The Case for Colonialism
| Author | Bruce Gilley |
|---|---|
| Published | 2017 |
| Format | Research paper |
TL;DR — Bruce Gilley’s withdrawn 2017 Third World Quarterly essay arguing colonial rule was often beneficial, as republished in Academic Questions in 2018.
Gilley, a political scientist at Portland State University, published the essay in Third World Quarterly in 2017. It argued that Western colonialism was, in many places, objectively beneficial and subjectively legitimate, and that some states should reclaim elements of it. Petitions demanded retraction, fifteen editorial-board members resigned, and after threats against the editor the journal withdrew it.
This copy is the version the National Association of Scholars republished, “in its entirety,” in Academic Questions 31:167–185 (published online 17 April 2018), with an editor’s note recounting the controversy.
What it is: a deliberately provocative argument essay by an academic, one of the most controversial journal pieces of the 2010s; its evidence and conclusions were widely disputed. The Academic Questions reprint (Springer, in copyright).
Where this came from
- A copy saved in October 2026.
19 pages. A PDF copy is held in Kyle’s private archive; it is not linked or shared here.