Good And Empire

The People Of The Wind, IV.

Eve Davisson to Philippe Rochefort:

"'Do you believe the Terran Empire is a force for good?'"  (p. 47)

Rochefort replies:

"'On balance, yes. It commits evil. But nothing mortal can avoid that. Our duty is to correct the wrongs...and also to recognize the values that the Empire does, in fact, preserve.'" (ibid.)

This is not like any empire on a single planet. If a human colony or a non-human intelligent species practices communism or anarchism, it can be incorporated into the Terran Empire under the minimal conditions that:

it pays modest taxes;

it receives Imperial protection;

it is free to, although not compelled to, trade with other Imperial planets.

The human colony on Esperance tries to set an example of pacifism. Eventually, Esperance is used as a naval base in the war between Empire and Domain. But the Empire has made no attempt to suppress Esperancian pacifism.

Eventually, we see Dominic Flandry involved in the violent Imperial annexation of the non-human planet, Brae. At that stage, Rochefort, your Empire has not only committed evil. It has transgressed the conditions that I outlined above.