Florian Louis, historian and co-director of the book World History of Imperialisms from the 19th to the 21st Century (PUF), stated on Thursday on France 24 that the idea that imperialisms disappeared in 1991 is an ethnocentric perspective.
He cited several contemporary examples that demonstrate a resurgence of imperialisms: Donald Trump’s ambitions over the North Atlantic, China’s claims over Taiwan, as well as Russia’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine.
According to him, these events show that imperialisms did not vanish with decolonization and the fall of the USSR, challenging a widely held belief at the end of the 20th century.