imperialism

Noun

imperialism (countable and uncountable, plural imperialisms)

1. The policy of forcefully extending a nation's authority by territorial gain or by the establishment of economic and political dominance over other nations.
   • Though most of the cases here cover European encounters with non-Europeans, it is not the intention of the book to give the impression that genocide is a function of European colonialism and imperialism alone.2008 June 1, A. Dirk Moses, “Preface”, in Empire, Colony, Genocide: Conquest, Occupation, and Subaltern Resistance in World History, Berghahn Books, →ISBN, page x
2. (historical) The means of forming, maintaining, or expanding an empire.
3. (derogatory, figuratively) Any undue extension of political, intellectual, or other forms of authority, particularly in regards to systems that benefit the Western world at the cost of the Global South.
   • The moral imperialism of the Supreme Court did not end with Chief Justice Warren’s resignation nor with the departures of the Justices who made up his distinctive majority.1990, Robert H. Bork, The Tempting of America: The Political Seduction of the Law, →ISBN, page 101
   • By contrast, economists of the Chicago School approach [sociology] from a standpoint of the imperialism of economics, in the sense that they advance the study of substructure into the areas of the study of superstructure, by researching it as economics.1998, Michio Morishima, “Foreword: Joseph A. Schumpeter (1883–1950) and Yasuma Takata (1883–1972)”, in Joseph Schumpeter, Yasuma Takata, Power or Pure Economics?, →ISBN, page xxxvi