Decolonization: Difference between revisions
No edit summary |
Adding {{pp-sock}} |
||
Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
{{Short description|Undoing political, economic and cultural legacies of colonisation}} |
|||
{{Refimprove|date=December 2007}} |
|||
{{About|the undoing of colonialism|medical interventions|Decolonization (medicine)}} |
|||
[[Image:Colonization 1945.png|400px|thumb|Colonialism in 1945]] |
|||
{{pp-sock|small=yes}} |
|||
{{Use American English|date=December 2022}} |
|||
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2022}} |
|||
[[file:Descolonización - Decolonization.png|thumb|right|475px|Map of the year each country achieved [[List of sovereign states by date of formation|independence]]]] |
|||
'''Decolonization''' is the undoing of [[colonialism]], the latter being the process whereby [[Imperialism|imperial]] nations establish and dominate foreign territories, often overseas.<ref>Note however discussion of (for example) the Russian and Nazi empires below.</ref> The meanings and applications of the term are disputed. Some scholars of decolonization focus especially on [[Separatism|independence movements]] in the [[Colony|colonies]] and the collapse of global [[colonial empire]]s.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book| title = International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences |last = Hack |first = Karl |publisher = Macmillan Reference |year = 2008 |isbn = 978-0028659657 |location = Detroit |pages = 255–257}}</ref><ref> |
|||
'''Decolonization''' refers to the undoing of [[colonialism]], the establishment of governance or authority through the creation of settlements by another country or jurisdiction. The term generally refers to the achievement of [[independence]] by the various [[Colonialism|Western colonies and protectorate]]s in Asia and [[Decolonisation of Africa|Africa]] following [[World War II]]. This conforms with an intellectual movement known as [[Post-Colonialism]]. A particularly active period of decolonization occurred between 1945 to 1960, beginning with the independence of [[partition of India|Pakistan and the Republic of India]] from Great Britain in 1947 and the [[First Indochina War]]. A number of [[national liberation movements]] were established prior to the war, but most did not achieve their aims until after it. Decolonization can be achieved by attaining independence, integrating with the administering power or another state, or establishing a "free association" status. The [[United Nations]] has stated that in the process of decolonization there is no alternative to the principle of [[self-determination]]. Decolonization may involve [[Non-violent revolution|peaceful negotiation]] and/or violent [[national liberation wars|revolt and armed struggle]] by the native population. |
|||
John Lynch, ed. ''Latin American Revolutions, 1808–1826: Old and New World Origins'' (1995). |
|||
</ref> |
|||
As a movement to establish independence for colonized territories from their respective [[Metropole|metropoles]], decolonization began in 1775 in [[American Revolution|North America]]. Major waves of decolonization occurred in the aftermath of the First World War and most prominently after the Second World War. |
|||
== Methods and stages == |
|||
Critical scholars extend the meaning beyond independence or equal rights for colonized peoples to include broader economic, cultural and psychological aspects of the colonial experience.<ref name=":6">{{cite book |last1=Betts |first1=Raymond F. |title=Beyond Empire and Nation |date=2012 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-90-04-26044-3 |pages=23–37 |chapter=Decolonization a brief history of the word |doi=10.1163/9789004260443_004 |jstor=10.1163/j.ctt1w8h2zm.5}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Corntassel |first=Jeff |date=2012-09-08 |title=Re-envisioning resurgence: Indigenous pathways to decolonization and sustainable self-determination |url=https://jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/des/article/view/18627 |journal=Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education & Society |language=en |volume=1 |issue=1 |issn=1929-8692}}</ref> Extending the meaning of decolonization beyond political [[independence]] has been disputed and received criticism.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Táíwò |first=Olúfẹ́mi |title=Against decolonisation: taking African agency seriously |date=2022 |publisher=Hurst & Company |isbn=978-1-78738-692-1 |series=African arguments |location=London}}{{pn|date=August 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Kurzwelly |first1=Jonatan |last2=Wilckens |first2=Malin S |date=2023 |title=Calcified identities: Persisting essentialism in academic collections of human remains |journal=Anthropological Theory |volume=23 |issue=1 |pages=100–122 |doi=10.1177/14634996221133872 |s2cid=254352277 |url=https://pub.uni-bielefeld.de/record/2967871 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Naicker |first=Veeran |date=2023 |title=The problem of epistemological critique in contemporary Decolonial theory |journal=Social Dynamics |volume=49 |issue=2 |pages=220–241 |doi=10.1080/02533952.2023.2226497 |s2cid=259828705 }}</ref> |
|||
Decolonization is a political process, frequently involving violence. In extreme circumstances, there is a [[War of Independence|war of independence]], sometimes following a [[revolution]]. More often, there is a dynamic cycle where negotiations fail, minor disturbances ensue resulting in suppression by the police and military forces, escalating into more violent [[revolt]]s that lead to further negotiations until independence is granted. In rare cases, the actions of the native population are characterized by [[non-violence]], [[India]] being an example of this, and the violence comes as active suppression from the occupying forces or as political opposition from forces representing minority local communities who feel threatened by the prospect of independence. For example, there was a war of independence in [[French Indochina]], while in some countries in [[French West Africa]] (excluding the [[Maghreb|Maghreb countries]]) decolonization resulted from a combination of insurrection and negotiation. The process is only complete when the [[de facto]] government of the newly independent country is recognized as the [[de jure]] sovereign [[state]] by the community of nations. |
|||
==Scope== |
|||
Independence is often difficult to achieve without the encouragement and practical support from one or more external parties. The motives for giving such aid are varied: nations of the same ethnic and/or religious stock may sympathize with oppressed groups, or a strong nation may attempt to destabilize a colony as a tactical move to weaken a rival or enemy colonizing power or to create space for its own sphere of influence; examples of this include British support of the [[Haitian Revolution]] against France, and the [[Monroe Doctrine]] of 1823, in which the United States warned the European powers not to interfere in the affairs of the newly independent states of the [[Western Hemisphere]]. |
|||
The [[United Nations]] (UN) states that the [[Human rights|fundamental right]] to [[self-determination]] is the core requirement for decolonization, and that this right can be exercised with or without political independence.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://unu.edu/publications/articles/residual-colonialism-in-the-21st-century.html|title=Residual Colonialism In The 21St Century|website=United Nations University|language=en|access-date=2019-10-18|quote="The decolonization agenda championed by the United Nations is not based exclusively on independence. There are three other ways in which an NSGT can exercise self-determination and reach a full measure of self-government (all of them equally legitimate): integration within the administering power, free association with the administering power, or some other mutually agreed upon option for self-rule. [...] It is the exercise of the human right of self-determination, rather than independence per se, that the United Nations has continued to push for."|archive-date=17 July 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210717205732/https://unu.edu/publications/articles/residual-colonialism-in-the-21st-century.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> A [[Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples|UN General Assembly Resolution in 1960]] characterised colonial foreign rule as a violation of human rights.<ref name=":02">{{Cite book |last=Getachew |first=Adom |title=Worldmaking after Empire: The Rise and Fall of Self-Determination |date=2019 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0-691-17915-5 |pages=14, 73–74 |doi=10.2307/j.ctv3znwvg |jstor=j.ctv3znwvg}}</ref><ref name="UN">{{cite web |author=Adopted by General Assembly resolution 1514 (XV) |date=14 December 1960 |title=Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples |url=https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/declaration-granting-independence-colonial-countries-and-peoples |publisher=The United Nations and Decolonisation}}</ref> In states that have won independence, [[Indigenous decolonization|Indigenous people]] living under [[settler colonialism]] continue to make demands for decolonization and self-determination.<ref>{{Cite thesis|first=Audrey Jane|last=Roy|title=Sovereignty and Decolonization: Realizing Indigenous Self-Determinationn at the United Nations and in Canada|publisher=University of Victoria|year=2001|access-date=2019-10-19|url=https://iportal.usask.ca/index.php?sid=601141574&id=30516&t=details}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Ortiz |first=Roxanne Dunbar |url=http://archive.org/details/indiansofamerica00orti |title=Indians of the Americas : human rights and self determination |date=1984 |publisher=New York : Praeger Publishers, Inc. |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-0-03-000917-4 |pages=278 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Shrinkhal |first=Rashwet |date=March 2021 |title="Indigenous sovereignty" and right to self-determination in international law: a critical appraisal |journal=AlterNative: An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples |language=en |volume=17 |issue=1 |pages=71–82 |doi=10.1177/1177180121994681 |s2cid=232264306 |issn=1177-1801 |quote=For them, indigenous sovereignty is linked with identity and right to [[self determination]]. Self determination should be understood as power of peoples to control their own destiny. Therefore for indigenous peoples, right to self determination is instrumental in the protection of their human rights and struggle for self-governance.|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Allard-Tremblay |first1=Yann |last2=Coburn |first2=Elaine |date=May 2023 |title=The Flying Heads of Settler Colonialism; or the Ideological Erasures of Indigenous Peoples in Political Theorizing |journal=Political Studies |language=en |volume=71 |issue=2 |pages=359–378 |doi=10.1177/00323217211018127 |s2cid=236234578 |issn=0032-3217|doi-access=free }}</ref> |
|||
Although discussions of [[hegemony]] and power, central to the concept of decolonization, can be found as early as the writings of [[Thucydides]],<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Lebow |first1=Richard Ned |last2=Kelly |first2=Robert |date=2001 |title=Thucydides and Hegemony: Athens and the United States |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/20097762 |journal=Review of International Studies |volume=27 |issue=4 |pages=593–609 |doi=10.1017/S0260210501005939 |jstor=20097762 |issn=0260-2105}}</ref> there have been several particularly active periods of decolonization in modern times. These include the [[Decolonisation of Africa|decolonization of Africa]], the [[Spanish American wars of independence|breakup of the Spanish Empire]] in the 19th century; of the [[German Empire|German]], [[Austria-Hungary|Austro-Hungarian]], [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]], and [[Russian Empire]]s following [[World War I]]; of the [[British Empire|British]], [[French colonial empire|French]], [[Dutch Empire|Dutch]], [[Portuguese Empire|Portuguese]], [[Belgian colonial empire|Belgian]], [[Italian Empire|Italian]], and [[Japanese colonial empire|Japanese Empires]] following [[World War II]]; and of the [[Soviet Union]] at the end of the [[Cold War]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Strayer |first1=Robert W. |title=Decolonization, Democratization, and Communist Reform: The Soviet Collapse in Comparative Perspective |journal=Journal of World History |date=2001 |volume=12 |issue=2 |pages=375–406 |doi=10.1353/jwh.2001.0042 |s2cid=154594627 }}</ref> |
|||
As world opinion became more pro-emancipation following [[World War I]], there was an ''institutionalized collective effort'' to advance the cause of emancipation through the [[League of Nations]]. Under Article 22 of the Covenant of the League of Nations, a number of [[League of Nations Mandate|mandate]]s were created. The expressed intention was to prepare these countries for self-government, but the reality was merely a redistribution of control over the former colonies of the defeated powers, mainly [[Germany]] and the [[Ottoman Empire]]. This reassignment work continued through the [[United Nations]], with a similar system of [[United Nations Trust Territories|trust territories]] created to adjust control over both former colonies and mandated territories administered by the nations defeated in World War II, including Japan. |
|||
Early studies of decolonisation appeared in the 1960s and 1970s. An important book from this period was ''[[The Wretched of the Earth]]'' (1961) by Martiniquan author [[Frantz Fanon]], which established many aspects of decolonisation that would be considered in later works. Subsequent studies of decolonisation addressed economic disparities as a legacy of colonialism as well as the annihilation of people's cultures. [[Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o]] explored the cultural and linguistic legacies of colonialism in the influential book ''[[Decolonising the Mind]]'' (1986).<ref name=":6" /> |
|||
In referendums, some colonized populations have chosen to retain their colonial status, such as [[Gibraltar]] and [[French Guiana]]. On the other hand, colonial powers have sometimes promoted decolonization in order to shed the financial, military and other burdens that tend to grow in those colonies where the colonial regimes have become more benign. |
|||
"Decolonization" has also been used to refer to the [[Decolonization of knowledge|intellectual decolonization]] from the colonizers' ideas that made the colonized feel inferior.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Crafting Qualitative Research: Working in the Postpositivist Traditions|last=Prasad|first=Pushkala|date=2005|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-317-47369-5|location=London|oclc=904046323}}{{pn|date=August 2023}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=https://getd.libs.uga.edu/pdfs/sabrin_mohammed_201305_phd.pdf|title=Exploring the intellectual foundations of Egyptian national education|last=Sabrin|first=Mohammed|date=2013|hdl=10724/28885}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=The Darker Side of Western Modernity: Global Futures, Decolonial Options|last=Mignolo|first=Walter D.|date=2011|publisher=Duke University Press|isbn=978-0-8223-5060-6|location=Durham|oclc=700406652}}{{pn|date=August 2023}}</ref> Issues of decolonization persist and are raised contemporarily. In the [[Americas]] and [[South Africa]], such issues are increasingly discussed under the term [[decoloniality]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://globalsocialtheory.org/topics/decoloniality/|title=Decoloniality|website=Global Security Theory |language=en|access-date=2019-10-15}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://theconversation.com/africas-student-movements-history-sheds-light-on-modern-activism-111003|title=Africa's student movements: history sheds light on modern activism|last1=Hodgkinson|first1=Dan|last2=Melchiorre|first2=Luke|website=The Conversation|date=18 February 2019 |language=en|access-date=2019-10-15}}</ref> |
|||
Decolonization is rarely achieved through a single historical act, but rather progresses through one or more stages of emancipation, each of which can be offered or fought for: these can include the introduction of elected representatives (advisory or voting; minority or majority or even exclusive), degrees of autonomy or self-rule. Thus, the final phase of decolonisation may in fact concern little more than handing over responsibility for foreign relations and security, and soliciting ''de jure'' recognition for the new [[sovereignty]]. But, even following the recognition of statehood, a degree of continuity can be maintained through bilateral treaties between now equal governments involving practicalities such as military training, mutual protection pacts, or even a garrison and/or military bases. |
|||
== Independence movements == |
|||
There is some debate over whether or not the [[United States]], [[Canada]] and [[Latin America]] can be considered decolonized, as it was the colonist and their descendants who revolted and declared their independence instead of the [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|indigenous peoples]], as is usually the case. Scholars such as [[Elizabeth Cook-Lynn]] ([[Dakota]]) and [[Devon Mihesuah]] ([[Choctaw]]) have argued that portions of the United States still are in need of decolonization{{Fact|date=March 2007}}. |
|||
