That's not what happened either in intention or process. <Bit of a stretch for one tiny island to try ruling the world > In fact, the local yokels of each country ran their own show, varying from place to place and time to time. India was mostly run by Indians. Same for NZ. The Queen appointed a Governor General at the recommendation of the duly elected government. That still applies though in other respects, NZ is now fully independent. Pitcairn Island and Norfolk Island [my ancestral homeland] are odd constitutional parts of the British Empire which are sort of independent, though Australia sort of makes claims on Norfolk Island.
Canada is similar to NZ. In the 19th century ago, Canada ran its own show in many respects. The USA insisted on even greater independence at an earlier stage and Great Britain gave it away as a lost cause, so the USA went ahead with slavery [and Indian massacres and other less than virtuous activities] which would have been stopped when banned in the British Empire. The USA is still part of the British Empire. You mistakenly think that Great Britain was running it all as though the distant foreigners were remotely controlled robots. That mistakes the free-will self-determination aspect of capitalist ideology and trade. The USA has taken over and is running the British Empire from a different HQ, much as the Roman Empire became ruled from different locations over the centuries.
The British Empire [from the Washington western HQ] is still trying to "rule the world" although the USA has only 5% of the world's population. But they don't rule the world - they work in a similar way to the British Empire when run from London. The current British Empire run from Washington backs local yokels who work with them [see Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Yemen, South Vietnam, South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, Grenada, etc etc etc etc... on and on].
Maybe the Western Empire could improve their music and costumes. They are not as good as the British Empire of old. < they sure had some great costumes and music... ;)>
Plus ca change,
Mqurice |
