New Colonialism and Politics

[Shtudmuffin]

I hardly know anything about politics, but I figured I'd ask this anyway. Which political group-conservative or liberal-would be more inclined to follow the trend of New Imperialism in the 1870s? Which political group would colonize more aggressively?

[Arachnid]

Originally Posted by Shtudmuffin

I hardly know anything about politics, but I figured I'd ask this anyway. Which political group-conservative or liberal-would be more inclined to follow the trend of New Imperialism in the 1870s? Which political group would colonize more aggressively?

Depends on the country. In some places the conservatives tended to be the keenest on plonking the flag on god forsaken dumps thousands of miles from home for the sake of national pride while elsewhere it was liberals keen to spread enlightenment and civilisation to backward savages.

[Shtudmuffin]

Originally Posted by Arachnid

Depends on the country. In some places the conservatives tended to be the keenest on plonking the flag on god forsaken dumps thousands of miles from home for the sake of national pride while elsewhere it was liberals keen to spread enlightenment and civilisation to backward savages.

Ok, so if it depends on the country, what would the opinions be in these countries:

-UK

-France

-Germany

-Spain

-Portugal

-Netherlands

-USA

-Italy

[Falecius]

In Italy, the political right tended to be more consistently favorable to colonial endeavors, but the notion of "right" should be intended rather broadly in this case. "Civilizing the natives and bring them light and progress" was rather low on the Italian priorities even in principle and progressive politicians (who were not necessarily what was called the "left" at the time)tended to be skeptical or opposed to conquering godforsaken desert money sinks.