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Gentlemanly Capitalism and Settler Capitalists: Imperialism, Dependent Development and Colonial Wealth in The South Island of New Zealand
Author(s) -
McAloon Jim
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
australian economic history review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.493
H-Index - 16
eISSN - 1467-8446
pISSN - 0004-8992
DOI - 10.1111/1467-8446.00030
Subject(s) - capitalism , colonialism , empire , elite , historiography , metropolitan area , capital (architecture) , british empire , economic history , political economy , economy , sociology , political science , history , economics , law , ancient history , politics , archaeology
This article engages with Cain and Hopkins’ analysis of the British Empire, and the closely related literature of settler capitalism. For Cain and Hopkins, the Empire was dominated by gentlemanly rentiers, and the dominions were run by a dependent and collaborating elite. This paper rests in the first instance on a comprehensive analysis of wealthy settlers in the South Island of New Zealand. In noting that most settlers who became wealthy were not of gentlemanly origins, and that even those colonial financiers most closely tied to metropolitan capital pursued local agendas, it will suggest that the historiography under consideration needs to be balanced by a better understanding of the dynamic relationship between colonies and the metropolitan economy. The paper argues that settler capitalism is a model worth using, but that its utility will be greatly extended by a focus on settler capitalists as well as settler capitalism.