In this interpretation, British policy had been moving toward dominion and Commonwealth transition for decades by the 1930s. Officials often saw a managed path to self-government as preferable to fighting independence wars and as a basis for longer post-imperial ties. This places overseas shipbuilding within a political as well as a strategic setting. The argument explicitly rejects a benevolent-empire reading. It is an interpretation of institutional strategy rather than a comprehensive account of decolonisation.
Notable Point · 1:52:37-1:54:32
Imperial industry and the politics of Commonwealth transition
Overseas industrial development is linked to Britain's longer transition from empire to Commonwealth, with an explicit rejection of a benevolent-empire reading.