6/9. Empire Strikes Back. For more than half a century, "empire" has been a dirty word, associated with exploitation, racism and war. But now, amid a welter of failed nation-states, imperial ideas seem to be back in fashion - unofficially at least - in the USA, Russia and China. Zareer Masani asks whether it's possible to free empire from its unequal past and reinvent it as a benevolent, pluralistic and cosmopolitan form of government. Producer Ingrid Hassler Repeated on Sunday at 9.30pm