In the two hundred years following the [[American Revolutionary War]] in 1783, 165 colonies have gained independence from Western imperial powers.<ref name=":7">{{cite journal |last1=Strang |first1=David |title=Global Patterns of Decolonization, 1500-1987 |journal=International Studies Quarterly |date=December 1991 |volume=35 |issue=4 |pages=429–454 |doi=10.2307/2600949 |jstor=2600949 }}</ref> Several analyses point to different reasons for the spread of anti-colonial political movements. Institutional arguments suggest that increasing levels of education in the colonies led to calls for popular sovereignty; [[Marxism|Marxist]] analyses view decolonization as a result of economic shifts toward wage labor and an enlarged [[Bourgeoisie|bourgeois class]]; yet another argument sees decolonization as a diffusion process wherein earlier revolutionary movements inspired later ones.<ref name=":7" /><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Strang |first=David |date=1990 |title=From Dependency to Sovereignty: An Event History Analysis of Decolonization 1870–1987 |journal=American Sociological Review |volume=55 |issue=6 |pages=846–860 |doi=10.2307/2095750 |jstor=2095750}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Strang |first=David |date=1991 |title=Global Patterns of Decolonization, 1500–1987 |journal=International Studies Quarterly |volume=35 |issue=4 |pages=429–454 |doi=10.2307/2600949 |jstor=2600949 }}</ref><ref name=":4">{{Cite journal |last=Boswell |first=Terry |date=1989 |title=Colonial Empires and the Capitalist World-Economy: A Time Series Analysis of Colonization, 1640–1960 |journal=American Sociological Review |volume=54 |issue=2 |pages=180–196 |doi=10.2307/2095789 |jstor=2095789 }}</ref> Other explanations emphasize how the lower profitability of colonization and the costs associated with empire prompted decolonization.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Gartzke |first1=Erik |last2=Rohner |first2=Dominic |date=2011 |title=The Political Economy of Imperialism, Decolonization and Development |journal=British Journal of Political Science |volume=41 |issue=3 |pages=525–556 |doi=10.1017/S0007123410000232 |jstor=41241795 |s2cid=231796247 |url=https://www.zora.uzh.ch/id/eprint/55599/1/S0007123410000232a-Gartzke.pdf }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Spruyt |first1=Hendrik |title=Ending Empire: Contested Sovereignty and Territorial Partition |date=2018 |publisher=Cornell University Press |isbn=978-1-5017-1787-1 }}{{pn|date=August 2023}}</ref> Some explanations emphasize how colonial powers struggled militarily against insurgents in the colonies due to a shift from 19th century conditions of "strong political will, a permissive international environment, access to local collaborators, and flexibility to pick their battles" to 20th century conditions of "apathetic publics, hostile superpowers, vanishing collaborators, and constrained options".<ref name=":8">{{cite journal |last1=MacDonald |first1=Paul K. |title='Retribution Must Succeed Rebellion': The Colonial Origins of Counterinsurgency Failure |journal=International Organization |date=April 2013 |volume=67 |issue=2 |pages=253–286 |doi=10.1017/S0020818313000027 |s2cid=154683722 }}</ref> In other words, colonial powers had more support from their own region in pursuing colonies in the 19th century than they did in the 20th century, where holding on to such colonies was often understood to be a burden.<ref name=":8" /> |
|||
A great deal of scholarship attributes the ideological origins of national independence movements to the [[Age of Enlightenment]]. Enlightenment social and political theories such as individualism and [[liberalism]] were central to the debates about national constitutions for newly independent countries.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Kelly |first1=John D. |last2=Kaplan |first2=Martha |date=2001 |title=Nation and decolonization: Toward a new anthropology of nationalism |journal=Anthropological Theory |volume=1 |issue=4 |pages=419–437 |doi=10.1177/14634990122228818 |s2cid=143978771 }}</ref> Contemporary [[Decoloniality|decolonial scholarship]] has critiqued the emancipatory potential of Enlightenment thought, highlighting its [[Decolonization of knowledge|erasure of Indigenous epistemologies]] and failure to provide [[Subaltern (postcolonialism)|subaltern]] and [[Indigenous peoples|Indigenous people]] with liberty, equality, and dignity.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Clement |first=Vincent |date=2019 |title=Beyond the sham of the emancipatory Enlightenment: Rethinking the relationship of Indigenous epistemologies, knowledges, and geography through decolonizing paths |journal=Progress in Human Geography |volume=43 |issue=2 |pages=276–294 |doi=10.1177/0309132517747315 |s2cid=148760397 }}</ref> |
|||
== Decolonization in a broad sense == |
|||
Stretching the notion further, ''internal decolonization'' can occur within a sovereign state. Thus, the expansive [[United States]] created ''territories'', destined to colonize conquered lands bordering the existing states, and once their development proved successful (often involving new geographical splits) allowed them to petition statehood within the federation, granting not external independence but internal equality as 'sovereign' constituent members of the federal Union. [[France]] internalized several overseas possessions as [[Département d'outre-mer|Départements d'outre-mer]]. |
|||
=== American Revolution === |
|||
Even in a state which legally does not colonize any of its 'integral' parts, real inequality often causes the politically dominant component - often the largest and/or most populous part (such as Russia within the formally federal USSR as earlier in the czar's empire),{{Fact|date=January 2007}} or the historical conqueror (such as Austria, the homelands of the ruling Habsburg dynasty, within an empire of mainly Slavonic 'minorities' from Silesia to the shifting Ottoman border){{Fact|date=January 2007}} - to be perceived, at least subjectively, as a colonizer in all but name; hence, the dismemberment of such a 'prison of peoples' is perceived as decolonisation ''de facto''.{{Fact|date=January 2007}} |
|||
{{Main|American Revolution}} |
|||
Great Britain's [[Thirteen Colonies|Thirteen North American colonies]] were the first to [[United States Declaration of Independence|declare independence]], forming the [[United States|United States of America]] in 1776, and defeating Britain in the [[American Revolutionary War|Revolutionary War]].<ref>Robert R. Palmer, ''The age of the Democratic Revolution: a political history of Europe and America, 1760–1800'' (1965){{pn|date=August 2023}}</ref><ref>Richard B. Morris, ''The emerging nations and the American Revolution'' (1970).{{pn|date=August 2023}}</ref> |
|||
To complicate matters even further, this may coincide with another element. Thus, the three Baltic republics - [[Estonia]], [[Latvia]] and [[Lithuania]] - argue that they, in contrast with other constituent SSRs, could not have been granted independence at the dismemberment of the Soviet Union because they never joined, but were militarily annexed by [[Stalin]], and thus had been illegally colonized, including [[Population transfer in the Soviet Union|massive deportations]] of their nationals and uninvited immigration of ethnic Russians and other soviet nationalities.{{Fact|date=January 2007}} Even in other [[post-Soviet states]] which had formally acceded, most ethnic Russians were so much identified with the Soviet 'colonization,' they felt unwelcome and migrated back to Russia.<ref>Robert Greenall, [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4420922.stm Russians left behind in Central Asia], [[BBC News]], [[23 November]] [[2005]].</ref> |
|||
=== Haitian Revolution === |
|||
Amongst the countries which are likely to decolonise territories over the next two decades are the U.K. (Bermuda, Gibraltar, Sovereign Bases in Cyprus, British Virgin Islands, Falklands, etc), U.S.A. (U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Guam, etc), and France (French Guiana, French Polynesia, New Caledonia, Reunion, Guadalope, etc). |
|||
{{Main|Haitian Revolution}} |
|||
The [[Haitian Revolution]] was a revolt in 1789 and subsequent slave uprising in 1791 in the French colony of [[Saint-Domingue]], on the [[Caribbean Sea|Caribbean]] island of [[Hispaniola]]. In 1804, [[Haiti]] secured independence from France as the [[First Empire of Haiti|Empire of Haiti]], which later became a republic. |
|||
== Decolonization before 1918 == |
|||
{{See also|Decolonization of the Americas}} |
|||
== |
=== Spanish America === |
||
{{Main|Spanish American wars of independence}} |
|||
=== Western European colonial powers === |
|||
{{See|New Imperialism|Colonialism}} |
|||
[[Image:Socialism liberation.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Czechoslovak anti-colonialist propaganda poster: "Socialism opened the door of liberation for colonial nations."]] |
|||
[[File:Spanish_Empire_(diachronic).svg|thumb|alt=Map of Spanish Colonial Empire|Map of Spanish Colonial Empire]] |
|||
The [[New Imperialism]] period, with the [[scramble for Africa]] and the [[Opium War]]s, marked the zenith of [[colonialism|European colonization]]. It also marked the acceleration of the trends that would end it. The extraordinary material demands of the conflict had spread economic change across the world (notably [[inflation]]), and the associated social pressures of "war imperialism" created both [[peasant]] unrest and a burgeoning [[middle class]]. |
|||
[[File:JuraIndependencia.jpg|thumb|alt=Portrait of the Chilean declaration of independence|The [[Chilean Declaration of Independence]] on 18 February 1818]] |
|||
[[Economic growth]] created stakeholders with their own demands, while [[Race (classification of human beings)|racial]] issues meant these people clearly stood apart from the colonial middle-class and had to form their own group. The start of mass [[nationalism]], as a concept and practice, would fatally undermine the ideologies of imperialism. |
|||
The chaos of the [[Napoleonic Wars]] in Europe cut the direct links between Spain and its American colonies, allowing for the process of decolonization to begin.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Bousquet |first1=Nicole |title=The Decolonization of Spanish America in the Early Nineteenth Century: A World-Systems Approach |journal=Review |publisher=Fernand Braudel Center |date=1988 |volume=11 |issue=4 |pages=497–531 |jstor=40241109 }}</ref> |
|||
With the invasion of Spain by [[Napoleon]] in 1806, the American colonies declared autonomy and loyalty to King Ferdinand VII. The contract was broken and each of the regions of the Spanish Empire had to decide whether to show allegiance to the Junta of Cadiz (the only territory in Spain free from Napoleon) or have a junta (assembly) of its own. The economic monopoly of the metropolis was the main reason why many countries decided to become independent from Spain. In 1809, the independence wars of Latin America began with a revolt in La Paz, [[Bolivia]]. In 1807 and 1808, the [[Viceroyalty of the River Plate]] was invaded by the British. After their 2nd defeat, a Frenchman called Santiague de Liniers was proclaimed a new Viceroy by the local population and later accepted by Spain. In May 1810 in [[Buenos Aires]], a Junta was created, but in [[Montevideo]] it was not recognized by the local government who followed the authority of the Junta of Cadiz. The rivalry between the two cities was the main reason for the distrust between them. During the next 15 years, the Spanish and Royalist on one side, and the rebels on the other fought in South America and Mexico. Numerous countries declared their independence. In 1824, the Spanish forces were defeated in the [[Battle of Ayacucho]]. The mainland was free, and in 1898, Spain lost [[Cuba]] and [[Puerto Rico]] in the [[Spanish–American War]]. Puerto Rico became an [[unincorporated territory]] of the US, but Cuba became independent in 1902. |
|||
There were, naturally, other factors, from agrarian change (and disaster – [[French Indochina]]), changes or developments in [[religion]] ([[Buddhism]] in [[Myanmar|Burma]], [[Islam]] in the [[Dutch East Indies]], marginally people like [[John Chilembwe]] in [[Malawi|Nyasaland]]), and the impact of the depression of the 1930s. |
|||
=== Portuguese America === |
|||
The [[Great Depression]], despite the concentration of its impact on the industrialized world, was also exceptionally damaging in the rural colonies. Agricultural prices fell much harder and faster than those of industrial goods. From around 1925 until [[World War II]], the colonies suffered. The colonial powers concentrated on domestic issues, [[protectionism]] and [[tariff]]s, disregarding the damage done to international [[trade]] flows. The colonies, almost all primary "[[cash crop]]" producers, lost the majority of their [[export]] income and were forced away from the "open" complementary colonial economies to "closed" systems. While some areas returned to [[subsistence farming]] ([[British Malaya]]) others diversified (India, [[West Africa]]), and some began to industrialise. These economies would not fit the colonial strait-jacket when efforts were made to renew the links. Further, the European-owned and -run [[plantation]]s proved more vulnerable to extended [[Deflation (economics)|deflation]] than native [[capitalism|capitalist]]s, reducing the dominance of "white" [[farmer]]s in colonial economies and making the European [[government]]s and investors of the 1930s co-opt [[indigenous peoples|indigenous]] elites — despite the implications for the future. |
|||
{{Main|Independence of Brazil}} |
|||
[[File:Independencia brasil 001.jpg|thumb|[[Pedro I of Brazil|Prince Pedro]] proclaims himself Emperor of an independent Brazil on 7 September 1822.]] |
|||
The efforts at colonial reform also hastened their end — notably the move from non-interventionist [[Collaboration|collaborative]] systems towards directed, disruptive, direct management to drive economic change. The creation of genuine [[bureaucracy|bureaucratic]] government boosted the formation of indigenous [[bourgeoisie]]. This was especially true in the [[British Empire]], which seemed less capable (or less ruthless) in controlling political nationalism. Driven by pragmatic demands of budgets and manpower the British made deals with the nationalist elites. They dealt with the white [[Dominion]]s, retained strategic resources at the cost of reducing direct control in [[Egypt]], and made numerous reforms in the ''[[British Raj|Raj]]'', culminating in the [[Government of India Act 1935|Government of India Act]] (1935). |
|||
The Napoleonic Wars also led to the severing of the direct links between Portugal and its only American colony, [[Brazil]]. Days before Napoleon invaded Portugal, in 1807 the Portuguese royal court [[Transfer of the Portuguese court to Brazil|fled to Brazil]]. In 1820 there was a [[Liberal Revolution of 1820|Constitutionalist Revolution]] in Portugal, which led to the return of the Portuguese court to Lisbon. This led to distrust between the Portuguese and the Brazilian colonists, and finally, in 1822, to the colony becoming independent as the [[Empire of Brazil]], which later became a republic. |
|||
=== British Empire === |
|||
Africa was a very different case from Asia between the wars. Tropical Africa was not fully drawn into the colonial system before the end of the 19th century, excluding only the complexities of the [[Union of South Africa]] (busily introducing [[racial segregation]] from 1924 and thus catalyzing the anti-colonial political growth of half the continent) and the [[Empire of Ethiopia]]. Colonial controls ranged between extremes. Economic growth was often curtailed.{{Fact|date=January 2008}} There were no indigenous nationalist groups with widespread popular support before 1939. {{Cleanup-section|date=May 2008}} |
|||
{{Main|British Empire}} |
|||
The emergence of Indigenous political parties was especially characteristic of the [[British Empire]], which seemed less ruthless than, for example, Belgium, in controlling political dissent. Driven by pragmatic demands of budgets and manpower the British made deals with the local politicians. Across the empire, the general protocol was to convene a constitutional conference in London to discuss the transition to greater self-government and then independence, submit a report of the constitutional conference to parliament, if approved submit a bill to Parliament at Westminster to terminate the responsibility of the United Kingdom (with a copy of the new constitution annexed), and finally, if approved, issuance of an Order of Council fixing the exact date of independence.<ref>{{cite book |first=J. H. W. |last=Verzijl |year=1969 |title=International Law in Historical Perspective |volume=II |location=Leyden |publisher=A. W. Sijthoff |pages=76–68}}</ref> |
|||
=== The United States === |
|||
{{main|American empire}} |
|||
At end of the [[Spanish-American War]], at the end of the 19th century, the [[United States of America]] held several colonial territories seized from [[Spain]], among them the [[Philippines]] and [[Puerto Rico]]. Although the United States had initially embarked upon a policy of colonization of these territories (and had fought to suppress local "insurgencies" there, such as in the [[Philippine-American War]]), by the 1930s, the U.S. policy for the Philippines had changed toward the direction of eventual self-government. Following the invasion and occupation of the Philippines by Japan during World War II, the Philippines gained independence peacefully from the United States in 1946. |
|||
After [[World War I]], several former German and Ottoman territories in the Middle East, Africa, and the Pacific were governed by the UK as [[League of Nations mandate]]s. Some were administered directly by the UK, and others by British dominions – [[Nauru]] and the [[Territory of New Guinea]] by [[Australia]], [[South West Africa]] by the [[Union of South Africa]], and [[Western Samoa]] by [[New Zealand]]. |
|||
However, other U.S. possessions, such as Puerto Rico, did not gain full independence. Puerto Ricans have held U.S. [[citizenship]] since 1917, but do not vote in federal elections or pay federal taxes. Puerto Rico achieved self-government in 1952 and became a commonwealth in association with the United States. Puerto Rico was taken off the UN list of non-sovereign territories in 1953 through resolution 748. In 1967, 1993 and 1998, Puerto Rican voters rejected proposals to grant the territory [[U.S. state|statehood]] or independence. Nevertheless, the island's political status remains a hot topic of debate. |
|||
[[File:The peacemakers- George Gavan Duffy, Erskine Childers, Robert Barton and Arthur Griffith in a group (28455606301).jpg|thumb|Members of the Irish delegation for the [[Anglo-Irish Treaty]] negotiations in December 1921]] |
|||
=== Japan === |
|||
[[Egypt]] became independent in 1922, although the UK retained security prerogatives, control of the [[Suez Canal]], and effective control of the [[Anglo-Egyptian Sudan]]. The [[Balfour Declaration of 1926]] declared the British Empire [[dominion]]s as equals, and the 1931 [[Statute of Westminster 1931|Statute of Westminster]] established full legislative independence for them. The equal dominions were six– [[Canada]], [[Newfoundland]], Australia, the [[Irish Free State]], New Zealand, and the Union of South Africa; Ireland had been brought into a union with Great Britain in 1801 creating the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland until the formation of the Irish Free State in 1922. However, some of the Dominions were already independent de facto, and even de jure and recognized as such by the international community. Thus, Canada was a founding member of the League of Nations in 1919 and served on the council from 1927 to 1930.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/league-of-nations |title=Canada and the League of Nations |encyclopedia=The Canadian Encyclopedia}}</ref> That country also negotiated on its own and signed bilateral and multilateral treaties and conventions from the early 1900s onward. Newfoundland ceded self-rule back to London in 1934. [[Iraq]], a League of Nations mandate, became independent in 1932. |
|||
