*Liberal Worlds: James Bryce and the Democratic Intellect*
Punti chiave
- •Bryce criticò il Civil Service indiano come laborioso ma privo di immaginazione e simpatia per le condizioni dell’India.
- •Disse che gli atteggiamenti verso i nativi peggiorarono dopo l’Ilbert Bill, soprattutto in Bengala, e che gli europei spesso si comportavano con arroganza.
- •Il post afferma che il libro di H.S. Jones tratta anche del lavoro di Bryce a favore dell’Armenia.
- •Bryce difese la liberal education e partecipò ai dibattiti sulle humanities.
- •Bryce servì come ambasciatore negli Stati Uniti, ottenendo un contatto diretto con la vita politica americana.
Un ottimo libro, ecco un estratto che si collega direttamente a una conversazione che stavo avendo proprio ora:
He [Bryce] regretted the low quality of the Indian Civil Service: they were hard-working and motivated by a desire to promote the welfare of the Indian people, but ‘rather wanting in imagination and sympathy, less inspired by the extraordinary and unprecedented phenomena of the country than might have been expected.’ He went on: “Since the unhappy so-called Ilbert Bill there has been a marked change in the attitude of Europeans to natives, especially in Bengal; and the natives complain bitterly that the civilians as well as the military \u0026 the planters, treat them with arrogance \u0026 make them feel their social inferiority as well as political subordination.” He continued by saying that all he had seen made him certain that he had made the right decision in not pursuing a career in the Indian Civil Service.
He [Bryce] regretted the low quality of the Indian Civil Service: they were hard-working and motivated by a desire to promote the welfare of the Indian people, but ‘rather wanting in imagination and sympathy, less inspired by the extraordinary and unprecedented phenomena of the country than might have been expected.’ He went on: “Since the unhappy so-called Ilbert Bill there has been a marked change in the attitude of Europeans to natives, especially in Bengal; and the natives complain bitterly that the civilians as well as the military \u0026 the planters, treat them with arrogance \u0026 make them feel their social inferiority as well as political subordination.” He continued by saying that all he had seen made him certain that he had made the right decision in not pursuing a career in the Indian Civil Service.
L’autore è H.S. Jones, e ho anche imparato molto del lavoro di Bryce a favore dell’Armenia, un tema di cui non sapevo nulla. Sono un grande estimatore di The American Commonwealth di Bryce come analisi della democrazia, anche se naturalmente non sono d’accordo con tutti i dettagli. Bryce fu anche un primo sostenitore del NIMBY, già allora, e svolse un ruolo importante nei dibattiti sulle humanities, difendendo in sostanza la liberal education. Servì inoltre come ambasciatore negli Stati Uniti. Il suo lungo, forse troppo lungo, Modern Democracies è nella mia coda di lettura su Kindle.
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