ABSTRACT
The paper presents the recent historiographical debates on the expansion of the British Empire, focusing on social and academical changes after de fall of that planetary system and the revision of the force of Great Britain in the international relations. It presents the mainstream interpretative school, based on the metropolis, whose origins in middle 20th century is related to the deconstruction of the Empire. They are opposed to the rise of other interpretations, born in the former colonies, related to new scholars focused on the constraints and contradictions of that system. The aim of the article is to show in which way the imperial crisis itself give force to this new analysis, opening new fields and interpretations so distant of that classic discourses on imperial power and structures.
Keywords:
British Empire; imperialism; historiography.