liberal political discourse often employs terms with strongly positive connotations when presenting liberal institutions or historical projects.

Examples include:

• liberty,
• freedom,
• democracy,
• rule of law,
• human rights,
• representative government.

Historically, there are indeed examples where imperial powers described their own actions using such language—for example, references to the "civilizing mission" or "bringing liberty" while simultaneously exercising colonial rule.

That observation is part of a substantial scholarly literature, especially in postcolonial studies.

However, one should still distinguish between:

• how particular historical actors justified their actions, and
• the meanings of the concepts themselves.

The fact that a government invokes "freedom" does not by itself establish that the concept of freedom is merely propaganda.