(Source: Routledge)
Routledge
is publishing a book on the administration of early colonial India.
ABOUT THE BOOK
This book looks at how the fledgling British
East India Company state of the 1760s developed into the mature Anglo-Indian
empire of the 19th century. It investigates the bureaucratic culture of early
Company administrators, primarily at the district level, and the influence of
that culture on the nature and scope of colonial government in India. Drawing
on a host of archival material and secondary sources, James Lees details the
power relationship between local officials and their superiors at Fort William
in Calcutta, and examines the wider implications of that relationship for
Indian society.
The book brings to the fore the manner in which
the Company’s roots in India were established despite its limited military
resources and lack of governmental experience. It underlines how the early
colonial polity was shaped by European administrators’ attitudes towards
personal and corporate reputation, financial gain, and military governance.
A thoughtful intervention in understanding the
impact of the Company’s government on Indian society, this volume will be of
interest to researchers working within South Asian studies, British studies,
administrative history, military history, and the history of colonialism.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
James Lees is a Research Advisor at Karlstad University in Sweden. He
holds an MA and a PhD in Imperial and South Asian History from King’s College
London. Dr Lees’s research has examined power relations and bureaucratic
culture among the European civil servants of the East India Company state in
the 18th and 19th century, with a particular focus on the use of armed force in
a colonial context. He has worked in research administration and policy roles
at universities and funding bodies, and also taught at universities in the UK
and Asia.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Introduction 2. The Company State after
1765 3. ‘The Essence of the State Itself’: Reputation and the
Company’s Government 4. ‘A Gendarmerie of Last Resort’? The
Roles of Armed Force, 1760–1820 5. Rangpur District, 1770–c.
1800 6. Chittagong District, 1760–c. 1800 7. The
Company State in the 1820s 8. Conclusion
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