As the only Asian nation to become a colonial power during the modern era, Japan had gained several substantial colonial concessions in east Asia such as [[Taiwan]] and [[Korea]]. Pursuing a colonial policy comparable to those of European powers, Japan settled significant populations of ethnic Japanese in its colonies while simultaneously suppressing indigenous ethnic populations by enforcing the learning and use of the [[Japanese language]] in schools. Other methods such as public interaction, and attempts to eradicate the use of [[Korean language|Korean]] and [[Taiwanese language|Taiwanese]] ([[Min Nan]]) among the indigenous peoples, were seen to be used. |
|||
Japan also set up the [[Imperial university]] in Korea ([[Keijo Imperial University]]) and Taiwan ([[Taihoku University]]) to compel education. |
|||
In response to a growing [[Indian independence movement]], the UK made successive reforms to the [[British Raj]], culminating in the [[Government of India Act 1935]]. These reforms included creating elected legislative councils in some of the [[Presidencies and provinces of British India|provinces of British India]]. [[Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi]], India's independence movement leader, led a peaceful resistance to British rule. By becoming a symbol of both peace and opposition to British imperialism, many Indians began to view the British as the cause of India's problems leading to a newfound sense of [[Indian independence movement|nationalism]] among its population. With this new wave of Indian nationalism, Gandhi was eventually able to garner the support needed to push back the British and create an independent India in 1947.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hunt |first1=Lynn |first2=Thomas R. |last2=Martin |first3=Barbara H. |last3=Rosenwein |first4=R. Po-chia |last4=Hsia |author4-link=Ronnie Hsia |first5=Bonnie G. |last5=Smith |title=The Making of the West Peoples and Cultures |location=Boston |publisher=Bedford/St. Martin's |year=2008}}</ref> |
|||
World War II gave [[Japanese Empire]] occasion to conquer vast swaths of Asia, sweeping into [[China]] and seizing the Western colonies of [[Vietnam]], [[Hong Kong]], the [[Philippines]], [[Burma]], [[British Malaya|Malaya]], [[Portuguese Timor|Timor]] and [[Indonesia]] among others, albeit only for the duration of the war. An estimated 20 million Chinese died during the [[Second Sino-Japanese War|Japanese |
|||
occupation of China]] (1931-1945).<ref>[http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2005-08/15/content_468908.htm Remember role in ending fascist war]</ref> Following its surrender to the [[Allies]] in 1945, Japan was deprived of all its colonies. Japan further claims that the southern [[Kuril Islands]] are a small portion of its own national territory, colonized by the [[Soviet Union]]. |
|||
[[File:British Empire in February 1952.png|thumb|British Empire in 1952]] |
|||
=== French Decolonization === |
|||
Africa was only fully drawn into the colonial system at the end of the 19th century. In the north-east the continued independence of the [[Ethiopian Empire]] remained a beacon of hope to pro-independence activists. However, with the anti-colonial wars of the 1900s (decade) barely over, new modernizing forms of Africa nationalism began to gain strength in the early 20th century with the emergence of Pan-Africanism, as advocated by the Jamaican journalist [[Marcus Garvey]] (1887–1940) whose widely distributed newspapers demanded swift abolition of European imperialism, as well as republicanism in Egypt. [[Kwame Nkrumah]] (1909–1972) who was inspired by the works of Garvey led [[Ghana]] to independence from colonial rule. |
|||
{{See|French colonial empires}} |
|||
Independence for the colonies in Africa began with the independence of [[Sudan]] in 1956, and [[Ghana]] in 1957. All of the British colonies on mainland Africa became independent by 1966, although [[Rhodesia]]'s unilateral declaration of independence in 1965 was not recognized by the UK or internationally. |
|||
After World War I, the colonized people were frustrated at France's failure to recognize the effort provided by the French colonies (resources, but more importantly colonial troops - the famous ''[[tirailleurs]]''). Although in [[Paris]] the [[Great Mosque of Paris]] was constructed as recognition of these efforts, the French state had no intention to allow [[self-rule]], let alone [[independence]] to the colonized people. Thus, [[nationalism]] in the colonies became stronger in between the two wars, leading to [[Abd el-Krim]]'s [[Rif War (1920)|Rif War]] (1921-1925) in [[History of Morocco|Morocco]] and to the creation of [[Messali Hadj]]'s [[Star of North Africa]] in [[Nationalism and resistance in Algeria|Algeria]] in 1925. However, these movements would gain full potential only after World War II. The [[October 27]], [[1946]] Constitution creating the [[French Fourth Republic|Fourth Republic]] substituted the [[French Union]] to the colonial empire. On the night of [[March 29]], [[1947]], a [[Madagascar revolt|nationalist uprising in Madagascar]] led the French government headed by [[Paul Ramadier]] ([[Section Française de l'Internationale Ouvrière|Socialist]]) to violent repression: one year of bitter fighting, in which 90,000 to 100,000 Malagasy died. On [[May 8]], [[1945]], the [[Sétif massacre]] took place in Algeria. |
|||
Some of the British colonies in Asia were directly administered by British officials, while others were ruled by local monarchs as [[protectorate]]s or in [[subsidiary alliance]] with the UK. |
|||
In 1946, the states of [[French Indochina]] withdrew from the Union, leading to the [[First Indochina War|Indochina War]] (1946-54) against [[Ho Chi Minh]], who had been a co-founder of the [[French Communist Party]] in 1920 and had founded the [[Vietminh]] in 1941. In 1956, [[History of Morocco|Morocco]] and [[History of Tunisia|Tunisia]] gained their independence, while the [[Algerian War of Independence|Algerian War]] was raging (1954-1962). With [[Charles de Gaulle]]'s return to power in 1958 amidst turmoil and threats of a right-wing coup d'Etat to protect "French Algeria", the decolonization was completed with the independence of Sub-Saharan Africa's colonies in 1960 and the [[March 19]], [[1962]] [[Evian Accords]], which put an end to the Algerian war. The [[Organisation armée secrète|OAS]] movement unsuccessfully tried to block the accords with a series of bombings, including an attempted assassination against Charles de Gaulle. |
|||
In 1947, [[British India]] was [[Partition of India|partitioned]] into the independent dominions of [[India]] and [[Pakistan]]. Hundreds of [[princely state]]s, states ruled by monarchs in a treaty of subsidiary alliance with Britain, were [[Political integration of India|integrated into India]] and Pakistan. India and Pakistan fought several wars over the former princely state of [[Jammu and Kashmir (princely state)|Jammu and Kashmir]]. [[French India]] was integrated into India between 1950 and 1954, and India annexed [[Portuguese India]] in 1961, and the [[Kingdom of Sikkim]] merged with India by popular vote in 1975. |
|||
To this day, the Algerian war — officially called until the 1990s a "public order operation" — remains a trauma for both France and Algeria. Philosopher [[Paul Ricœur]] has spoken of the necessity of a "decolonization of memory", starting with the recognition of the [[1961 Paris massacre]] during the Algerian war and the recognition of the decisive role of African and especially North African [[immigration|immigrant]] manpower in the ''[[Trente Glorieuses]]'' post-World War II economic growth period. In the 1960s, due to economic needs for post-war reconstruction and rapid economic growth, French employers actively sought to recruit manpower from the colonies, explaining today's [[demographics of France|multiethnic population]]. |
|||
=== |
====Violence, civil warfare, and partition==== |
||
[[Image:Surrender of Lord Cornwallis.jpg|thumb|Surrender of [[Lord Cornwallis]] at [[Siege of Yorktown|Yorktown]] in 1781]] |
|||
Significant violence was involved in several prominent cases of decolonization of the British Empire; partition was a frequent solution. In 1783, the North American colonies were divided between the independent United States, and [[British North America]], which later became Canada. |
|||
The [[Indian Rebellion of 1857]] was a major uprising in India against British [[East India Company]]. It was characterized by massacres of civilians on both sides. It was not a movement for independence, however, and only a small part of India was involved. In the aftermath, the British pulled back from modernizing reforms of Indian society, and the level of organised violence under the [[British Raj]] was relatively small. Most of that was initiated by repressive British administrators, as in the [[Amritsar#Jallianwala Bagh massacre|Amritsar massacre of 1919]], or the police assaults on the [[Salt March]] of 1930.<ref>On the nonviolent methodology see {{Cite journal |doi = 10.1080/00856408508723067|title = Audiences, actors and congress dramas: Crowd events in Bombay city in 1930|journal = South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies|volume = 8|issue = 1–2|pages = 71–86|year = 1985|last1 = Masselos|first1 = Jim}}</ref> Large-scale communal violence broke out between Hindus and Muslims and between Muslims and Sikhs after the British left in 1947 in the newly independent [[dominion]]s of India and Pakistan. Much later, in 1970, further communal violence broke out within Pakistan in the detached eastern part of East Bengal, which became independent as [[Bangladesh]] in 1971. |
|||
The Soviet Union sought to effect the abolishment of colonial governance by Western countries, either by direct subversion of Western-leaning or -controlled governments or indirectly by influence of political leadership and support. Many of the revolutions of this time period were inspired or influenced in this way. The conflicts in [[Vietnam]], [[Nicaragua]], [[Democratic Republic of the Congo|Congo]], and [[Sudan]], among others, have been characterized as such. |
|||
[[History of Cyprus since 1878|Cyprus]], which came under full British control in 1914 from the Ottoman Empire, was culturally divided between the majority [[Greek Cypriots|Greek element]] (which demanded "[[enosis]]" or union with Greece) and the minority Turks. London for decades assumed it needed the island to defend the Suez Canal; but after the Suez crisis of 1956, that became a minor factor, and Greek violence became a more serious issue. Cyprus became an independent country in 1960, but ethnic violence escalated until 1974 when Turkey invaded and partitioned the island. Each side rewrote its own history, blaming the other.<ref>{{Cite journal | jstor=10.2979/his.2008.20.2.128| doi=10.2979/his.2008.20.2.128| title=Narrative, Memory and History Education in Divided Cyprus: ''A Comparison of Schoolbooks on the 'History of Cyprus'<nowiki/>''| journal=History and Memory| volume=20| issue=2| pages=128–148| year=2008| last1=Papadakis|first1=Yiannis | s2cid=159912409}}</ref> |
|||
Most Soviet leaders expressed the [[Leninism|Marxist-Leninist]] view that [[imperialism]] was the height of [[capitalism]], and generated a class-stratified society. It followed, then, that Soviet leadership would encourage independence movements in colonized territories, especially as the [[Cold War]] progressed. Though this was the view expressed by their leaders, such interventions can be interpreted as the expansion of Soviet interests, not just as aiding the oppressed peoples of the world. Because so many of these wars of independence expanded into general Cold War conflicts, the United States also supported several such independence movements in opposition to Soviet interests. |
|||
[[Mandatory Palestine|Palestine]] became a [[Mandate for Palestine|British mandate]] from the [[League of Nations]] after World War I, initially including [[Emirate of Transjordan|Transjordan]]. During that war, the British gained support from Arabs and Jews by making promises to both (see [[McMahon–Hussein Correspondence]] and [[Balfour Declaration]]). Decades of [[Intercommunal conflict in Mandatory Palestine|ethno—religious violence]] reached a climax with the [[UN Partition Plan]] and the [[1948 Palestine War|ensuing war]]. The British eventually pulled out, and the former Mandate territory was divided between [[Israel]], [[Jordanian annexation of the West Bank|Jordan]] and [[All-Palestine Protectorate|Egypt]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Laqueur|first1=Walter|author-link1=Walter Laqueur|last2=Schueftan|first2=Dan|author-link2=Daniel Schueftan|title=The Israel-Arab Reader: A Documentary History of the Middle East Conflict: 8th edition|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=akGXCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA49|year=2016|publisher=Penguin |isbn=978-1-101-99241-8}}</ref> |
|||
During the Vietnam War, Communist countries supported anti-colonialist movements in various countries still under colonial administration through propaganda, developmental and economic assistance, and in some cases military aid. Notably among these were the support of armed rebel movements by [[Cuba]] in [[Angola]], and the Soviet Union (as well as the [[People's Republic of China]]) in [[Vietnam]]. |
|||
===French Empire=== |
|||
It is noteworthy that while Britain, Spain, Portugal, France, and the Netherlands took colonies overseas, the [[Russian Empire]] expanded via land across Asia. The Soviet Union did not make any moves to return this land. |
|||
{{Further|French colonial empire}} |
|||
[[File:LaGuerreAMadagascar.jpg|thumb|upright|left|French poster about the "[[Franco-Hova Wars|Madagascar War]]"]] |
|||
== The emergence of the Third World (1945-) == |
|||
{{seealso|Decolonization of Africa}} |
|||
[[Image:Africa cs poster.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Czechoslovak anti-colonialist propaganda poster: "Africa - fighting for freedom".]] |
|||
The term "[[Third World]]" was coined by French demographer [[Alfred Sauvy]] in 1952, on the model of the [[Third Estate]], which, according to the [[Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès|Abbé Sieyès]], represented everything, but was nothing: "...because at the end this ignored, exploited, scorned Third World like the Third Estate, wants to become something too" (Sauvy). The emergence of this new political entity, in the frame of the [[Cold War]], was complex and painful. Several tentatives were made to organize newly independent states in order to oppose a common front towards both the US's and the USSR's influence on them, with the consequences of the [[Sino-Soviet split]] already at works. Thus, the [[Non-Aligned Movement]] constituted itself, around the main figures of [[Nehru]], the leader of India, [[Sukarno]], the [[Indonesia]]n president, [[Tito]] the Communist leader of [[Yugoslavia]], and [[Gamal Abdel Nasser|Nasser]], head of [[Egypt]] who successfully opposed the French and British imperial powers during the 1956 [[Suez crisis]]. After the 1954 [[Geneva Conference (1954)|Geneva Conference]] which put an end to the French war against [[Ho Chi Minh]] in [[Vietnam]], the 1955 [[Bandung Conference]] gathered Nasser, Nehru, Tito, [[Sukarno]], the leader of [[Indonesia]], and [[Zhou Enlai]], [[Premier of the People's Republic of China]]. In 1960, the [[UN General Assembly]] voted the [[Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples]]. The next year, the Non-Aligned Movement was officially created in [[Belgrade]] (1961), and was followed in 1964 by the creation of the [[United Nations Conference on Trade and Development]] (UNCTAD) which tried to promote a [[New International Economic Order]] (NIEO). The NIEO was opposed to the 1944 [[Bretton Woods system]], which had benefited the leading states which had created it, and remained in force until 1971 after the United States' suspension of convertibility from dollars to gold. The main tenets of the NIEO were: |
|||
# Developing countries must be entitled to regulate and control the activities of [[multinational corporation]]s operating within their territory. |
|||
# They must be free to [[nationalize]] or [[expropriate]] foreign [[property]] on conditions favourable to them. |
|||
# They must be free to set up [[Voluntary association|associations]] of [[primary commodities]] producers similar to the [[OPEC]] (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, created on [[September 17]], [[1960]] to protest pressure by major oil companies (mostly owned by U.S., British, and Dutch nationals) to reduce oil prices and payments to producers.); all other [[States]] must recognize this [[right]] and refrain from taking [[economic]], [[military]], or [[political]] measures calculated to restrict it. |
|||
# [[International trade]] should be based on the need to ensure stable, [[equitable]], and [[remunerative]] [[prices]] for [[raw material]]s, generalized [[non-reciprocal]] and [[non-discriminatory]] [[tariff]] preferences, as well as [[transfer of technology]] to developing countries; and should provide economic and [[technical assistance]] without any [[conditionality|strings attached]]. |
|||
[[Image:HDImap current.png|thumb|350px|The [[UN Human Development Index]] (HDI) is a quantitative index of development, alternative to the classic [[Gross Domestic Product]] (GDP), which some use as a proxy to define the [[Third World]]. While the GDP only calculates economic wealth, the HDI includes [[life expectancy]], [[public health]] and [[literacy]] as fundamental factors of a good [[quality of life]].]] |
|||
The UNCTAD however wasn't very effective in implementing this New International Economic Order (NIEO), and social and economic inequalities between industrialized countries and the Third World kept on growing through-out the 1960s until the 21st century. The [[1973 oil crisis]] which followed the [[Yom Kippur War]] (October 1973) was triggered by the OPEC which decided an embargo against the US and Western countries, causing a fourfold increase in the price of oil, which lasted five months, starting on [[October 17]], 1973, and ending on [[March 18]] 1974. OPEC nations then agreed, on [[January 7]], 1975, to raise crude oil prices by 10%. At that time, OPEC nations — including many who had recently nationalised their oil industries — joined the call for a New International Economic Order to be initiated by coalitions of primary producers. Concluding the First OPEC Summit in Algiers they called for stable and just commodity prices, an international food and agriculture program, technology transfer from North to South, and the democratization of the economic system. But industrialized countries quickly began to look for substitutes to OPEC petroleum, with the oil companies investing the majority of their research capital in the US and European countries or others, politically sure countries. The OPEC lost more and more influence on the world prices of oil. |
|||
