British empire, diversity, empowerment

The diversity of outcomes in the British Empire, exports, and post-war economic sustainability: Which of the ruled appreciated the rulers and which did not?
Book Review: Unfinished Empire (WSJ)

This varied from locale to locale, a the author studies  “the ways in which the British Empire empowered indigenous forces that were often supportive of the changes brought about by colonial rule. … ‘They offered a new individualism: the liberation from custom, worn-out religious ritual, the iron grip of lineage or prescribed occupation. It was this promise of escape from the grinding rigidity of their own social systems—not least in the treatment of women—that they wanted the British to honor.'”

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