plenty of others have remained parliamentary democracies with free elections and civil liberties. The author also draws vivid and exciting portraits of the key players of the era, from Lloyd George, Stanley Baldwin, and Winston Churchill on the British side, to Nehru, Gandhi, and Jinnah in South Asia, and many lesserknown independence leaders across the globe. Matthew Parker skillfully captures a moment in time that proved to be pivotal in shaping the rest of the 20th century and our own current century beyond. n Ambassador Eric Rubin is a retired Senior Foreign Service officer who served as president of AFSA from 2019 to 2023.
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