After World War I, the colonized people were frustrated at France's failure to recognize the effort provided by the French colonies (resources, but more importantly colonial troops – the famous ''[[tirailleurs]]''). Although in [[Paris]] the [[Great Mosque of Paris]] was constructed as recognition of these efforts, the French state had no intention to allow [[self-rule]], let alone grant [[independence]] to the colonized people. Thus, [[nationalism]] in the colonies became stronger in between the two wars, leading to [[Muhammad Ibn 'Abd al-Karim al-Khattabi|Abd el-Krim]]'s [[Rif War (1920)|Rif War]] (1921–1925) in [[History of Morocco|Morocco]] and to the creation of [[Messali Hadj]]'s [[Star of North Africa]] in [[Nationalism and resistance in Algeria|Algeria]] in 1925. However, these movements would gain full potential only after World War II. |
|||
The [[1979 energy crisis|second oil crisis]] occurred in the wake of the 1979 [[Iranian Revolution]]. Then, the 1982 [[Latin American debt crisis]] exploded in [[Mexico]] first, then [[Argentina]] and [[Brazil]], which proved unable to pay back their debts, jeopardizing the existence of the international economic system. |
|||
After World War I, France administered the former Ottoman territories of [[Syria]] and [[Lebanon]], and the former German colonies of [[French Togoland|Togoland]] and [[French Cameroons|Cameroon]], as League of Nations mandates. Lebanon declared its independence in 1943, and Syria in 1945. |
|||
In some instances, decolonization efforts ran counter to other concerns, such as the rapid increase of [[antisemitism]] in Algeria in the course of the nation's resistance to French rule.<ref>Heuman, J. (2023). The silent disappearance of Jews from Algeria: French anti-racism in the face of antisemitism in Algeria during the decolonization. Journal of Modern Jewish Studies, 22(2), 149-168.</ref> |
|||
Although France was ultimately a victor of World War II, Nazi Germany's occupation of France and its North African colonies during the war had disrupted colonial rule. On 27 October 1946, France adopted a new constitution creating the [[French Fourth Republic|Fourth Republic]], and substituted the [[French Union]] for the colonial empire. However power over the colonies remained concentrated in France, and the power of local assemblies outside France was extremely limited. On the night of 29 March 1947, a [[Madagascar]] [[Madagascar revolt|nationalist uprising]] led the French government headed by [[Paul Ramadier]] ([[Section Française de l'Internationale Ouvrière|Socialist]]) to violent repression: one year of bitter fighting, 11,000–40,000 Malagasy died.<ref>{{Citation |last=Randrianja |first=Solofo |title=Colonialism, Nationalism, and Decolonization in Madagascar |date=2022-11-22 |encyclopedia=Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Asian History |url=https://oxfordre.com/asianhistory/display/10.1093/acrefore/9780190277727.001.0001/acrefore-9780190277727-e-675 |access-date=2024-11-30 |language=en |doi=10.1093/acrefore/9780190277727.013.675 |isbn=978-0-19-027772-7}}</ref> |
|||
[[File:Dien Bien Phu 1954 French prisoners.jpg|thumb|Captured [[French Union]] soldiers from [[Battle of Dien Bien Phu|Điện Biên Phủ]], escorted by Vietnamese communist troops, 1954]] |
|||
In late 1946, Vietnam of [[French Indochina]] withdrew from the French Union, leading to the [[First Indochina War|Indochina War]] (1946–54). France later recognized independence of [[State of Vietnam|Vietnam]], [[Laos]], and [[Cambodia]] in 1949. France also [[Élysée Accords|recognized]] the unity of Vietnam and supported the anti-communist faction in this country against the expansion of [[communism]] in the name of anti-colonialism, the war thus became part of the world-wide [[Cold War]]. Cambodia and Laos became fully independent in late 1953, Vietnam became fully independent on 4 June 1954, and the [[Geneva Conference (1954)|Geneva Accords]] of 21 July 1954 left Vietnam divided into the [[North Vietnam|North]] and [[South Vietnam|South]] with the fact that France recognized communists gaining the North. After North Vietnamese [[Fall of Saigon|military victory]], Vietnam would be united under communism on 2 July 1976. |
|||
In 1956, [[History of Morocco|Morocco]] and [[History of Tunisia|Tunisia]] gained their independence from France. In 1960, eight independent countries emerged from [[French West Africa]], and five from [[French Equatorial Africa]]. The [[Algerian War of Independence]] raged from 1954 to 1962. To this day, the Algerian war – officially called a "public order operation" until the 1990s – remains a trauma for both France and Algeria. Philosopher [[Paul Ricœur]] has spoken of the necessity of a "decolonisation of memory", starting with the recognition of the [[1961 Paris massacre]] during the Algerian war, and the decisive role of African and especially North African immigrant manpower in the ''[[Trente Glorieuses]]'' post–World War II economic growth period. In the 1960s, due to economic needs for post-war reconstruction and rapid economic growth, French employers actively sought to recruit manpower from the colonies, explaining today's [[demographics of France|multiethnic population]]. |
|||
=== After 1918 === |
|||
{{Further|New Imperialism|}} |
|||
==== United States ==== |
|||
{{Main|American imperialism|Timeline of United States military operations}} |
|||
A union of former colonies itself, the United States approached imperialism differently from the other Powers. Much of its energy and rapidly expanding population was directed westward across the North American continent against English and French claims, the [[Spanish Empire]] and Mexico. The [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]] were sent to [[Indian reservation|reservations]], often unwillingly. With support from Britain, its [[Monroe Doctrine]] reserved the Americas as its sphere of interest, prohibiting other states (particularly Spain) from recolonizing the newly independent polities of [[Latin America]]. However, France, taking advantage of the American government's distraction during the Civil War, intervened militarily in Mexico and set up a French-protected monarchy. Spain took the step to [[Spanish occupation of the Dominican Republic|occupy the Dominican Republic and restore colonial rule]]. The Union victory in the Civil War in 1865 forced both France and Spain to accede to American demands to evacuate those two countries. America's only African colony, [[Liberia]], was formed privately and achieved independence early; Washington unofficially protected it. By 1900, the U.S. advocated an [[Open Door Policy]] and opposed the direct division of China.<ref>Thomas A, Bailey, ''A diplomatic history of the American people'' (1969) [https://archive.org/details/diplomatichistor00bail_0 online free]</ref> |
|||
[[File:Manuel L. Quezon (November 1942).jpg|thumb|upright|[[Manuel L. Quezón]], the first president of the [[Commonwealth of the Philippines]] (from 1935 to 1944)]] |
|||
[[File:TTPI-locatormap.png|thumb|[[Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands]] in [[Micronesia]] administered by the United States from 1947 to 1986]] |
|||
After 1898 direct intervention expanded in Latin America. The United States purchased Alaska from the Russian Empire in 1867 and annexed Hawaii in 1898. Following the [[Spanish–American War]] in 1898, the US added most of Spain's remaining colonies: [[Puerto Rico]], [[Philippines]], and [[Guam]]. Deciding not to annex Cuba outright, the U.S. established it as a [[client state]] with obligations including the perpetual lease of [[Guantánamo Bay]] to the U.S. Navy. The attempt of the first governor to void the island's constitution and remain in power past the end of his term provoked a rebellion that provoked a reoccupation between 1906 and 1909, but this was again followed by devolution. Similarly, the [[McKinley administration]], despite prosecuting the [[Philippine–American War]] against a [[First Republic of the Philippines|native republic]], set out that the [[Territories of the United States#Former unincorporated territories of the United States (incomplete)|Territory of the Philippine Islands]] was eventually granted independence.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Wong |first=Kwok Chu |title=The Jones Bills 1912–16: A Reappraisal of Filipino Views on Independence |journal=[[Journal of Southeast Asian Studies]] |volume=13 |issue=2 |pages=252–269 |year=1982 |doi=10.1017/S0022463400008687|s2cid=162468431 }}</ref> In 1917, the U.S. purchased the [[Danish West Indies]] (later renamed the [[US Virgin Islands]]) from [[Denmark]] and Puerto Ricans became full U.S. citizens that same year.<ref>{{cite book |first1=Sanford |last1=Levinson |first2=Bartholomew H. |last2=Sparrow |year=2005 |title=The Louisiana Purchase and American Expansion: 1803–1898 |location=New York |publisher=Rowman and Littlefield |pages=166, 178 |quote=U.S. citizenship was extended to residents of Puerto Rico by virtue of the Jones Act, chap. 190, 39 Stat. 951 (1971) (codified at 48 U.S.C. § 731 (1987)) |isbn=978-0-7425-4983-8 }}</ref> The US government declared Puerto Rico the territory was no longer a colony and stopped transmitting information about it to the United Nations Decolonization Committee.<ref>{{cite web | title=Decolonization Committee Calls on United States to Expedite Process for Puerto Rich Self-determination | website=Welcome to the United Nations | date=2003-06-09 | url=https://www.un.org/press/en/2003/gacol3085.doc.htm | access-date=2021-01-17|quote=The United States had used its exempt status from the transmission of information under Article 73 e of the United Nations Charter as a loophole to commit human rights violations in Puerto Rico and its territories.}}</ref> As a result, the [[UN General Assembly Resolution 748|UN General Assembly]] removed Puerto Rico from the [[United Nations list of non-self-governing territories|U.N. list of non-self-governing territories]]. Four referendums showed little support for independence, but much interest in statehood such as Hawaii and Alaska received in 1959.<ref>{{Cite journal |doi = 10.1080/08263663.2017.1323615|title = Puerto Rico, the 51st state: The implications of statehood on culture and language|journal = Canadian Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Studies |volume = 42|issue = 2|pages = 165–180|year = 2017|last1 = Torres|first1 = Kelly M.|s2cid = 157682270}}</ref> |
|||
The Monroe Doctrine was expanded by the [[Roosevelt Corollary]] in 1904, providing that the United States had a right and obligation to intervene "in flagrant cases of such wrongdoing or impotence" that a nation in the Western Hemisphere became vulnerable to European control. In practice, this meant that the United States was led to act as a collections agent for European creditors by administering customs duties in the [[Dominican Republic]] (1905–1941), [[Haiti]] (1915–1934), and elsewhere. The intrusiveness and bad relations this engendered were somewhat checked by the [[Clark Memorandum]] and renounced by President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]]'s "[[Good Neighbor Policy]]". |
|||
The [[Fourteen Points]] were preconditions addressed by President [[Woodrow Wilson]] to the European powers at the [[Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920)|Paris Peace Conference]] following [[World War I]]. In allowing allies France and Britain the former colonial possessions of the German and Ottoman Empires, the US demanded of them submission to the [[League of Nations mandate]], in calling for ''V. A free, open-minded, and absolutely impartial adjustment of all colonial claims, based upon a strict observance of the principle that in determining all such questions of sovereignty '''the interests of the populations concerned must have equal weight''' with the equitable government whose title is to be determined.'' See also point XII. |
|||
After [[World War II]], the U.S. poured tens of billions of dollars into the [[Marshall Plan]], and other grants and loans to Europe and Asia to rebuild the world economy. At the same time American military bases were established around the world and direct and indirect interventions continued in [[Korean War|Korea]], [[Vietnam War|Indochina]], Latin America (''inter alia'', the [[Dominican Civil War|1965 occupation of the Dominican Republic]]), Africa, and the Middle East to oppose Communist movements and insurgencies. Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the United States has been far less active in the Americas, but invaded [[War in Afghanistan (2001–2021)|Afghanistan]] and [[Iraq War|Iraq]] following the [[September 11 attacks]] in 2001, establishing army and air bases in [[Central Asia]]. |
|||
==== Japan ==== |
|||
[[File:US Army in Korea under Japanese Rule.JPG|thumb|U.S. troops in [[Korea under Japanese rule|Korea]], September 1945]] |
|||
Before World War I, Japan had gained several substantial colonial possessions in East Asia such as Taiwan (1895) and Korea (1910). Japan joined the allies in World War I, and after the war acquired the [[South Seas Mandate]], the former German colony in Micronesia, as a [[League of Nations Mandate]]. Pursuing a colonial policy comparable to those of European powers, Japan settled significant populations of ethnic Japanese in its colonies while simultaneously suppressing Indigenous ethnic populations by enforcing the learning and use of the [[Japanese language]] in schools. Other methods such as public interaction, and attempts to eradicate the use of [[Korean language|Korean]], [[Hokkien]], and [[Hakka Chinese|Hakka]] among the Indigenous peoples, were seen to be used. Japan also set up the [[Imperial Universities]] in Korea ([[Keijō Imperial University]]) and Taiwan ([[National Taiwan University|Taihoku Imperial University]]) to compel education. |
|||
In 1931, Japan seized [[Manchuria]] from the Republic of China, setting up a puppet state under [[Puyi]], the last Manchu emperor of China. In 1933 Japan seized the Chinese province of [[Rehe Province|Rehe]], and incorporated it into its Manchurian possessions. The [[Second Sino-Japanese War]] started in 1937, and Japan occupied much of eastern China, including the Republic's capital at [[Nanjing]]. An estimated 20 million Chinese died during the 1931–1945 war with Japan.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2005-08/15/content_468908.htm|title=Remember role in ending fascist war|work=chinadaily.com.cn|access-date=2016-02-25}}</ref> |
|||
In December 1941, the empire of Japan joined [[World War II]] by invading the European and U.S. colonies in Southeast Asia and the Pacific, including [[French Indochina]], [[Hong Kong]], the Philippines, Burma, [[British Malaya|Malaya]], [[Indonesia]], [[Portuguese Timor]], and others. Following its surrender to the [[Allies of World War II|Allies]] in 1945, Japan was deprived of all its colonies with a number of them being returned to the original colonizing Western powers. The [[Soviet Union]] [[Soviet–Japanese War (1945)|declared war on Japan in August 1945]], and shortly after occupied and annexed the southern [[Kuril Islands]], which Japan [[Kuril Islands dispute|still claims]]. |
|||
=== After 1945 === |
|||
==== Planning for decolonization ==== |
|||
=====U.S. and Philippines===== |
|||
In the United States, the two major parties were divided on the acquisition of the Philippines, which became a major campaign issue in 1900. The Republicans, who favored permanent acquisition, won the election, but after a decade or so, Republicans turned their attention to the Caribbean, focusing on building the [[Panama Canal]]. President [[Woodrow Wilson]], a Democrat in office from 1913 to 1921, ignored the Philippines, and focused his attention on Mexico and Caribbean nations. By the 1920s, the peaceful efforts by the Filipino leadership to pursue independence proved convincing. When the Democrats returned to power in 1933, they worked with the Filipinos to plan a smooth transition to independence. It was scheduled for 1946 by [[Tydings–McDuffie Act]] of 1934. In 1935, the Philippines transitioned out of territorial status, controlled by an appointed governor, to the semi-independent status of the [[Commonwealth of the Philippines]]. Its constitutional convention wrote a new constitution, which was approved by Washington and went into effect, with an elected governor [[Manuel L. Quezon]] and legislature. Foreign Affairs remained under American control. The Philippines built up a new army, under general [[Douglas MacArthur]], who took leave from his U.S. Army position to take command of the new army reporting to Quezon. The Japanese occupation 1942 to 1945 disrupted but did not delay the transition. It took place on schedule in 1946 as [[Manuel Roxas]] took office as president.<ref>H. W. Brands, ''Bound to Empire: The United States and the Philippines'' (1992) pp. 138–60. [https://archive.org/details/boundtoempireuni00bran online free]</ref> |
|||
=====Portugal===== |
|||
[[File:Sempreatentos...aoperigo!.jpg|thumb|right|210px|[[Portuguese Army]] special ''[[caçadores]]'' advancing in the African jungle in the early 1960s, during the [[Angolan War of Independence]]]] |
|||
As a result of its pioneering [[Portuguese discoveries|discoveries]], [[Portugal]] had a large and particularly long-lasting colonial empire which had begun in 1415 with the [[conquest of Ceuta]] and ended only in 1999 with the handover of [[Portuguese Macau]] to China. In 1822, Portugal [[Independence of Brazil|lost control of Brazil]], its largest colony. |
|||
From 1933 to 1974, [[Estado Novo (Portugal)|Portugal was an authoritarian state]] (ruled by [[António de Oliveira Salazar]]). The regime was fiercely determined to maintain the country's colonial possessions at all costs and to aggressively suppress any insurgencies. In 1961, [[Annexation of Goa|India annexed Goa]] and by the same year nationalist forces had begun organizing in Portugal. Revolts (preceding the [[Portuguese Colonial War]]) spread to [[Portuguese Angola|Angola]], [[Portuguese Guinea|Guinea Bissau]] and [[Portuguese Mozambique|Mozambique]].<ref>John P. Cann, ''Counterinsurgency in Africa: The Portuguese Way of War 1961–74'' Solihull, UK (Helion Studies in Military History, No. 12), 2012.</ref> [[Lisbon]] escalated its effort in the war: for instance, it increased the number of natives in the colonial army and built strategic hamlets. Portugal sent another 300,000 European settlers into Angola and Mozambique before 1974. That year, [[Carnation Revolution|a left-wing revolution]] inside Portugal overthrew the existing regime and encouraged pro-Soviet elements to attempt to seize control in the colonies. The result was a very long and extremely difficult multi-party [[Angolan Civil War|Civil War in Angola]], and lesser insurrections in Mozambique.<ref>Norrie MacQueen, ''The Decolonisation of Portuguese Africa: Metropolitan Revolution and the Dissolution of Empire''</ref> |
|||
===== Belgium ===== |
|||
