Lecture 5- Decolonization and the Cold War

Question 1

What were the causes of decolonisation?

Answer 1

*Decolonization was intrinsic to imperialism
started in the 18c with the declaration of independence of the USA, Haiti,
Latin America- first wave of decolonisation
the second wave occurred in the 20th century

*First World War, Versailles
Often said that it ended the age of high imperialism (World War I = War of
empires) → does not go beyond Europe
Conference of Versailles → Wilson’s Fourteen Points (democracy, self-determination of people), representants of non-Europeans were present but were not heard
o Disaffection with the treaty in Asia/non-Europe
o Stimulated forward colonisation → colonies of defeated nations as mandates for Britain and France
o Self-determination was something for the West and not the others
o Words like “self-determination” stuck in non-European intellectuals’ minds

• Changing colonial rationales- school of the promise of democracy and independence
  o India
  o USA in the Philippines → promised freedom in 30 years from 1936

*Anti-imperialism in Europe

*Second world war afterwards, 2/5 of the world experienced decolonisation. Crucial for changing the dynamics of the colonies, severely weakening the power of the colonizers, → giving the idea that Europeans were not that powerful

*Increasing nationalist and anti-imperialist
pressures- talk of independence gets stronger

*Weakening powers of colonizers

*Costs of empire

• Not one single trajectory that explains the origins and reason why decolonization happened, even though the new result was pretty much the same
• Increasing international discourse of independence- Internal discourse: UN declaration 1960 → strongly against colonization, explicitly said that colonialism is bad, declaration of rights

Question 2

Influence of Nationalism

Answer 2

Why do people in colonies develop nationalist feelings?

Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities (1983):
*educational curriculum
*print capitalism

Example: Nigeria or Indonesia was not a kingdom before colonialism

Educational curriculum → all people come together in schools, creating solidarity
that encompasses the colonial unity, territorial unity

Print capitalism (commercial press) → Commercial newspapers emerged to give a voice to the people in the colonies and give a voice to imperial notice.

Question 3

Asian Decolonisation

Answer 3

• Nationalism early, so earlier decolonisation, Where decolonization started in the mid-20th century
• Japan occupied all of Southeast Asia, triggering a move towards independence- Japanese occupation → cutting loose with colonialism
• Countries heavily affected by World War II
• Most countries in Asia claimed this imperial unit (e.g. Indonesia was created with colonialism and became a unit state)
• Exception Vietnam → part of the French Indo-China federation
  o Print capitalism and educated minority
• India → provincial elections of 1937, Muslims were betrayed, fight for a Muslim country → Pakistan

Question 4

Japanese rule in Southeast Asia 1942-5

Answer 4

*mobilization of the people for labour
*economic disruption
*stimulating political participation
*anti-Western propaganda
*promise of independence
*militarization

Question 5

Characteristics of African Decolonisation

Answer 5

Sudan first country to gain independence, then gold coast Ghana

*Late nationalism- later education of the elite, social organizations emerged later

*weak territorialization

*Labour movement- emerged 20 years later than Asia

*“Second colonial occupation”

*Networks of black activism in the US
and Caribbean:
Négritude-movement:
Aimé Césaire
& Léopold Senghor
Idea of identity mixed with other sentiments → “black Atlantic’” cross the Atlantic ocean and identifying with black people who lived across the ocean
o Idea of black solidarity that covered both sides of the Atlantic

*Pan-Africanism- 1945 pan African conference → Colonial borders are illegal, artificial, we are Africans, and Africa should be unity
o Difficult to translate in practical state formation
o Continued to be alive but transformed in pan-Africanism for each state

• Different for south Africa → was colonized earlier
• World War II was a period of economic growth and not a crisis like Asia → World War II did not set the independence of countries and decolonization
• After people framed their discontent based on ideas of nationalism, so late → made Europeans think that there was an imperial future possible in Africa
• Imperial power reconsider colonialism because of the high cost of empires

Question 5

Asia Trajectories

Answer 5

*Japanese colonies (Korea, Taiwan, Pacific)
*Independence promised (Philippines, India)
*Independence proclaimed/revolution (Indonesia, Vietnam)
*No clear vision/granted by the colonizer
(Malaya, Laos, Cambodia)

Always: alternative visions of the state
(Communist rebellions, regionalism;
ethnic/religious visions)

Question 6

What is decolonisation?

Answer 6

• A moment, a process?- long process of disengaging with colonial experience
• Political, economic, cultural?`
• National, international?
• Reorientation, reorganisation-rethinking who they are and how they re organize their society, nationally and internationally
• Whose decolonization? Colonizers who leave the colony, nationalists, elites…? What is the
  role of people in this process?

Question 7

Effects of colonisation

Answer 7

*arbitrary borders- irredentism

*reinforcing non-hegemonistic state- weak state institutions
>partial interest; little penetration
> Weak political institutions

*weak ties between state and society- state from below- the creation of own healthcare and security, etc

*creation of governing elites- infighting- not interested in getting a stable govt following their own agendas no experience in democracy creates instability in the government military coups in many of these countries because of this

*ethnogenesis- ethnic conflict- always distinguishes between races and ethnic groups, and they will never let the colonised people have the same rights as the colonisers themselves. Colonial govt always partitions the colonised into ethnic groups’ own rule.

Question 8

Effects of Decolonisation

Answer 8

• Militarisation military fought for independence
• New institutions learning to govern
• Problems of legitimation: who speaks for the nation
• Loss of expertise
• Nationalist elites
• Authoritarianism
• Instability

Question 9

Limitations of Nationalism

Answer 9

*one of the many tastes around
*often deeply divided about visions for the future
*repressed, for example, India
*educated elite minority- talks a language of nationalism and decolonization
*rarely based on pre-colonial identities- why nationalists claim territorial unity, ask back for the territory that the empire created → “claiming the imperial unit.”
*predominantly anti-imperialist not enough to go on if you have to create a nation

Question 10

Frantz Fanon

Answer 10

• From Martinique, middle class background, went to study for France and fought for France in World War II
• Studied medicine and psychiatry in Lyon → wrote Black skin, white masks (1952) → what
  does colonialism and colonial racism do with the head of a person?
• Joins the Algerians in the Algerian war of independence
• Wrote for nationalist newspapers, banned from Algeria, ends up in Ghana, represents the Algerian independent government in Ghana
• Militarist view of anti-colonialism
• The wretched of the earth (1961) → view of the world without European influence and
  dominance, warns against the fact that the winning elite wont share power

Question 11

Economic decolonisation

Answer 11

Problems:
* Monoculture (single group)
* Directed to go to the global export market
* Extraction of natural resources
* Little industry: colonizers have not developed heavy big industries in these countries
* Foreign domination of big business
* Increasing debt