Editing New Imperialism (section)

==Socioeconomic implications==
While [[Social Darwinism]] became popular throughout [[Western Europe]] and the [[United States]], the paternalistic French and Portuguese "[[civilizing mission]]" (in French: ''{{lang|fr|mission civilisatrice}}''; in Portuguese: ''{{lang|pt|Missão civilizadora}}'') appealed to many European statesmen both in and outside France. Despite apparent benevolence existing in the notion of the "White Man's Burden", the unintended consequences of imperialism might have greatly outweighed the potential benefits.  Governments became increasingly paternalistic at home and neglected the individual liberties of their citizens. Military spending expanded, usually leading to an "[[imperial overreach]]", and imperialism created clients of ruling elites abroad that were brutal and corrupt, consolidating power through imperial rents and impeding social change and economic development that ran against their ambitions. Furthermore, "nation building" oftentimes created cultural sentiments of [[racism]] and [[xenophobia]].<ref name="econjwatch.org">Coyne, Christopher J. and Steve Davies. "Empire: Public Goods and Bads" (Jan 2007). [http://econjwatch.org/issues/volume-4-number-1-january-2007]</ref>

[[File:Indigenous soldier pledging alliance to the Spanish flag.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Indigenous African]] soldier pledging alliance to the [[Kingdom of Spain (1874-1931)|Spanish flag]]. European armies would regularly enlist natives to garrison their own land.]]

Many of Europe's major elites also found advantages in formal, overseas expansion: large financial and industrial monopolies wanted imperial support to protect their overseas investments against competition and domestic political tensions abroad, bureaucrats sought government offices, military officers desired promotion, and the traditional but waning landed gentries sought increased profits for their investments, formal titles, and high office.  Such special interests have perpetuated empire-building throughout history.<ref name="econjwatch.org"/>

The enforcement of [[Mercantilism|mercantilist]] policies played a role in sustaining New Imperialism. This restricted colonies to trade only with respective metropoles, which strengthened home-country economies. At first through growing [[Chartered company|chartered companies]] and later through imperial states themselves, New Imperialism shifted towards the use of [[free trade]], the reduction of market restrictions and [[tariff]]s, and the coercion of foreign markets to open up, often through [[gunboat diplomacy]] or concerted [[Interventionism (politics)|interventionism]], such as [[police action]]s.{{Cn|date=May 2024}}

Observing the rise of trade unionism, socialism, and other protest movements during an era of mass society both in Europe and later in North America, elites sought to use imperial [[jingoism]] to co-opt the support of part of the industrial working class. The new mass media promoted jingoism in the [[Spanish–American War]] (1898), the [[Second Boer War]] (1899–1902), and the [[Boxer Rebellion]] (1900). The [[left-wing]] German historian [[Hans-Ulrich Wehler]] has defined [[social imperialism]] as "the diversions outwards of internal tensions and forces of change in order to preserve the social and political status quo", and as a "defensive ideology" to counter the "disruptive effects of industrialization on the social and economic structure of Germany".<ref name="Eley pages 925-926" /> In Wehler's opinion, social imperialism was a device that allowed the German government to distract public attention from domestic problems and preserve the existing social and political order. The dominant elites used social imperialism as the glue to hold together a fractured society and to maintain popular support for the social ''status quo''. According to Wehler, German colonial policy in the 1880s was the first example of social imperialism in action, and was followed up by the 1897 [[Tirpitz Plan]] for expanding the German Navy. In this point of view, groups such as the Colonial Society and the [[Navy League (Germany)|Navy League]] are seen as instruments for the government to mobilize public support. The demands for annexing most of [[Europe]] and [[Africa]] in [[World War I]] are seen by Wehler as the pinnacle of social imperialism.<ref name="Eley pages 925-926">Eley, Geoff "Social Imperialism" pages 925–926 from ''Modern Germany'' Volume 2, New York, Garland Publishing, 1998 page 925.</ref>