Belgium's empire began with the annexation of the Congo in 1908 in response to international pressure to bring an end to the [[Atrocities in the Congo Free State|terrible atrocities]] that had taken place under [[King Leopold II of Belgium|King Leopold]]'s privately run [[Congo Free State]]. It added [[Ruanda-Urundi|Rwanda and Burundi]] as League of Nations mandates from the former German Empire in 1919. The colonies remained independent during the war, while Belgium was occupied by the Germans. There was no serious planning for independence, and exceedingly little training or education provided. The [[Belgian Congo]] was especially rich, and many Belgian businessmen lobbied hard to maintain control. Local revolts grew in power and finally, the Belgian king suddenly announced in 1959 that independence was on the agenda – and it was hurriedly arranged in 1960, for country bitterly and deeply divided on social and economic grounds.<ref>Henri Grimal, ''Decolonisation: The British, French, Dutch and Belgian Empires, 1919–63'' (1978).</ref> |
|||
===== Netherlands ===== |
|||
[[File:Een groep gevangenen zit op de grond, bewaakt door soldaten voorbeeld van goe…, Bestanddeelnr 15865.jpg|thumb|210px|Dutch soldiers in the East Indies during the [[Indonesian National Revolution]], 1946]] |
|||
The Netherlands had spent centuries building up its empire. By 1940 it consisted mostly of the [[Dutch East Indies]], corresponding to what is now Indonesia. Its massive oil reserves provided about 14 percent of the Dutch national product and supported a large population of ethnic Dutch government officials and businessmen in [[Batavia, Dutch East Indies|Batavia]] (now Jakarta) and other major cities. The Netherlands was overrun and almost starved to death [[Reichskommissariat Niederlande|by the Nazis]] during the war, and Japan sank the Dutch fleet in seizing the East Indies. In 1945 the Netherlands could not regain these islands on its own; [[Battle of Surabaya|it did so by depending on British military help]] and [[Marshall Plan|American financial grants]]. By the time Dutch soldiers returned, an independent government under [[Sukarno]] was in power, originally set up by the [[Empire of Japan]]. The Dutch both abroad and at home generally agreed that Dutch power depended on an expensive war to regain the islands. Compromises were negotiated, but were trusted by neither side. When the [[Madiun Affair|Indonesian Republic successfully suppressed]] a large-scale communist revolt, the United States realized that it needed the nationalist government as an ally in the Cold War. Dutch possession was an obstacle to American Cold War goals, so Washington forced the Dutch to grant full independence. A few years later, Sukarno nationalized all [[Dutch East Indies]] properties and expelled all [[Indo people|ethnic Dutch]]—over 300,000—as well as several hundred thousand ethnic Indonesians who supported the Dutch cause. In the aftermath, the Netherlands prospered greatly in the 1950s and 1960s but nevertheless public opinion was bitterly hostile to the United States for betrayal. The Dutch government eventually gave up on claims to Indonesian sovereignty in 1949, after American pressure.<ref>{{cite book|author=Frances Gouda|title=American Visions of the Netherlands East Indies/Indonesia: US Foreign Policy and Indonesian Nationalism, 1920–1949|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Zh1VtsxRlRAC&pg=PA36|year=2002|publisher=Amsterdam UP|page=36|isbn=978-90-5356-479-0}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |jstor = 259796|title = The Netherlands after the Loss of Empire|journal = Journal of Contemporary History|volume = 4|issue = 1|pages = 127–139|last1 = Baudet|first1 = Henri|year = 1969|doi = 10.1177/002200946900400109|s2cid = 159531822}}</ref> The Netherlands also had one other major colony, Dutch Guiana in [[South America]], which became independent as [[Suriname]] in 1975. |
|||
==== United Nations trust territories ==== |
|||
{{Main|United Nations trust territories}} |
|||
When the United Nations was formed in 1945, it established trust territories. These territories included the [[League of Nations mandate]] territories which had not achieved independence by 1945, along with the former [[Italian Somaliland]]. The [[Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands]] was transferred from Japanese to US administration. By 1990 all but one of the trust territories had achieved independence, either as independent states or by merger with another independent state; the [[Northern Mariana Islands]] elected to become a commonwealth of the United States. |
|||
==== The emergence of the Third World (1945–present) ==== |
|||
[[File:Africa cs poster.jpg|thumb|upright=.8|Czechoslovak anti-colonialist propaganda poster: "Africa – in fight for freedom"]] |
|||
Newly independent states organised themselves in order to oppose continued economic colonialism by former imperial powers. The [[Non-Aligned Movement]] constituted itself around the main figures of [[Jawaharlal Nehru]], the first Prime Minister of India, [[Sukarno]], the Indonesian president, [[Josip Broz Tito]] the Communist leader of [[Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia|Yugoslavia]], and [[Gamal Abdel Nasser]], head of Egypt.<ref>{{Cite book |author=Nehru, Jawaharlal |title=Jawaharlal Nehru.: an autobiography. |date=2004 |publisher=Penguin Books |isbn=9780143031048 |oclc=909343858}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Non-Aligned Movement {{!}} Definition, Mission, & Facts |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Non-Aligned-Movement |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210227123949/https://www.britannica.com/topic/Non-Aligned-Movement |archive-date=27 February 2021 |access-date=10 July 2020 |website=Encyclopedia Britannica |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Mukherjee |first=Mithi |year=2010 |title='A World of Illusion': The Legacy of Empire in India's Foreign Relations, 1947-62. |journal=The International History Review |volume=32: 2 |issue=2 |pages=253–271 |doi=10.1080/07075332.2010.489753 |jstor=25703954 |s2cid=155062058}}</ref> In 1955 these leaders gathered at the [[Bandung Conference]] along with [[Sukarno]], the leader of Indonesia, and [[Zhou Enlai]], Premier of the People's Republic of China.<ref name="maounknown">Jung Chang and John Halliday, ''Mao: The Unknown Story'', pp. 603–604, 2007 edition, Vintage Books</ref><ref name="Bogetić">{{cite journal |last=Bogetić |first=Dragan |date=2017 |title=Sukob Titovog koncepta univerzalizma i Sukarnovog koncepta regionalizma na Samitu nesvrstanih u Kairu 1964. |trans-title=The Conflict Between Tito’s Concept of Universalism and Sukarno’s Concept of Regionalism in the 1964 Summit of Non-Aligned Countries in Cairo |journal=Istorija 20. Veka |publisher=Institute for Contemporary History, [[Belgrade]] |volume=35 |issue=2 |pages=101–118 |doi=10.29362/IST20VEKA.2017.2.BOG.101-118 |s2cid=189123378 |doi-access=free}}</ref> In 1960, the [[UN General Assembly]] voted on the [[Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples]]. The next year, the first Non-Aligned Movement conference was held in [[Belgrade]] (1961),<ref>{{cite web |date=6 September 1961 |title=Belgrade declaration of non-aligned countries |url=http://www.namegypt.org/Relevant%20Documents/01st%20Summit%20of%20the%20Non-Aligned%20Movement%20-%20Final%20Document%20(Belgrade_Declaration).pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111008014412/http://www.namegypt.org/Relevant%20Documents/01st%20Summit%20of%20the%20Non-Aligned%20Movement%20-%20Final%20Document%20(Belgrade_Declaration).pdf |archive-date=8 October 2011 |access-date=23 April 2011 |publisher=Egyptian presidency website}}</ref> and was followed in 1964 by the creation of the [[United Nations Conference on Trade and Development]] (UNCTAD) which tried to promote a [[New International Economic Order]] (NIEO).<ref name="auto4">{{cite book |last1=Laszlo |first1=Ervin |title=The Objectives of the New International Economic Order |last2=Baker |first2=Robert Jr. |last3=Eisenberg |first3=Elliott |last4=Raman |first4=Venkata |date=1978 |publisher=Pergamon Press |location=New York, NY}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Mazower |first1=Mark |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L7xvDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA310 |title=Governing the World: The History of an Idea |date=2012 |publisher=Penguin Press |isbn=9780143123941 |location=New York City |page=310}}</ref> The NIEO was opposed to the 1944 [[Bretton Woods system]], which had benefited the leading states which had created it, and remained in force until 1971 after the United States' suspension of convertibility from dollars to gold. The main principles of the NIEO are: |
|||
# The sovereign equality of all States, with non-interference in their internal affairs, their effective participation in solving world problems and the right to adopt their own economic and social systems; |
|||
# Full sovereignty of each State over its natural resources and other economic activities necessary for development, as well as regulation of transnational corporations; |
|||
# Just and equitable relationship between the price of raw materials and other goods exported by developing countries, and the prices of raw materials and other goods exported by the developed countries; |
|||
# Strengthening of bilateral and multilateral international assistance to promote industrialization in the developing countries through, in particular, the provisioning of sufficient financial resources and opportunities for transfer of appropriate techniques and technologies.<ref name="auto1">{{cite web |last1=Mahiou |first1=Ahmed |date=1 May 1974 |title=Introductory Note, Declaration of the Establishment of a New International Economic Order |url=http://legal.un.org/avl/ha/ga_3201/ga_3201.html |access-date=17 December 2020 |website=UN Audiovisual Library of International Law |ref=p. 3}}</ref> |
|||
[[File:Countries by Human Development Index (2020).png|thumb|upright=1.6|The [[UN Human Development Index]] (HDI) is a quantitative index of development, an alternative to the classic [[Gross Domestic Product]] (GDP), which some use as a proxy to define the [[Third World]]. While the GDP only calculates economic wealth, the HDI includes [[life expectancy]], [[public health]] and [[literacy]] as fundamental factors of a good [[quality of life]]. Countries in [[North America]], the [[Southern Cone]], [[Europe]], [[East Asia]], and [[Oceania]] generally have better standards of living than countries in [[Central Africa]], [[East Africa]], parts of the [[Caribbean]], and [[South Asia]].]] |
|||
The UNCTAD however was not very effective in implementing the NIEO, and social and economic inequalities between industrialized countries and the Third World grew throughout the 1960s until the 21st century. The [[1973 oil crisis]] which followed the [[Yom Kippur War]] (October 1973) was triggered by the OPEC which decided an embargo against the US and Western countries, causing a fourfold increase in the price of oil, which lasted five months, starting on 17 October 1973, and ending on 18 March 1974. OPEC nations then agreed, on 7 January 1975, to raise crude oil prices by 10%. At that time, OPEC nations – including many who had recently nationalized their oil industries – joined the call for a New International Economic Order to be initiated by coalitions of primary producers. Concluding the First OPEC Summit in Algiers they called for stable and just commodity prices, an international food and agriculture program, technology transfer from North to South, and the democratization of the economic system. But industrialized countries quickly began to look for substitutes to OPEC petroleum, with the oil companies investing the majority of their research capital in the US and European countries or others, politically sure countries. The OPEC lost more and more influence on the world prices of oil. |
|||
The [[1979 energy crisis|second oil crisis]] occurred in the wake of the 1979 [[Iranian Revolution]]. Then, the 1982 [[Latin American debt crisis]] exploded in Mexico first, then Argentina and Brazil, which proved unable to pay back their debts, jeopardizing the existence of the international economic system. |
|||
The 1990s were characterized by the prevalence of the [[Washington consensus]] on [[neoliberalism|neoliberal]] policies, "[[structural adjustment]]" and "[[shock therapy (economics)|shock therapies]]" for the former Communist states. |
The 1990s were characterized by the prevalence of the [[Washington consensus]] on [[neoliberalism|neoliberal]] policies, "[[structural adjustment]]" and "[[shock therapy (economics)|shock therapies]]" for the former Communist states. |
||
====Decolonization of Africa==== |
|||
== Modern approaches to decolonization == |
|||
{{Main|Decolonisation of Africa}} |
|||
[[File:British Decolonisation in Africa.png|thumb|right|British decolonisation in Africa]] |
|||
Though the term "decolonization" is not well received among donors in [[international development]] today, the root of the emerging emphasis on projects to promote "democracy, governance and human rights" by international donors and to promote "institution building" and a "[human rights based approach]" to development is really to achieve decolonization. |
|||
The decolonization of North Africa and sub-Saharan Africa took place in the mid-to-late 1950s, very suddenly, with little preparation. There was widespread unrest and organized revolts, especially in French Algeria, Portuguese Angola, the Belgian Congo and British Kenya.<ref>John Hatch, ''Africa: The Rebirth of Self-Rule'' (1967)</ref><ref>William Roger Louis, ''The transfer of power in Africa: decolonisation, 1940–1960'' (Yale UP, 1982).</ref><ref>John D. Hargreaves, ''Decolonisation in Africa'' (2014).</ref><ref>for the viewpoint from London and Paris see Rudolf von Albertini, ''Decolonisation: the Administration and Future of the Colonies, 1919–1960'' (Doubleday, 1971).</ref> |
|||
In 1945, Africa had four independent countries – Egypt, Ethiopia, Liberia, and South Africa. |
|||
In many independent, post-colonial nations, the systems and cultures of colonialism continue. Weak Parliaments and Ministerial governments (where Ministries issue their own edicts and write laws rather than the Parliament) are holdovers of colonialism since political decisions were made outside the country, Parliaments were at most for show, and the executive branch (then, foreign Governor Generals and foreign civil servants) held local power. Similarly, militaries are strong and civil control over them is weak; a holdover of military control exercised by a foreign military. In some cases, the governing systems in post-colonial countries could be viewed as ruling elites who succeeded in coup d'etats against the foreign colonial regime but never gave up the system of control. |
|||
After Italy's defeat in World War II, France and the UK occupied the former Italian colonies. [[Libya]] became an independent kingdom in 1951. [[Eritrea]] was merged with Ethiopia in 1952. Italian Somaliland was governed by the UK, and by Italy after 1954, until its independence in 1960. |
|||
In many countries, the human rights challenges are to empower women and reverse the legacy of [[missionization]] that promoted [[patriarchy]] and to empower individuals and civil society through changes in education systems that were set up by colonial governments to train obedient servants of colonial regimes. |
|||
[[File:Gungu la mcezo contre la France à Mayotte.jpg|thumb|Comorians protest against [[2009 Mahoran status referendum|Mayotte referendum]] on becoming an overseas department of France, 2009]] |
|||
By 1977, European colonial rule in mainland Africa had ended. Most of Africa's island countries had also become independent, although [[Réunion]] and [[Mayotte]] remain part of France. However the black majorities in [[Rhodesia]] and South Africa were disenfranchised until 1979 in [[Rhodesia]], which became [[Zimbabwe-Rhodesia]] that year and Zimbabwe the next, and until 1994 in South Africa. [[Namibia]], Africa's last UN Trust Territory, became independent of South Africa in 1990. |
|||
Most independent African countries exist within prior colonial borders. However [[Morocco]] merged [[French Morocco]] with [[Spanish Morocco]], and [[Somalia]] formed from the merger of [[British Somaliland]] and [[Italian Somaliland]]. [[Eritrea]] merged with Ethiopia in 1952, but became an independent country in 1993. |
|||
Often the impact of colonialism is more subtle, with preferences for clothes (such as "blue" shirts of French officials and pith helmets), drugs (alcohol and tobacco that colonial governments introduced, often as a way to tax locals) and other cultural attributes remain. |
|||
Most African countries became independent as [[republic]]s. [[Morocco]], [[Lesotho]], and [[Eswatini]] remain monarchies under dynasties that predate colonial rule. [[Burundi]], [[Egypt]], [[Libya]], and [[Tunisia]] gained independence as monarchies, but all four countries' monarchs were later deposed, and they became republics. |
|||
Some experts in development, such as [[David Lempert]], have suggested an opening of dialogues from the colonial powers on the systems they introduced and the harms that continue as a way of decolonizing in rights policy documents for the UN system and for Europe. First World countries often seem reluctant to engage in this form of decolonization, however, since they may benefit from the legacies of colonialism that they created, in contemporary trade and political relations.{{Fact|date=January 2008}} |
|||
African countries cooperate in various multi-state associations. The [[African Union]] includes all 55 African states. There are several regional associations of states, including the [[East African Community]], [[Southern African Development Community]], and [[Economic Community of West African States]], some of which have overlapping membership. |
|||
== Assassinated anticolonialist leaders == |
|||
* {{flagcountry|United Kingdom}}: [[Sudan]] (1956); [[Ghana]] (1957); [[Nigeria]] (1960); [[Sierra Leone]] and [[Tanganyika (1961–1964)|Tanganyika]] (1961); [[Uganda]] (1962); [[Kenya]] and [[Sultanate of Zanzibar]] (1963); [[Malawi]] and [[Zambia]] (1964); [[The Gambia|Gambia]] and [[Rhodesia]] (1965); [[Botswana]] and [[Lesotho]] (1966); [[Mauritius]] and [[Swaziland]] (1968); [[Seychelles]] (1976) |
|||
* {{flagcountry|France}}: [[Morocco]] and [[Tunisia]] (1956); [[Guinea]] (1958); [[Cameroon]], [[Togo]], [[Mali]], [[Senegal]], [[Madagascar]], [[Benin]], [[Niger]], [[Burkina Faso]], [[Ivory Coast]], [[Chad]], [[Central African Republic]], [[Republic of the Congo]], [[Gabon]] and [[Mauritania]] (1960); [[Algeria]] (1962); [[Comoros]] (1975); [[Djibouti]] (1977) |
|||
* {{flagcountry|Spain}}: [[Equatorial Guinea]] (1968) |
|||
* {{flagcountry|Portugal}}: [[Guinea-Bissau]] (1974); [[Mozambique]], [[Cape Verde]], [[São Tomé and Príncipe]] and [[Angola]] (1975) |
|||
* {{flagcountry|Belgium}}: [[Democratic Republic of the Congo]] (1960); [[Burundi]] and [[Rwanda]] (1962) |
|||
==== Decolonization in the Americas after 1945 ==== |
|||
A ''non-exhaustive'' [[list of assassinated people|list of assassinated leaders]] would include: |
|||
{{Main|Decolonization of the Americas}} |
|||
