New Books Network Philip J. Stern, "Empire, Incorporated: The Corporations That Built British Colonialism" (Harvard UP, 2023)
Jan 4, 2026
Philip J. Stern, a historian at Duke University, offers a fresh perspective on British colonialism, positioning corporations at its core rather than the Crown. He discusses how companies not only drove global expansion but also governed territories, raising intriguing questions about the nature of public and private power. Stern highlights the paradoxes of corporations, the failures of various ventures, and how early modern practices connect to contemporary governance. He also delves into the diverse motives of those promoting colonies, revealing unexpected archival insights.
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Corporations As Early Governments
- Corporations were often governments from their inception, not merely commercial helpers of the state.
- The East India Company functioned as a form of territorial governance long before it became a crown-administered colony.
Many Corporate Paths To Empire
- Joint-stock and corporate models recurred across centuries and regions, creating many different forms of colonial power.
- These companies complicate the divide between formal territorial empire and informal influence or settlement.
Frequent Failures And 'Get Poor Quick' Schemes
- Many corporate colonial ventures failed, were scams, or left investors impoverished.
- Stern calls one particularly disastrous plan a 'get poor quick scheme' to emphasize how common failure was.
