During the first half of the twentieth century, movements seeking political equality emerged in France's overseas territories. Within twenty years, they were replaced by movements for national independence in the majority of French colonies, protectorates, and mandates. In this pathbreaking study of the decolonization era, Adria Lawrence asks why elites in French colonies shifted from demands for egalitarian and democratic reforms to calls for independent statehood, and why mass mobilization for independence emerged where and when it did. Lawrence shows that nationalist discourses became dominant as a consequence of the failure of the reform agenda. Where political rights were granted, colonial subjects opted for further integration and reform. Contrary to conventional accounts, nationalism was not the only or even the primary form of anti-colonialism. Lawrence shows further that mass nationalist protest occurred only when and where French authority was disrupted. Imperial crises were the cause, not the result, of mass protest.

Co-Winner, 2015 J. David Greenstone Book Prize, Politics and History Section, American Political Science Association

Winner, 2014 Robert L. Jervis and Paul W. Schroeder Best Book Award, International History and Politics Section, American Political Science Association

A 2013 Foreign Policy Best Book on the Middle East

"Political scientists interested in nationalism, imperialism, and contentious politics will find something in this book to inform their thinking. But Lawrence has something new to say to other audiences too. Historians who feel that political scientists enter the historical field only to fetch a few examples to prove their pet theories will find in Lawrence a political scientist who, when she delves into history, does so as a historian would and actively contributes to the historical understanding of nationalism in the Middle East."
Nathan J. Brown, George Washington University

"Adria Lawrence presents an important argument: the development of nationalism is not a natural, automatic response to subordination in an empire, but an interactive, contingent phenomenon. Her book is about actual politics – the give and take of claims and counterclaims, the opening and shutting of opportunities. She presents an analysis that students of nationalism, colonial situations, and political movements need to ponder."
Frederick Cooper, New York University, author of Decolonization and African Society: The Labor Question in French and British Africa

"Mainstream interpretations of how nationalist movements under French colonial rule emerged and mobilized for independence have long privileged the inherent link between colonialism and the impulse for national self-determination. In this innovative and deeply informed study, Lawrence highlights the contingent nature of the nationalist enterprise, in which the impulse for political equality and its subsequent denial by the colonial authorities serves to catalyze popular demand for independence framed in the language of nationalism. The author brings together an impressive array of original and secondary sources to substantiate her theoretical claims with particular focus on the Moroccan experience. Clearly written and devoid of jargon, Lawrence has produced a compelling reinterpretation of imperial rule and the politics of nationalism from which students and specialists alike will benefit."
John P. Entelis, Fordham University

"Some of the most rewarding books are those that expose a flaw in conventional wisdom. Adria Lawrence’s Imperial Rule and the Politics of Nationalism discredits the widely held view that nations naturally want to rule themselves. She shows that Moroccans might well have been satisfied by French rule had the French governed them more skillfully. This finding, which is based on impressive research, has huge policy implications concerning the world’s trouble spots."
Timur Kuran, Duke University