* {{flagcountry|United Kingdom}}: [[Dominion of Newfoundland|Newfoundland]] (formerly an independent dominion but under direct British rule since 1934) (1949, union with Canada); [[Jamaica]] and [[Trinidad and Tobago]] (1962); [[Barbados]] and [[Guyana]] (1966); [[Bahamas]] (1973); [[Grenada]] (1974); [[Trinidad and Tobago]] (1976, removal of Queen [[Elizabeth II]] as head of state, transition to republic); [[Dominica]] (1978); [[Saint Lucia]] and [[St. Vincent and the Grenadines]] (1979); [[Antigua and Barbuda]] and [[Belize]] (1981); [[Saint Kitts and Nevis]] (1983); [[Barbados]] (2021, removal of Queen [[Elizabeth II]] as head of state, transition to republic).<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.reuters.com/world/prince-charles-travels-barbados-celebrate-creation-republic-2021-11-29/|title = Barbados ditches Britain's Queen Elizabeth to become a republic|newspaper = Reuters|date = 30 November 2021|last1 = Faulconbridge|first1 = Guy|last2 = Ellsworth|first2 = Brian}}</ref> |
|||
* {{flagcountry|Netherlands}}: [[Netherlands Antilles]], [[Suriname]] (1954, both becoming constituent countries of the [[Kingdom of the Netherlands]]), 1975 (independence of Suriname) |
|||
* {{flagcountry|Kingdom of Denmark}}: [[Greenland]] (1979, became an autonomous territory of the [[Kingdom of Denmark]]). |
|||
==== Decolonization of Asia ==== |
|||
*[[Vasil Levski]], [[Bulgaria]]n leader of the struggle for liberation from [[Ottoman Empire|Turkish]] rule, was hanged by the Ottomans in [[Sofia]] on [[February 19]], [[1873]]. |
|||
{{Main|Decolonisation of Asia}} |
|||
*[[Michael Collins (Irish leader)|Michael Collins]], an [[Ireland|Irish]] revolutionary leader and Director of [[Military intelligence|Intelligence]] for the [[Irish Republican Army|IRA]], was killed in August 1922. |
|||
[[File:Colonization 1945.png|thumb|right|upright=1.5|Western European colonial empires in Asia and Africa all collapsed in the years after 1945]] |
|||
*[[Roman Shukhevych]], leader of the [[Ukrainian Insurgent Army]], killed by the [[MVD]] near [[Lviv]] on [[March 5]], [[1950]]. |
|||
[[File:Partition of India.PNG|thumb|Four nations ([[India]], [[Pakistan]], [[Dominion of Ceylon]], and [[Union of Burma]]) that gained independence in 1947 and 1948]] |
|||
*[[Ruben Um Nyobé]], leader of the [[Union of the Peoples of Cameroon]] (UPC), killed by the French army on [[September 13]], [[1958]] |
|||
Japan expanded its occupation of Chinese territory during the 1930s, and occupied [[Southeast Asia]] during World War II. After the war, the [[Japanese colonial empire]] was dissolved, and national independence movements resisted the re-imposition of colonial control by European countries and the United States. |
|||
*[[Stepan Bandera]], leader of the [[Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists]], assassinated in [[Munich]], [[Germany]] in 1959 on the orders of Soviet [[KGB]] head [[Alexander Shelepin]] and Soviet premier [[Nikita Khrushchev]].<ref>[http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,938806,00.html The Poison Pistol], ''[[TIME Magazine]]'', December 01, 1961</ref> |
|||
*[[Barthélemy Boganda]], leader of a nationalist [[Central African Republic]] movement, who died in a plane-crash on [[March 29]], [[1959]], eight days before the last elections of the colonial era. |
|||
*[[Félix-Roland Moumié]], successor to Ruben Um Nyobe at the head of the [[Cameroon's People Union|UPC]], assassinated in [[Geneva]] in 1960 by the [[SDECE]] (French secret services).<ref> [[Jacques Foccart]], counsellor to [[Charles de Gaulle]], [[Georges Pompidou]] and [[Jacques Chirac]] for African matters, recognized it in 1995 to ''[[Jeune Afrique]]'' review. See also ''Foccart parle, interviews with Philippe Gaillard'', Fayard - ''[[Jeune Afrique]]'' {{fr icon}} and also [http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2751/is_n49/ai_20319603 "The man who ran Francafrique - French politician Jacques Foccart's role in France's colonization of Africa under the leadership of Charles de Gaulle - Obituary"] in ''[[The National Interest]]'', Fall 1997 </ref> |
|||
*[[Patrice Lumumba]], the first Prime Minister of the [[Democratic Republic of the Congo]], was assassinated on [[January 17]], [[1961]]. |
|||
*[[Burundi]] nationalist [[Louis Rwagasore]] was assassinated on [[October 13]], [[1961]], while [[Pierre Ngendandumwe]], Burundi's first [[Hutu]] prime minister, was also murdered on [[January 15]], [[1965]]. |
|||
*[[Sylvanus Olympio]], the first [[List of Presidents of Togo|president of Togo]], was assassinated on [[January 13]], [[1963]]. He would be replaced by [[Gnassingbé Eyadéma]], who ruled Togo for nearly forty years; he died in 2005 and was succeeded by his son [[Faure Gnassingbé]]. |
|||
*[[Mehdi Ben Barka]], the leader of the [[History of Morocco|Moroccan]] [[National Union of Popular Forces]] (UNPF) and of the [[Tricontinental Conference]], which was supposed to prepare in 1966 in [[Havana]] its first meeting gathering national liberation movements from all continents — related to the [[Non-Aligned Movement]], but the Tricontinal Conference gathered liberation movements while the Non-Aligned were for the most part states — was "[[disappeared]]" in Paris in 1965. |
|||
*[[Nigeria]]n leader [[Ahmadu Bello]] was assassinated in January 1966. |
|||
*[[Eduardo Mondlane]], the leader of [[FRELIMO]] and the father of [[Mozambique|Mozambican]] independence, was assassinated in 1969, allegedly by ''Aginter Press'', the Portuguese branch of [[Gladio]], [[NATO]]'s paramilitary organization during the Cold War.<ref> See [http://www.isn.ethz.ch/php/documents/collection_gladio/chronology.htm ISN Zurich Institute] hosted by [[ETH Zurich]] University </ref> |
|||
*[[Pan-African]]ist [[Tom Mboya]] was killed on [[July 5]], [[1969]]. |
|||
*[[Abeid Karume]], first president of [[Zanzibar]], was assassinated in April 1972. |
|||
*[[Amílcar Cabral]] was murdered on [[January 20]], [[1973]]. |
|||
*[[Outel Bono]], [[History of Chad|Chad]]ian opponent of [[François Tombalbaye]], was assassinated on [[August 26]], [[1973]], making yet another example of the existence of the ''[[Françafrique]]'', designing by this term post-independent neocolonial ties between France and its former colonies. |
|||
*[[Herbert Chitepo]], leader of the [[Zimbabwe African National Union]] (ZANU), was assassinated on [[March 18]], [[1975]]. |
|||
*[[Óscar Romero]], [[prelate]] [[archbishop]] of [[San Salvador]] and proponent of [[liberation theology]], was assassinated on [[March 24]], [[1980]] |
|||
*[[Dulcie September]], leader of the [[African National Congress]] (ANC), who was investigating an [[arms trade]] between France and South Africa, was murdered in Paris on [[March 29]], [[1988]], a few years before the end of the [[apartheid]] regime. |
|||
The [[Republic of China (1912–1949)|Republic of China]] regained control of Japanese-occupied territories in Manchuria and eastern China, as well as Taiwan. Only Hong Kong and Macau remained in outside control until both places were transferred to the [[People's Republic of China]] by the [[UK]] and [[Portugal]] in 1997 and 1999. |
|||
Many of these assassinations are still unsolved cases as of 2007, but foreign power interference is undeniable in many of these cases — although others were for internal matters. To take only one case, the investigation concerning Mehdi Ben Barka is continuing to this day, and both France and the United States have refused to declassify files they acknowledge having in their possession<ref> See [[Mehdi Ben Barka]] for further information. France has declassified some of the files, but Ben Barka's family has stated that these have shed no new light on the affair, and that further efforts must be done. </ref> The [[Phoenix Program]], a CIA program of [[assassination]] during the [[Vietnam War]], should also be named. |
|||
The Allied powers divided Korea into two occupation zones, which became the states of [[North Korea]] and [[South Korea]]. The [[Philippines]] became independent of the U.S. in 1946. |
|||
== Post-colonial organizations == |
|||
The Netherlands recognized [[Indonesia]]'s independence in 1949, after a four-year [[Indonesian National Revolution|independence struggle]]. Indonesia annexed [[Netherlands New Guinea]] in 1963, and [[Portuguese Timor]] in 1975. In 2002, former Portuguese Timor became independent as [[East Timor]]. |
|||
[[Image:Postempire Orgs Map.png|right|400px|thumb|Four international organizations whose membership largely follows the pattern of previous colonial empires.]] |
|||
The following list shows the colonial powers following the end of hostilities in 1945, and their colonial or administrative possessions. The year of decolonization is given chronologically in parentheses.<ref>Baylis, J. & Smith S. (2001). The Globalisation of World Politics: An introduction to international relations.</ref> |
|||
Due to a common history and culture, former colonial powers created institutions which more loosely associated their former colonies. Membership is voluntary, and in some cases can be revoked if a member state loses some objective criteria (usually a requirement for democratic governance). The organizations serve cultural, economic, and political purposes between the associated countries, although no such organization has become politically prominent as an entity in its own right. |
|||
* {{flagcountry|United Kingdom}}: [[Emirate of Transjordan|Transjordan]] (1946), [[Presidencies and provinces of British India|British India]] and [[Pakistan]] (1947); [[Mandatory Palestine|British Mandate of Palestine]], [[Myanmar|Burma]] and [[Sri Lanka|Ceylon]] (1948); [[British Malaya]] (1957); [[Kuwait]] (1961); [[Kingdom of Sarawak]], [[North Borneo]] and [[Singapore]] (1963); [[Maldives]] (1965); [[Southern Movement|Aden]] (1967); [[Bahrain]], [[Qatar]] and [[United Arab Emirates]] (1971); [[Brunei]] (1984); [[Hong Kong]] (1997) |
|||
* {{flagcountry|France}}: [[French India]] (1954) and [[Indochina]] comprising [[Vietnam]] (1954), [[Cambodia]] (1953) and [[Laos]] (1953) |
|||
* {{flagcountry|Portugal}}: [[Portuguese India]] (1961); [[East Timor]] (1975); [[Macau]] (1999) |
|||
* {{flagcountry|United States}}: [[Philippines]] (1946) |
|||
* {{flagcountry|Netherlands}}: [[Indonesia]] (1949) |
|||
==== Decolonization in Europe ==== |
|||
{| class="wikitable" |
|||
[[File:Nyet, nyet, Soviet (11).jpg|thumb|A protest sign from the second half of the 20th century calling on the U.N. to abolish [[Soviet colonialism]] in the [[Baltic states]]]] |
|||
|- style="background-color:#e9e9e9" | |
|||
!Former Colonial Power || Organization ||Founded |
|||
|- |
|||
| rowspan="3" align="center" |''Britain'' |
|||
|[[Commonwealth of Nations]] |
|||
| align="center" |1931 |
|||
|- |
|||
| style="background-color: #f2f2f9" |[[Commonwealth Realm]]s |
|||
| style="background-color: #f2f2f9" align="center" |1931 |
|||
|- |
|||
|[[Associated state]]s |
|||
| align="center" |1967 |
|||
|- |
|||
| rowspan="3" align="center" |''France'' |
|||
| style="background-color: #f2f2f9" |[[French Union]] |
|||
| style="background-color: #f2f2f9" align="center" |1946 |
|||
|- |
|||
|[[French Community]] |
|||
| align="center" |1958 |
|||
|- |
|||
| style="background-color: #f2f2f9" |[[Francophonie]] |
|||
| style="background-color: #f2f2f9" align="center" |1970 |
|||
|- |
|||
| rowspan="3" align="center" |''Spain & Portugal'' |
|||
|[[Latin Union]] |
|||
| align="center" |1954 |
|||
|- |
|||
| style="background-color: #f2f2f9" |[[Organization of Ibero-American States]] |
|||
| style="background-color: #f2f2f9" align="center" |1991 |
|||
|- |
|||
|[[Community of Portuguese Language Countries]] |
|||
| align="center" |1996 |
|||
|- |
|||
| rowspan="2" align="center" |''United States'' |
|||
| style="background-color: #f2f2f9" |[[Commonwealth (U.S. insular area)|Commonwealths]] |
|||
| style="background-color: #f2f2f9" align="center" |1934 |
|||
|- |
|||
|[[Compact of Free Association|Freely Associated States]] |
|||
| align="center" |1982 |
|||
|- |
|||
| align="center" |''European Union'' |
|||
| style="background-color: #f2f2f9" |[[ACP countries]] |
|||
| style="background-color: #f2f2f9" align="center" |1975 |
|||
|} |
|||
Italy had occupied the [[Dodecanese]] islands in 1912, but Italian occupation ended after World War II, and the islands were integrated into Greece. British rule ended in [[British Cyprus (1878–1960)|Cyprus]] in 1960, and [[History of Malta#Malta in the British Empire (1800–1964)|Malta]] in 1964, and both islands became independent republics. |
|||
== Differing perspectives == |
|||
There is quite a bit of controversy over decolonisation. The end goal tends to be universally regarded as good, but there has been much debate over the best way to grant full independence. |
|||
Soviet control of its non-Russian member republics weakened as movements for democratization and self-government gained strength during the late 1980s, and four republics declared independence in 1990 and 1991. The [[1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt|Soviet coup d'état attempt]] in August 1991 accelerated the breakup of the USSR, which formally ended on 26 December 1991. The [[Republics of the Soviet Union]] became sovereign states—[[Armenia]], [[Azerbaijan]], [[Belarus]] (formerly called Byelorussia,) [[Estonia]], [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]], [[Kazakhstan]], [[Kyrgyzstan]], [[Latvia]], [[Lithuania]], [[Moldova]], [[Russia]], [[Tajikistan]], [[Turkmenistan]], [[Ukraine]] and [[Uzbekistan]]. Historian Robert Daniels says, "A special dimension that the anti-Communist revolutions shared with some of their predecessors was decolonization."<ref>{{cite book|editor=David Parker|title=Revolutions and the Revolutionary Tradition: In the West 1560–1991|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cMGEAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA203|year=2002|publisher=Routledge|pages=202–3|isbn=978-1-134-69058-9}}</ref> Moscow's policy had long been to settle ethnic Russians in the non-Russian republics. After independence, minority rights have been an issue for Russian-speakers in some republics and for [[Languages of Russia|non-Russian-speakers]] in Russia; see [[Russians in the Baltic states]].<ref>{{Cite journal |jstor = 43211802|title = Russians in the Baltic States: To be or Not to Be?|journal = Journal of Baltic Studies|volume = 24|issue = 2|pages = 173–188|last1 = Kirch|first1 = Aksel|last2 = Kirch|first2 = Marika|last3 = Tuisk|first3 = Tarmo|year = 1993|doi = 10.1080/01629779300000051}}</ref> Meanwhile, the Russian Federation continues to apply political, economic, and military pressure on former Soviet colonies. In 2014, it [[Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation|annexed Ukraine's Crimean peninsula]], the first such action in Europe since the end of the Second World War. In March 2023, following the [[2022 Russian invasion]] and subsequent Russian occupation of parts of Ukraine, Ukraine passed [[On the Condemnation and Prohibition of Propaganda of Russian Imperial Policy in Ukraine and the Decolonization of Toponymy|a law]] that did forbid to have toponymy with names associated with Russian ("the occupying state").<ref>{{cite web|date=22 March 2023|access-date=22 March 2023|title=Geographical names associated with Russia have been banned in Ukraine|url=https://lb.ua/news/2023/03/21/549538_ukraini_zaboronili_geografichni.html|website={{ill|Lb.ua|uk|Lb.ua}}|lang=Ukrainian}}</ref> This law in particular has been described by Ukrainian media as providing "a legitimate framework and effective mechanisms" for the [[decolonization of Ukraine]].<ref>{{Cite news |date=2023-03-22 |title=Що таке деколонізація, чому вона важлива і як буде здійснюватися згідно з законом? |url=https://lb.ua/news/2023/03/22/549649_shcho_take_dekolonizatsiya_chomu_vona.html |access-date=2024-01-23|language=uk}}</ref> |
|||
=== Decolonization and political instability === |
|||
Some say the post–World War II decolonisation movement was too rushed, especially in Africa, and resulted in the creation of unstable regimes in the newly independent countries. Thus causing war between and within the new independent nation-states. |
|||
After the 2022 Russian invasion, scholars of Eastern Europe and Central Asia Studies ("[[Russian studies]]") have renewed awareness of Russian colonialism and interest in decolonizing scholarship in their field,<ref>{{Cite news |last=Prince |first=Todd |date=2023-01-01 |title=Moscow's Invasion Of Ukraine Triggers 'Soul-Searching' At Western Universities As Scholars Rethink Russian Studies |language=en |work=Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty |url=https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-war-ukraine-western-academia/32201630.html |access-date=2023-04-24}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Smith-Peter |first=Susan |date=2022-12-14 |title=How the Field was Colonized: Russian History's Ukrainian Blind Spot |url=https://networks.h-net.org/node/10000/blog/decolonizing-russian-studies/12015665/how-field-was-colonized-russian-history%E2%80%99s |access-date=2023-04-24 |website=H-Net}}</ref> with academic conferences organized on the theme by the Centre for Baltic and East European Studies (CBEES) in Stockholm in December 2022,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Administration |date=2012-11-02 |title=PhD |url=https://ccrs.ku.dk/phd/?pure=en/activities/cbees-annual-conference-2022-where-are-we-now-perspectives-on-east-european-area-studies-today(f555db0d-383f-429d-a8eb-bf4e73784324).html |access-date=2023-04-24 |website=ccrs.ku.dk |language=en}}</ref> the British Association for Slavonic and Eastern European Studies (BASEES) in April 2023,<ref>{{Cite web |title=BASEES Annual Conference 2022 |url=https://www.myeventflo.com/event.asp?m=4&evID=2387 |access-date=2023-04-24 |website=www.myeventflo.com}}</ref> the Aleksanteri Institute in October,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Aleksanteri Conference takes a stand for Ukraine {{!}} Aleksanteri Institute {{!}} University of Helsinki |url=https://www.helsinki.fi/en/news/economics/aleksanteri-conference-takes-stand-ukraine |access-date=2023-04-24 |website=www.helsinki.fi |date=6 October 2022 |language=en}}</ref> and the [[Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies]] (ASEEES) in Philadelphia in November–December. |
|||
Others argue that this instability is largely the result of problems from the colonial period, including arbitrary nation-state borders, lack of training of local populations and disproportional [[economy]]. However by the 20th century most colonial powers were slowly being forced by the moral beliefs of population to consider the welfare of their colonial subjects. |
|||
=== |
==== Decolonization of Oceania ==== |
||
{{Main|Decolonisation of Oceania}} |
|||
==== Effects on the colonizers ==== |
|||
The decolonization of Oceania occurred after World War II when nations in Oceania achieved independence by transitioning from European colonial rule to full independence. |
|||
* {{flagcountry|United Kingdom}}: [[Tonga]] and [[Fiji]] (1970); [[Solomon Islands]] and [[Tuvalu]] (1978); [[Kiribati]] (1979) |
|||
* {{flagcountry|United Kingdom}} and {{flagcountry|France}}: [[Vanuatu]] (1980) |
