The external policies of nations and empires have traditionally been viewed as a being "watertight compartments", free from the constraints of domestic instances such as local culture. Cultural policies are thus viewed as being incapable of informing and reinforcing official external policies. This book (originally a university dissertation) challenges such a view by analyzing the linkages which existed between official British foreign/colonial policies between 1870 and 1945 and the necessity to both project British culture abroad and adapt its external policies to local customs and traditions. Furthermore, the book analyzes specific British cultural policies and instruments of cultural projection of the British Empire and Comnmonwealth in order to verify whether they conform to the politological concept of "soft power".