Declive, propaganda y competencia: visiones foráneas del imperio español

Abstract

Three relevant interpretations of the Spanish empire are considered in this essay: that of the Frenchphilosopher Montesquieu and those of the British Adam Smith and Jeremy Bentham. Montesquieuand Smith tried to identify the true nature of the principles of the Spanish empire -which they bothdeemed to be different from those principles of French and British imperialism and also absolutelyinadequate to promote economic growth and the development of social modernity. Bentham usedsome of these ideas in order to elaborate a theory of the impossibility of liberal empires in theAtlantic World.