|||
* {{flagcountry|Australia}}: [[Nauru]] (1968); [[Papua New Guinea]] (1975) |
|||
* {{flagcountry|New Zealand}}: [[Samoa]] (1962) |
|||
* {{flagcountry|United States}}: [[Marshall Islands]] and [[Federated States of Micronesia]] (1986); [[Palau]] (1994) |
|||
== Challenges == |
|||
[[John Kenneth Galbraith]] argues that the post-World War II decolonization was brought about for [[economic]] reasons. In ''A Journey Through Economic Time'', he writes, "The engine of economic well-being was now within and between the advanced industrial countries. Domestic [[economic growth]] — as now measured and much discussed — came to be seen as far more important than the erstwhile colonial trade... The economic effect in the [[United States]] from the granting of independence to the [[Philippines]] was unnoticeable, partly due to the [[Bell Trade Act]], which allowed American monopoly in the economy of the Philippines. The departure of India and Pakistan made small economic difference in [[United Kingdom|Britain]]. [[The Netherlands|Dutch]] economists calculated that the economic effect from the loss of the great Dutch empire in [[Indonesia]] was compensated for by a couple of years or so of domestic post-war economic growth. The end of the colonial era is celebrated in the history books as a triumph of national aspiration in the former colonies and of benign good sense on the part of the colonial powers. Lurking beneath, as so often happens, was a strong current of economic interest — or in this case, disinterest." |
|||
Typical challenges of decolonization include [[state-building]], [[nation-building]], and [[economic development]]. |
|||
=== State-building === |
|||
Part of the reason for the lack of economic impact felt by the colonizer upon the release of the colonized was that costs and benefits were not eliminated, but shifted. The colonizer no longer had the burden of obligation, financial or otherwise, to their colony. The colonizer continued to be able to obtain cheap goods and labor as well as economic benefits (see [[Suez Canal Crisis]]) from the former colonies. Financial, political and military pressure could still be used to achieve goals desired by the colonizer. The most obvious difference is the ability of the colonizer to disclaim responsibility for the colonized. |
|||
{{Main|State-building}} |
|||
After independence, the new states needed to establish or strengthen the institutions of a sovereign state – governments, laws, a military, schools, administrative systems, and so on. The amount of self-rule granted prior to independence, and assistance from the colonial power and/or international organizations after independence, varied greatly between colonial powers, and between individual colonies.<ref name="Glassner, Martin Ira 1980">Glassner, Martin Ira (1980). ''Systematic Political Geography'' 2nd Edition. John Wiley & Sons, New York.</ref> |
|||
Except for a few absolute monarchies, most post-colonial states are either [[republic]]s or [[constitutional monarchy|constitutional monarchies]]. These new states had to devise [[constitution]]s, [[electoral system]]s, and other institutions of [[representative democracy]]. |
|||
==== Effects on the former colonies ==== |
|||
{{further|[[Third World debt]]}} |
|||
=== Nation-building === |
|||
{{Expand|date=January 2007}} |
|||
{{Main|Nation-building}} |
|||
[[File:Black Star Monument, Accra, Ghana.JPG|thumb|{{center|The '''Black Star Monument''' in [[Accra]], built by [[Ghana]]'s first president [[Kwame Nkrumah]] to commemorate the country's independence}}]] |
|||
Nation-building is the process of creating a sense of identification with, and loyalty to, the state.<ref>Karl Wolfgang Deutsch, William J. Folt, eds, ''Nation Building in Comparative Contexts'', New York, Atherton, 1966.{{pn|date=August 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |doi=10.1093/obo/9780199743292-0217 |chapter=Nation-Building |title=International Relations |date=2017 |last1=Mylonas |first1=Harris |isbn=978-0-19-974329-2 }}</ref> Nation-building projects seek to replace loyalty to the old colonial power, and/or tribal or regional loyalties, with loyalty to the new state. Elements of nation-building include creating and promoting symbols of the state like a flag, a coat of arms and an anthem, monuments, official histories, national sports teams, codifying one or more Indigenous [[official language]]s, and replacing colonial place-names with local ones.<ref name="Glassner, Martin Ira 1980"/> Nation-building after independence often continues the work began by independence movements during the colonial period. |
|||
=== Settled populations === |
|||
Decolonization is not an easy matter in colonies where a large population of settlers lives, particularly if they have been there for several generations. This population, in general, may have to be repatriated, often losing considerable property. For instance, the decolonisation of [[Algeria]] by France was particularly uneasy due to the large European and Sephardic Jewish population (see also ''[[pied noir]]''), which largely evacuated to France when Algeria became independent. In [[Zimbabwe]], former [[Rhodesia]], president [[Robert Mugabe]] has, starting in the 1990s, targeted white farmers and forcibly seized their property. In some cases, decolonisation is hardly possible or impossible because of the importance of the settler population or where the indigenous population is now in the minority; such is the case of the British population of the [[Cayman Islands]], the Russian population of [[Kazakhstan]], the Chinese population of [[Singapore]] as well as the immigrant communities of USA and Canada. |
|||
==== Language policy ==== |
|||
== Charts of the independences == |
|||
From the perspective of [[language policy]] (or [[language politics]]), "linguistic decolonization" entails the replacement of a colonizing (imperial) power's language with a given colony's indigenous language in the function of [[official language]]. With the exception of colonies in [[Eurasia]], linguistic decolonization did not take place in the former colonies-turned-independent states on the other continents ("Rest of the World").<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kamusella |first1=Tomasz |title=Global Language Politics: Eurasia versus the Rest |journal=Journal of Nationalism, Memory & Language Politics |date=1 December 2020 |volume=14 |issue=2 |pages=117–151 |doi=10.2478/jnmlp-2020-0008 |s2cid=230283299 |doi-access=free |hdl=10023/21315 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> [[Linguistic imperialism]] is the imposition and enforcement of one dominant language over other languages, and one response to this form of imperialism is linguistic decolonization.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Phillipson |first=Robert |title=Linguistic Imperialism |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |year=1992 |isbn=978-0-19-437146-9 |location=Oxford |oclc=30978070}} p. 46-47.</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Agyekum |first=Kofi |date=2018-05-23 |title=Linguistic imperialism and language decolonisation in Africa through documentation and preservation |url=https://zenodo.org/records/1251718 |journal=African Linguistics on the Prairie |pages=87–88 |doi=10.5281/zenodo.1251718}}</ref> |
|||
{{See|Independence Day}} |
|||
==== Settled populations ==== |
|||
In this chronological overview, not every date is indisputably the decisive moment. Often, the final phase, independence, is mentioned here, though there may be years of autonomy before, e.g. as an Associated State under the British crown. For such details, see each national history. |
|||
{{See also|Settler colonialism}} |
|||
Decolonization is not an easy matter in colonies with large settler populations, particularly if they have been there for several generations. When settlers remain in former colonies after independence, colonialism is ongoing and takes the form of [[settler colonialism]], which is highly resistant to decolonisation.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Veracini |first1=Lorenzo |title=Settler colonialism and decolonisation |journal=Faculty of Law, Humanities and the Arts - Papers (Archive) |date=2007 |url=https://ro.uow.edu.au/lhapapers/1337/ }}</ref> Repatriation of existing colonizers or prevention of immigration of additional [[colonialism|colonizers]] can be seen as [[opposition to immigration]].<ref>[https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781315458298-25/migrants-indigeneity-nandita-sharma Sharma, Nandita. "Migrants and indigeneity: Nationalism, nativism and the politics of place." Routledge International Handbook of Migration Studies. Routledge, 2019. 246-257.]</ref> |
|||
In a few cases, settler populations have been [[Repatriation|repatriated]]. For instance, the decolonization of [[Algeria]] by France was particularly uneasy due to the large European population (see also ''[[pied noir]]''),<ref name="Cook">{{Cite book |last=Cook |first=Bernard A. |title=Europe since 1945: an encyclopedia |url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaeuro01acoo |url-access=limited |pages=[https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaeuro01acoo/page/n461 398] |year=2001 |publisher=Garland |location=New York |isbn=978-0-8153-4057-7}}</ref> which largely evacuated to France when Algeria became independent.<ref name="ladepeche">[http://www.ladepeche.fr/article/2012/03/10/1308713-pieds-noirs-ceux-qui-ont-choisi-de-rester.html "Pieds-noirs": ceux qui ont choisi de rester], [[La Dépêche du Midi]], March 2012</ref> In [[Zimbabwe]], former [[Rhodesia]], [[Robert Mugabe]] seized property from white African farmers, killing several of them, and forcing the survivors to emigrate.<ref name="Cybriwsky">Cybriwsky, Roman Adrian. ''Capital Cities around the World: An Encyclopedia of Geography, History, and Culture''. ABC-CLIO, LLC 2013. {{ISBN|978-1610692472}} pp. 54–275.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://museumvictoria.com.au/origins/history.aspx?pid=226|title=Origins: History of immigration from Zimbabwe – Immigration Museum, Melbourne Australia|website=Museumvictoria.com.au|access-date=30 April 2016|archive-date=2 February 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130202060852/http://museumvictoria.com.au/origins/history.aspx?pid=226|url-status=dead}}</ref> A large Indian community lived in [[Uganda]] as a result of Britain colonizing both India and East Africa, and [[Idi Amin]] [[Expulsion of Asians from Uganda|expelled them]] for domestic political gain.<ref name="Drive">{{cite web | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/17/world/once-outcasts-asians-again-drive-uganda-s-economy.html | title=Once Outcasts, Asians Again Drive Uganda's Economy | access-date=14 March 2016 | date=17 August 2003 | first=Marc | last=Lacey | newspaper=[[New York Times]] | location=New York City}}</ref> |
|||
Furthermore, note that some cases have been included that were not strictly colonized but rather protectorate, co-dominium, lease... Changes subsequent to decolonization are usually ''not'' included; nor is the [[History of the Soviet Union (1985-1991)#Yeltsin and the dissolution of the Soviet Union|dissolution]] of the [[Soviet Union]]. |
|||
====Cinematography==== |
|||
=== 18th and 19th centuries === |
|||
Kenyan writer [[Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o]] has written about colonization and decolonization in the film universe. Born in Ethiopia, filmmaker [[Haile Gerima]] describes the "colonization of the unconscious" he describes experiencing as a child:<ref name=kato2007>{{cite book |last1=Kato |first1=M. T. |title=From Kung Fu to Hip Hop: Globalization, Revolution, and Popular Culture |date=2012 |publisher=State University of New York Press |isbn=978-0-7914-8063-2 }}{{pn|date=August 2023}}</ref> |
|||
<blockquote>...as kids, we tried to act out the things we had seen in the movies. We used to play cowboys and Indians in the mountains around Gondar...We acted out the roles of these heroes, identifying with the cowboys conquering the Indians. We didn't identify with the Indians at all and we never wanted the Indians to win. Even in Tarzan movies, we would become totally galvanized by the activities of the hero and follow the story from his point of view, completely caught up in the structure of the story. Whenever Africans sneaked up behind Tarzan, we would scream our heads off, trying to warn him that 'they' were coming".</blockquote> |
|||
In Asia, [[kung fu film|kung fu cinema]] emerged at a time Japan wanted to reach Asian populations in other countries by way of its cultural influence. The surge in popularity of kung fu movies began in the late 1960s through the 1970s. Local populations were depicted as protagonists opposing "imperialists" (foreigners) and their "Chinese collaborators".<ref name=kato2007 /> |
|||
=== Economic development === |
|||
{{Main|Economic development}} |
|||
Newly independent states also had to develop independent economic institutions – a national currency, banks, companies, regulation, tax systems, etc. |
|||
Many colonies were serving as resource colonies which produced raw materials and agricultural products, and as a captive market for goods manufactured in the colonizing country. Many decolonized countries created programs to promote [[industrialization]]. Some nationalized industries and infrastructure, and some engaged in [[land reform]] to redistribute land to individual farmers or create collective farms. |
|||
Some decolonized countries maintain strong economic ties with the former colonial power. The [[CFA franc]] is a currency shared by 14 countries in West and Central Africa, mostly former French colonies. The CFA franc is guaranteed by the French treasury. |
|||
After independence, many countries created regional economic associations to promote trade and economic development among neighboring countries, including the [[Association of Southeast Asian Nations]] (ASEAN), the [[Economic Community of West African States]] (ECOWAS), and the [[Gulf Cooperation Council]]. |
|||
==== Effects on the colonizers ==== |
|||
[[John Kenneth Galbraith]] argues that the post–World War II decolonization was brought about for economic reasons. In ''A Journey Through Economic Time'', he writes: <blockquote>"The engine of economic well-being was now within and between the advanced industrial countries. Domestic [[economic growth]] – as now measured and much discussed – came to be seen as far more important than the erstwhile colonial trade.... The economic effect in the United States from the granting of independence to the Philippines was unnoticeable, partly due to the [[Bell Trade Act]], which allowed American monopoly in the economy of the Philippines. The departure of India and Pakistan made small economic difference in the United Kingdom. [[Netherlands|Dutch]] economists calculated that the economic effect from the loss of the great Dutch empire in Indonesia was compensated for by a couple of years or so of domestic post-war economic growth. The end of the colonial era is celebrated in the history books as a triumph of national aspiration in the former colonies and of benign good sense on the part of the colonial powers. Lurking beneath, as so often happens, was a strong current of economic interest – or in this case, disinterest."</blockquote> |
|||
In general, the release of the colonized caused little economic loss to the colonizers. Part of the reason for this was that major costs were eliminated while major benefits were obtained by alternate means. Decolonization allowed the colonizer to disclaim responsibility for the colonized. The colonizer no longer had the burden of obligation, financial or otherwise, to their colony. However, the colonizer continued to be able to obtain cheap goods and labor as well as economic benefits (see [[Suez Canal Crisis]]) from the former colonies. Financial, political and military pressure could still be used to achieve goals desired by the colonizer. Thus decolonization allowed the goals of colonization to be largely achieved, but [http://www.e-ir.info/2012/05/22/what-impact-did-decolonisation-have-on-britain/ without its burdens]. |
|||
== Assassinated anti-colonialist leaders == |
|||
[[File:Gandhi with Lord and Lady Mountbatten 1947.jpg|thumb|Gandhi in 1947, with Lord [[Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma|Louis Mountbatten]], Britain's last Viceroy of India, and his wife Vicereine [[Edwina Mountbatten, Countess Mountbatten of Burma|Edwina Mountbatten]]]] |
|||
[[File:Patrice Lumumba official portrait.jpg|thumb|[[Patrice Lumumba]], first democratically elected [[Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo|Prime Minister]] of the [[Republic of the Congo (Léopoldville)|Congo-Léopoldville]], was murdered by Belgian-supported [[State of Katanga|Katangan separatists]] in 1961.]] |
|||
A ''non-exhaustive'' [[list of assassinated people|list of assassinated leaders]] would include: |
|||
{| class="wikitable" |
{| class="wikitable" |
||
|- style="background-color:#E9E9E9" | |
|||
! |Year||Colonizer||Event |
|||
|- |
|- |
||
! Leader !! Title !! Assassin |
|||
!1776 |
|||
!Place of death |
|||
|[[Great Britain|Great Britain]]|| The 13 original colonies of the [[United States]] [[Declaration of Independence (United States)|declare independence]] a year after their insurrection begins. |
|||
!Date of death |
|||
|- |
|- |
||
| [[Tiradentes]] |
|||
!1783 |
|||
|[[Colonial Brazil|Colonial Brazilian]] revolutionary |
|||
|[[Great Britain]]|| The British Crown recognizes the independence of the United States. |
|||
|Portuguese colonial admiministration |
|||
|[[Rio de Janeiro]], [[Colonial Brazil|Portuguese Colony of Brazil]] |
|||
|21 April 1792 |
|||
|- |
|- |
||
| [[Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla]] |
|||
!1803 |
|||
|Leader of the [[Mexican War of Independence]] |
|||
|[[France]]|| Via the [[Louisiana purchase]], the last French territories in mainland North America are handed over to the [[United States]]. |
|||
|Spanish colonial admiministration |
|||
|[[Chihuahua (city)|Chihuahua]], [[Nueva Vizcaya, New Spain|Nueva Vizcaya]], Viceroyalty of New Spain |
|||
|30 July 1811 |
|||
|- |
|- |
||
| [[Ruben Um Nyobé]]<ref>Gabriel Périès and David Servenay, ''Une guerre noire: Enquête sur les origines du génocide rwandais (1959-1994)'' (''A Black War: Investigation into the origins of the Rwandan genocide (1959-1994)''), Éditions La Découverte, 2007, p. 88. (Another account claims, without supporting citation, that Nyobe "was killed in a plane crash on September 13, 1958. No clear cause has ever been ascertained for the mysterious crash. Assassination has been alleged with the French [[SDECE]] being blamed.")</ref><ref>"Power of the dead and language of the living: The Wanderings of Nationalist Memory in Cameroon", ''African Policy'' (June 1986), pp. 37-72</ref> |
|||
!1804 |
|||
|Leader of the [[Union of the Peoples of Cameroon]] |
|||
|[[France]]|| [[Haiti]] declares independence, the first non-white nation to emancipate itself from European rule. |
