Reddit reviews A Turn to Empire: The Rise of Imperial Liberalism in Britain and France

>[n]ineteenth-century liberals, including most prominently Alexis de Tocqueville and John Stuart Mill, turned decisively from the earlier thinkers' skepticism about empire and supported the expansion and consolidation of European rule over non-European subjects.

> "Despotism," wrote Mill, "is a legitimate mode of government in dealing with barbarians, provided the end be their improvement, and the means justified by actually effecting that end."

> Mill and Tocqueville were joined in their support for empire by many of their liberal contemporaries as well as by other political thinkers of their age, including Hegel and even Marx to some degree.

Here are three reviews of Jennifer Pitts' 2005 book -- one short, one longer, and one even longer (PDF). Here's the book on Amazon.

Here's her profile at University of Chicago.

Crossposted from /r/HistoryofIdeas.