In “Decline and fall…must empires always self-destruct?”, Hunt argues that the demise of empire is inevitable. Citing examples throughout history, from the medieval theory that what rises must fall, to Edward Gibbon’s urging to contemplate the “prospect of desolation”, Hunt demonstrates that elements of the fall of Rome are present in the fall of the British Empire. He suggests that the demise of London led to the creation of a new American Empire: “We were the Greeks to America’s Romans.” Hunt argues that the West’s fascination with Rome’s demise exists because we can recognize the similarities between London and Rome and fear where we stand in the cycle today.
On the other hand, Robert Sibley, in “We should all sing the praises of an Anglosphere empire”, counters that there is no true American empire, rather that the new emerging power is a coalition of English-speaking nations, or an “Anglosphere” empire. Unlike Hunt’s use of concrete historical examples to establish empire, Sibley utilizes a more idealistic notion of the word, such as that used by author Niall Ferguson. Sibley claims that an Anglosphere empire would bring about “a new kind of imperialsm” that “would be an empire of freedom”, while Hunt’s view of empire suggests that imperialsm is constant and does not change, despite the changing centuries.
In stark contrast to Sibley’s article, Yasmin Albhai-Brown denounces Ferguson’s positive, idealist view of empire. Providing examples of the defects of British imperliasm on non-western nations, Albhai-Brown stresses that we must define “empire through the voices of the conquered.” Her article suggests the importance of teaching children about the British Empire in schools, to comprehend its consequences on so many people.