El imperio informal, de modelo a herramienta conceptual: estado de la cuestión para el estudio de la España del siglo XIX

Abstract

Abstract

In this article we shall study the impact that research of the informal empire has had in the Spanish imperial studies. Since the key works that developed and spread the concept in the mid-20th century, multiple historiographies have use it to examine relations of dominion without remaining invasion or occupation. In Spain, we assisted to a renewal of the imperial studies in the 1990s following the research lines of the informal empire. However, it has been recently when a coordinated effort to use this concept as an analytical tool of the Spanish imperial device in the 19th century has taken place. This impulse has turn out to be a useful instrument to discuss the more propitious research line and the major limitations to develop an inquiry about the Spanish foreign policy during the period covered by this perspective.

Key words

Spanish empire, informal empire, 19th century, imperial studies, renewal