Imperial Conferences Periodic meetings held between 1907 and 1937 by the dominions within the British Empire and later the Common¬ wealth. Convened to discuss mutual defense and economic issues, they passed nonbinding resolutions. However, the Statute of Westminster imple¬ mented decisions made at the 1926 and 1930 conferences that described the self-governing dominions (Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Ireland, and Newfoundland) as “autonomous communities within the British empire.” After World War II, meetings between the countries’ prime ministers replaced the conferences.
Imperial Valley Valley extending from southeastern California, U.S., to Mexico. It forms part of the Colorado Desert. Intensive irrigation began in 1901 with the opening of the Imperial Canal, which diverted water from the Colorado River. Floodwaters in 1905-07 destroyed the irrigation chan¬ nels and created the Salton Sea. The valley is now watered by the Hoover Dam and the All-American Canal. With 3,000 mi (4,800 km) of irrigation canals, it contains 500,000 acres (200,000 hectares) of cultivated land.
imperialism State policy, practice, or advocacy of extending power and dominion, especially by direct territorial acquisition or by gaining political and economic control of other areas. Because imperialism always involves the use of power, often in the form of military force, it is widely considered morally objectionable, and the term accordingly has been used by states to denounce and discredit the foreign policies of their opponents. Imperialism in ancient times is clear in the unending succession of empires in China, western Asia, and the Mediterranean. Between the 15th century and the middle of the 18th, England, France, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Spain built empires in the Americas, India, and the East Indies. Russia, Italy, Ger¬ many, the United States, and Japan became imperial powers in the period from the middle of the 19th century to World War I. The imperial designs of Japan, fascist Italy, and Nazi Germany in the 1930s culminated in the outbreak of World War II. After the war the Soviet Union consolidated its military and political control of the states of eastern Europe (see Iron Cur¬
tain). From the early 20th century the U.S. was accused of imperialism for intervening in the affairs of developing countries in order to protect the interests of U.S.-owned international corporations (see United Fruit Co.). Economists and political theorists have debated whether imperialism ben¬ efits the states that practice it and whether such benefits or other reasons ever justify a state in pursuing imperialist polices. Some theorists, such as Niccolo Machiavelli, have argued that imperialism is the justified result of the natural struggle for survival among peoples. Others have asserted that it is necessary in order to ensure national security. A third justification for imperialism, offered only infrequently after World War II, is that it is a means of liberating peoples from tyrannical rule or bringing them the bless¬ ings of a superior way of life. See also colonialism; sphere of influence.
impetigo Xim-po-'tl-.go, im-po-'te-.goV Bacterial inflammatory skin dis¬ ease, the most common skin infection in children. Initial blisters rupture, drying to a crust. Caused by staphylococcus or streptococcus, it is very contagious in newborns, becoming less so with age. Poor hygiene, crowd¬ ing, and humid, hot weather may promote its spread. A broad-spectrum antibiotic applied to the blisters can treat simple impetigo; more exten¬ sive cases, especially in infants, may require a systemic antibiotic.
Imphal Vimp-.hoA City (pop., 2001 prelim.: 217,275), capital of Manipur state, northeastern India. Located east-northeast of Kolkata (Calcutta), it lies in the Manipur River valley at an elevation of 2,500 feet (760 meters). It was the seat of the kings of Manipur before the region came under Brit¬ ish rule. In 1944 it was the site of a victory for the Anglo-Indian forces over the Japanese on the Burmese front. Imphal is a major trade centre, noted for its weaving, brass ware, and bronze ware.
implication In logic, a relation that holds between two propositions when they are linked as antecedent and consequent of a true conditional proposition. Logicians distinguish two main types of implication, mate¬ rial and strict. Proposition p materially implies proposition q if and only if the material conditional p z> q (read “if p then q ”) is true. A proposi¬ tion of the form p q is false whenever p is true and q is false; it is true in the other three possible cases (i.e., p true and q true; p false and q true; p false and q false). It follows that whenever p is false, p z> q is auto¬ matically true: this is a peculiarity that makes the material conditional inadequate as an interpretation of the meaning of conditional sentences in ordinary English. On the other hand, proposition p strictly implies proposition q if and only if it is impossible for p to be true without q also being true (i.e., if the conjunction of p and not-# is impossible).
impotence Vim-po-tonsV Inability to achieve or maintain erection of the penis; hence, inability to participate fully in sexual intercourse. Erectile impotence (failure to achieve erection) may have either physical causes (e.g., alcoholism, endocrine disease) or psychological ones (e.g., anxiety, hostility toward the partner). Ejaculatory impotence (inability to reach orgasm, sometimes with an erection maintained for a long time) nearly always has an emotional cause. See also Viagra.
Impressionism Movement in art that developed in France in the late 19th century. In painting it included works produced c. 1867-86 by a group of artists who shared approaches, techniques, and discontent with academic teaching, originally including Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Camille Pissarro, Alfred Sisley, and Berthe Morisot. Later Edouard Manet, whose earlier style had strongly influenced several of them, Mary Cassatt, Edgar Degas, Paul Cezanne and others joined them. The identi¬ fying feature of their work was an attempt to record a scene accurately and objectively, capturing the transient effects of light on colour and tex¬ ture. To this end they abandoned the traditional muted browns, grays, and greens in favour of a lighter, more brilliant palette; stopped using grays and blacks for shadows; built up forms out of discrete flecks and dabs of colour; and often painted out of doors, rather than in the studio. They abandoned traditional formal compositions in favour of a more casual and less contrived disposition of objects within the picture frame, and their subject matter included landscapes, trees, houses, and even urban street scenes and railroad stations. After the French Academy’s Salon consis¬ tently rejected most of their works, they held their own exhibition in 1874; seven others followed. A critic described them derisively as “impression¬ ists,” and they adopted the name as an accurate description of their intent. Before dissolving in the late 1880s, the group had revolutionized West¬ ern painting. See also Post-Impressionism; Salon des Independants.
Impressionism In music, a style initiated by French composer Claude Debussy at the end of the 19th century. The term, which is somewhat vague in reference to music, was introduced by analogy with contemporaneous
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French painting; it was disliked by Debussy himself. Elements often termed impressionistic include static harmony, emphasis on instrumental timbres that creates a shimmering interplay of “colours,” melodies that lack directed motion, surface ornamentation that obscures or substitutes for melody, and an avoidance of traditional musical form. Impressionism can be seen as a reaction against the rhetoric of Romanticism, disrupting the forward motion of standard harmonic progressions. The other com¬ poser most often associated with Impressionism is Maurice Ravel. Impres¬ sionistic passages are common in earlier music by Frederic Chopin, Franz Liszt, and Richard Wagner, and in music by later composers such as Charles Ives, Bela Bartok, and George Gershwin.