It traces a collection of Anglo-Dutch epistemic exchanges initiated in littoral spaces amid occupation, comprised of political ideas, such as liberalism and autocracy; policies of settlement and work; and cultural information tied to gender and status. These exchanges generated epistemic interdependencies between British and Dutch colonists, establishing new and intrusive ruling practices that shaped British governance....

So- that's all clear, then.

I was wondering, though, who "Britain's despots" might have been.