Krishan Kumar

British sociologist at the University of Virginia who wrote Visions of Empire, The Making of English National Identity, and 1989: Revolutionary Ideas and Ideals — examining how empires construct and project their identities, particularly the British Empire's self-presentation.

Provides the sociological analysis of imperial identity — Kumar's argument that empires require a distinctive imperial identity (not simply a national one) and that Britain, like Rome, constructed itself as a 'missionary' rather than 'ethnic' empire explains how large multi-ethnic states legitimate their domination.