The dynamics of global dominance : European overseas empires, 1415-1980 / David B. Abernethy.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 463-504) and index.

Western Europe and the world Cueta, Bojador and beyond: Europeans on the move -- Why did the overseas empires rise, persist, and fall? -- Phases of imperial expansion and contraction. Phase 1: expansion, 1415-1733 ; Phase 2: contraction, 1755-1824 ; Phase 3: expansion, 1824-1912 ; Phase 4: unstable equilibrium, 1914-39 ; Phase 5: expansion, 1940-80 -- Accounting for imperial expansion. Western Europe as a region: shared features -- Western Europe as a system of competing states ; The institutional basis for the triple assault -- Non-European initiatives and perception -- Consolidating power. Sectoral institution and techniques of control -- Sources of colonial weakness -- Accounting for imperial contraction. Colonialism and self-defeating enterprises -- The international dimension: war as the catalyst for independence -- Consequences of European overseas rule. Legacies ; The moral evaluation of colonialism.