|||
|[[French Army|French army]] |
|||
|[[Nyong-et-Kellé]] [[French Cameroon]] |
|||
|13 September 1958 |
|||
|- |
|- |
||
| [[Barthélemy Boganda]] |
|||
!1808 |
|||
|Leader of the independence movement in the [[Central African Republic]] |
|||
|[[Portugal]]|| [[Brazil]], the largest Portuguese colony, achieves a greater degree of authonomy after the exiled king of Portugal establishes residence there. After he returns home in 1821, his son and regent declares an independent "Empire" in 1822. |
|||
|Plane crash. Some believe that the crash was a deliberate and suspect that expatriate businessmen, possibly aided by the [[Directorate-General for External Security|French secret service]], were responsible. |
|||
|[[Boda, Lobaye|Boda District]], Central African Republic |
|||
|29 March 1959 |
|||
|- |
|- |
||
| [[Félix-Roland Moumié]].<ref>[[Jacques Foccart]], counsellor to [[Charles de Gaulle]], [[Georges Pompidou]] and [[Jacques Chirac]] for African matters, recognized it in 1995 to ''[[Jeune Afrique]]'' review. See also ''Foccart parle, interviews with Philippe Gaillard'', Fayard – ''[[Jeune Afrique]]'' {{in lang|fr}} and also [https://archive.today/20120629085210/http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2751/is_n49/ai_20319603 "The man who ran Francafrique – French politician Jacques Foccart's role in France's colonization of Africa under the leadership of Charles de Gaulle – Obituary"] in ''[[The National Interest]]'', Fall 1997</ref> |
|||
!1810 |
|||
|Leader of the [[Cameroon's People Union]] |
|||
|[[Spain]]|| [[United Provinces of the River Plate]] and [[Chile]]. First declaration of an autonomous government within the Spanish Crown. Full independence would be finally achieved in 1816. (see below) |
|||
|French secret police [[SDECE]] |
|||
|[[Geneva]], Switzerland |
|||
|3 November 1960 |
|||
|- |
|- |
||
| [[Patrice Lumumba]] |
|||
!1813 |
|||
|First Prime Minister of the [[Democratic Republic of the Congo]] |
|||
|[[Spain]]|| [[Paraguay]] becomes independent. |
|||
|Executed by the separatist [[State of Katanga|Katangan]] authorities of [[Moïse Tshombe]] after being handed over by [[Joseph-Désiré Mobutu]]. |
|||
|[[Élisabethville]], [[Democratic Republic of the Congo]] |
|||
|17 January 1961 |
|||
|- |
|- |
||
| [[Louis Rwagasore]] |
|||
!1816 |
|||
| rowspan="2" |[[Burundi]] nationalist |
|||
|[[Spain]]|| [[Chile]] and the [[United Provinces of the River Plate]] (former [[Argentina]] and [[Uruguay]]) declare independence. The latter would then secede and gain independence in 1828 after periods of Brazilian occupation and of federation with Argentina) |
|||
|Assassinated at the direction of leaders of a rival political party ([[Christian Democratic Party (Burundi)|PDC]]) with potential support from the [[Roberto Régnier|Belgian Resident in Burundi]]. |
|||
|[[Usumbura]], [[Ruanda-Urundi]] |
|||
|13 October 1961 |
|||
|- |
|- |
||
|[[Pierre Ngendandumwe]] |
|||
!1818 |
|||
|Rwandan [[Tutsi]] refugee |
|||
|[[Spain]] |
|||
|[[Bujumbura]], [[Burundi]] |
|||
| Second and final declaration of independence of [[Chile]] |
|||
|15 January 1965 |
|||
|- |
|- |
||
| [[Sylvanus Olympio]] |
|||
!1819 |
|||
|First [[List of Presidents of Togo|president of Togo]] |
|||
|[[Spain]]|| [[Viceroyalty of New Granada|New Granada]] attains independence as [[Gran Colombia]] (later to become the independent states of [[Colombia]], [[Ecuador]], [[Panama]] and [[Venezuela]]). |
|||
|Assasinated during the [[1963 Togolese coup d'état]]. |
|||
|[[Lomé]], Togo |
|||
|13 January 1963 |
|||
|- |
|- |
||
| [[Mehdi Ben Barka]] |
|||
!1821 |
|||
|Leader of the [[History of Morocco|Moroccan]] [[National Union of Popular Forces]] (UNPF) |
|||
|[[Spain]]||The [[Dominican Republic]] (then [[Santo Domingo]]), [[Nicaragua]], [[Honduras]], [[Guatemala]], [[El Salvador]] and [[Costa Rica]] all declare independence; [[Venezuela]] and [[Mexico]] both achieve independence. |
|||
|[[General Directorate for Territorial Surveillance (Morocco)|Moroccan secret service]] |
|||
|[[Paris]], [[France]] |
|||
|29 October 1965 |
|||
|- |
|- |
||
| [[Ahmadu Bello]] |
|||
!1821 |
|||
| First [[premier of Northern Nigeria]] |
|||
|[[Ottoman Empire]]|| [[Greece]] declares independence. After a [[Greek War of Independence|long struggle]] independence is finally granted by the [[Treaty of Constantinople (1832)|Treaty of Constantinople]] in July 1832. |
|||
|Killed during the [[1966 Nigerian coup d'état]]. |
|||
|[[Kaduna]], Nigeria |
|||
|15 January 1966 |
|||
|- |
|- |
||
| [[Eduardo Mondlane]] |
|||
!1822 |
|||
|Leader of [[FRELIMO]] |
|||
|[[Spain]]|| [[Ecuador]] attains independence from Spain (and independence from [[Colombia]] 1830). |
|||
|Unknown. Possibly the Portuguese secret police ([[PIDE]]) |
|||
|[[Dar es Salaam]], [[Tanzania]] |
|||
|3 February 1969 |
|||
|- |
|- |
||
| [[Mohamed Bassiri]] |
|||
!1824 |
|||
|Leader of the [[Movement for the Liberation of Saguia el Hamra and Wadi el Dhahab]] |
|||
|[[Spain]]|| [[Peru]] and [[Bolivia]] attain independence. |
|||
|[[Spanish Legion]] |
|||
|[[El Aaiun]], [[Spanish Sahara]] |
|||
|18 June 1970 |
|||
|- |
|- |
||
| [[Amílcar Cabral]] |
|||
!1836 |
|||
|Leader of [[African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde|PAIGC]] |
|||
|[[Mexico]]|| [[Texas]] attains independence, Texas would be annexed by the [[United States]] in 1845 |
|||
|Portuguese secret police [[PIDE|DGS/PIDE]] |
|||
|- |
|||
|[[Conakry]], [[Guinea]] |
|||
!1847 |
|||
|20 January 1973 |
|||
|[[United States]]|| [[Liberia]] becomes a free and independent African state. |
|||
|- |
|||
!1865 |
|||
|[[Spain]]|| The [[Dominican Republic]] gains its final independence after four years as a restored colony. |
|||
|- |
|||
!1868 |
|||
|[[Spain]]|| [[Cuba]] declares independence and is reconquered; taken by the [[United States]] in 1898; governed under U.S. military administration until 1902. |
|||
|- |
|||
!1877 |
|||
|[[Ottoman Empire]]|| [[Romania]] declares independence. Its independence is finally recognised in July 1878. |
|||
|- |
|||
!1878 |
|||
|[[Ottoman Empire]]|| [[Bulgaria]] and [[Serbia]] achieve independence. |
|||
|- |
|||
!1898 |
|||
|[[Spain]]|| The [[Philippines]] declares independence but is taken by the [[United States]] in 1899; governed under U.S. military and then civilian administration until 1934. |
|||
|- |
|||
!1912 |
|||
|[[Ottoman Empire]]|| [[Albania]] declares independence. Recognized in [[Treaty of London (1913)|Treaty of London]]. |
|||
|} |
|} |
||
== Current colonies == |
|||
===Inter-War Period=== |
|||
The [[United Nations]], under "Chapter XI: Declaration Regarding Non-Self Governing Territories" of the [[Charter of the United Nations]], defines [[United Nations list of non-self-governing territories|Non-Self Governing Nations (NSGSs)]] as "territories whose people have not yet attained a full measure of self-government"—the contemporary definition of [[colonialism]].<ref>{{Cite web|date=2015-06-17|title=Chapter XI|url=https://www.un.org/en/sections/un-charter/chapter-xi/index.html|access-date=2020-06-14|website=www.un.org|language=en}}</ref> After the conclusion of World War II with the surrender of the Axis Powers in 1945, and two decades into the latter half of the 20th century, over three dozen "states in Asia and Africa achieved autonomy or outright independence" from European administering powers.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Milestones: 1945–1952 – Office of the Historian|url=https://history.state.gov/milestones/1945-1952/asia-and-africa|access-date=2020-06-14|website=history.state.gov}}</ref> As of 2020, 17 territories remain under Chapter XI distinction:<ref name=":2">{{Cite web|title=Non-Self-Governing Territories {{!}} The United Nations and Decolonization|url=https://www.un.org/dppa/decolonization/en/nsgt|access-date=2020-06-14|website=www.un.org}}</ref> |
|||
=== United Nations NSGS list === |
|||
{| class="wikitable" |
{| class="wikitable" |
||
!Year Listed as [[United Nations list of non-self-governing territories|NSGS]] |
|||
|- style="background-color:#E9E9E9" | |
|||
!Administering Power |
|||
!Year||Colonizer||Event |
|||
!Territory |
|||
|- |
|- |
||
|1946 |
|||
! 1917 |
|||
|{{flagicon|UK}} [[United Kingdom]] |
|||
| [[Russian Empire]] |
|||
|{{flagicon|Anguilla}} [[Anguilla]] |
|||
| [[Finland]] declares its independence. |
|||
|- |
|- |
||
|1946 |
|||
! 1918 |
|||
|{{flagicon|UK}} [[United Kingdom]] |
|||
| [[Russian Empire]] |
|||
|{{flagicon|BER}} [[Bermuda]] |
|||
| [[Estonia]], [[Latvia]] and [[Lithuania]] declare independence in 1918. The three [[Baltic states]] are subsequently occupied by the [[Soviet Union]] (1940-1941, 1944-1991). The three Baltic nations re-declare their [[independence]] between 1990 and 1991, and their independence is recognized by the Soviet Union on [[September 6]], [[1991]]. |
|||
|- |
|- |
||
|1946 |
|||
! 1918 |
|||
|{{flagicon|UK}} [[United Kingdom]] |
|||
| [[Austria-Hungary]] |
|||
|{{flagicon|BVI}} [[British Virgin Islands]] |
|||
| [[Czechoslovakia]], [[Yugoslavia]] and [[Poland]] become independent. |
|||
|- |
|- |
||
|1946 |
|||
! 1919 |
|||
| [[United Kingdom]] |
|{{flagicon|UK}} [[United Kingdom]] |
||
|{{flagicon|CAY}} [[Cayman Islands]] |
|||
| End of the [[protectorate]] over [[Afghanistan]], when [[United Kingdom|Britain]] accepts the presence of a Soviet ambassador in Kabul. |
|||
|- |
|||
! 1921 |
|||
| [[China]] |
|||
| The strong empire loses all control over [[Outer Mongolia]] but retains the larger, progressively sinified, [[Inner Mongolia]]), which has been granted autonomy in 1912 (as well as Tibet), and now becomes a popular republic and, as of 1924, a ''de facto'' satellite of the USSR. Formal recognition of [[Mongolia]] will follow in 1945. |
|||
|- |
|||
! 1922 |
|||
| [[United Kingdom]] |
|||
| In [[Ireland]], following insurgency by the [[Irish Republican Army|IRA]], most of Ireland separates from the United Kingdom as the [[Irish Free State]], reversing 800 years of British presence. [[Northern Ireland]], the northeast area of the island, remains within the United Kingdom. |
|||
|- |
|- |
||
|1946 |
|||
! 1923 |
|||
| [[United Kingdom]] |
|{{flagicon|UK}} [[United Kingdom]] |
||
|{{flagicon|FLK}} [[Falkland Islands]] |
|||
| End of the ''de facto'' protectorate over [[Nepal]] which was never truly colonized. |
|||
|- |
|- |
||
|1946 |
|||
! 1930 |
|||
| [[United Kingdom]] |
|{{flagicon|UK}} [[United Kingdom]] |
||
|{{flagicon|Montserrat}} [[Montserrat]] |
|||
| The United Kingdom returns the leased port territory at [[Weihai]]wei to [[China]], the first episode of decolonisation in East Asia. |
|||
|- |
|- |
||
|1946 |
|||
! 1931 |
|||
| [[United Kingdom]] |
|{{flagicon|UK}} [[United Kingdom]] |
||
|{{flagicon|Saint Helena}} [[Saint Helena]] |
|||
| The [[Statute of Westminster 1931|Statute of Westminster]] grants virtually full independence to [[Canada]], [[New Zealand]], [[Newfoundland and Labrador|Newfoundland]], the [[Irish Free State]], the Commonwealth of [[Australia]], and the [[Union of South Africa]], when it declares the [[British parliament]] incapable of passing law over these former colonies without their own consent. |
|||
|- |
|- |
||
|1946 |
|||
! 1932 |
|||
| [[United Kingdom]] |
|{{flagicon|UK}} [[United Kingdom]] |
||
|{{flagicon|Turks and Caicos Islands}} [[Turks and Caicos Islands]] |
|||
| Ends [[League of Nations]] [[Mandate]] over [[Iraq]]. Britain continues to station troops in the country and influence the Iraqi government until 1958. |
|||
|- |
|- |
||
|1946 |
|||
! 1934 |
|||
| [[United |
|{{flagicon|UK}} [[United Kingdom]] |
||
|{{flagicon|GIB}} [[Gibraltar]] |
|||
| Makes the [[Philippine Islands]] a [[Commonwealth of the Philippines|Commonwealth]]. Abrogates [[Platt Amendment]], which gave it direct authority to intervene in [[Cuba]]. |
|||
|- |
|- |
||
|1946 |
|||
! 1941 |
|||
|{{flagicon|UK}} [[United Kingdom]] |
|||
| [[France]] |
|||
|{{flagicon|Pitcairn Islands}} [[Pitcairn Islands|Pitcairn]] |
|||
| [[Lebanon]] declares independence, effectively ending the French mandate (previously together with Syria) - it is recognized in 1943. |
|||
|- |
|||
! 1941 |
|||
| [[Italy]] |
|||
| [[Ethiopia]], [[Eritrea]] & [[Tigray Province|Tigray]] (appended to it), and the Italian part of [[Somalia]] are liberated by [[the Allies]] after an uneasy occupation of [[Ethiopia]] since 1935-36, and no longer joined as one colonial federal state; the [[Ogaden]] desert (disputed by Somalia) remains under British military control until 1948. |
|||
|- |
|||
! 1944 |
|||
| [[Denmark]] |
|||
| Following a [[plebiscite]], [[Iceland]] formally becomes an independent republic on [[June 17]], [[1944]]. |
|||
|} |
|||
=== From World War II to the present ===<!-- This section is linked from [[Kigali]] --> |
|||
{| class="wikitable" |
|||
|- style="background-color:#E9E9E9" | |
|||
!Year||Colonizer||Event |
|||
|- |
|||
! 1945 |
|||
|| [[Japan]] || After surrender of Japan, [[North Korea]] was reigned by [[Soviet Union]] and [[South Korea]] was reigned by United States. |
|||
|- |
|||
| || [[Japan]] || The [[Republic of China]] possesses [[Taiwan]] |
|||
|- |
|||
| || [[France]] || [[Vietnam]] declares independence but only to be recognised 9 years later |
|||
|- |
|||
| || [[Netherlands]] || [[Indonesia]] declares independence but recognised by Netherlands Dec 1949. |
|||
|- |
|||
! 1946 |
|||
|| [[United States]] || The sovereignty of the [[Philippines]] is recognized by the [[United States]], which conquered the islands during the [[Philippine-American War]]. But, the United States continues to station troops in the country as well as influence the Philippine government and economy (through the [[Bell Trade Act]]) until [[1986 EDSA Revolution|the fall of Marcos]] in 1986, which allowed [[Filipino people|Filipino]]s to author a genuinely [[Constitution of the Philippines|Filipino constitution]]. |
|||
|- |
|||
| || [[United Kingdom]] || The former emirate of Transjordan (present-day [[Jordan]]) becomes an independent [[Hashemite]] kingdom when Britain relinquishes [[United Nations|UN]] [[trusteeship]]. |
|||
|- |
|||
! 1947 |
|||
|| [[United Kingdom]] || The [[Republic of India]] and Muslim State of [[Pakistan]] (including present-day [[Bangladesh]]) achieve direct independence in an attempt to separate the native [[Hindus]] officially from [[secular]] and [[Islam|Muslim]] parts of former [[British India]]. |
|||
|- |
|||
! 1948 |
|||
|| [[United Kingdom]] || In the Far East, [[Burma]] and [[Ceylon]] (Sri Lanka) become independent. In the Middle East, [[Israel]] becomes independent less than a year after the [[United Kingdom|British]] government withdraws from the [[Palestine Mandate]]; the remainder of Palestine becomes part of the Arab states of [[Egypt]] and [[Jordan|Transjordan]]. |
|||
|- |
|||
| || [[United States]] || [[Republic of Korea]] was established. |
|||
|- |
|||
| || [[Soviet Union]] || [[Democratic People's Republic of Korea]] was established. |
|||
|- |
|||
! 1949 |
|||
|| [[France]] || [[Laos]] becomes independent. |
|||
|- |
|||
| || [[Netherlands|The Netherlands]] || The Netherlands recognises the sovereignty of [[Indonesia]] following [[Indonesian National Revolution|an armed and diplomatic struggle]] since 1945. |
|||
|- |
|||
! 1951 |
|||
| [[Italy]] || [[Libya]] becomes an independent kingdom. |
|||
|- |
|||
! 1952 |
|||
| [[United States]] || [[Puerto Rico]] in the Antilles becomes a self governing [[Commonwealth (U.S. insular area)|Commonwealth]] associated to the US. |
|||
|- |
|||
! 1953 |
|||
|| [[France]] || [[France]] recognizes [[Cambodia]]'s independence. |
|||
|- |
|||
! 1954 |
|||
|| [[France]] || [[Vietnam]]'s independence recognized, though the nation is partitioned. The [[Pondichery]] enclave is incorporated into India. Beginning of the [[Algerian War of Independence]] |
|||
|- |
|||
| || [[United Kingdom]] || The United Kingdom withdraws from the last part of [[Egypt]] it controls: the [[Suez Canal]] zone. |
|||
|- |
|||
! 1956 |
|||
|| [[United Kingdom]] || Anglo-Egyptian [[Sudan]] becomes independent. |
|||
|- |
|||
| || [[France]] || [[Tunisia]] and the sherifian kingdom of [[Morocco]] in the Maghreb achieve independence. |
|||
|- |
|||
| || [[Spain]] || Spain-controlled areas in [[Morroco]] become independent. |
|||
|- |
|||
! 1957 |
|||
|| [[United Kingdom]] || [[Ghana]] becomes independent, initiating the decolonisation of [[sub-Saharan Africa]]. |
|||
|- |
|||
| || [[United Kingdom]] || The [[Federation of Malaya]] becomes independent. |
|||
|- |
|||
! 1958 |
|||
|| [[France]] || [[Guinea]] on the coast of West-Africa is granted independence. |
|||
|- |
|||
| || [[United States]] || Signing the [[Alaska Statehood Act]] by [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]], granting [[Alaska]] the possibility of the equal rights of statehood |
|||
|- |
|||
| || [[United Kingdom]] || UN trustee [[United Kingdom|Britain]] withdraws from [[Iraq]], which becomes an independent Hashemite Kingdom (like Jordan, but soon to become a republic through the first of several coups d'état). |
|||
|- |
|||
! 1960 |
|||
|| [[United Kingdom]] || [[Nigeria]], [[British Somaliland]] (present-day [[Somalia]]), and most of [[Cyprus]] become independent, though the UK retains sovereign control over [[Akrotiri and Dhekelia]]. |
|||
|- |
|||
| || [[France]] || [[Benin]] (then Dahomey), Upper Volta (present-day [[Burkina Faso]]), [[Cameroon]], [[Chad]], [[Congo-Brazzaville]], [[Côte d'Ivoire]], [[Gabon]], the Mali Federation (split the same year into present-day [[Mali]] and [[Senegal]]), [[Mauritania]], [[Niger]], [[Togo]] and the [[Central African Republic]] (the Oubangui Chari) and [[Madagascar]] all become independent. |
|||
|- |
|||
| || [[Belgium]] || The Belgian Congo (also known as Congo-Kinshasa, later renamed Zaire and presently the [[Democratic Republic of the Congo]]), becomes independent. |
|||
|- |
|||
! 1961 |
|||
|| [[United Kingdom]] || [[Tanganyika]] (formerly a German colony under UK trusteeship, merged to federal [[Tanzania]] in 1964 with the island of [[Zanzibar]], formerly a proper British colony wrested from the Omani sultanate); [[Sierra Leone]], [[Kuwait]] and [[British Cameroon]] become independent. [[South Africa]] declares independence. |
|||
|- |
|||
| || [[Portugal]] || The former coastal enclave colonies of [[Goa]], [[Daman and Diu]] are taken over by India. |
|||
|- |
|||
! 1962 |
|||
|| [[United Kingdom]] || [[Uganda]] in Africa, and [[Jamaica]] and [[Trinidad and Tobago]] in the Caribbean, achieve independence. |
|||
|- |
|||
| || [[France]] || End of [[Algerian War]], [[Algeria]] becomes independent. |
|||
|- |
|||
| || [[Belgium]] || [[Rwanda]] and [[Burundi]] (then Urundi) attain independence through the ending of the Belgian trusteeship. |
|||
|- |
|||
| || [[New Zealand]] || The South Sea UN trusteeship over the Polynesian kingdom of [[Western Samoa]] (formerly German Samoa and nowadays called just Samoa) is relinquished. |
|||
|- |
|||
! 1963 |
|||
|| [[United Kingdom]] || [[Kenya]] becomes independent. |
|||
|- |
|||
| || [[United Kingdom]] || [[Singapore]], together with [[Sarawak]] and [[Sabah]] on [[North Borneo]], form [[Malaysia]] with the pensinsular [[Federation of Malaya]]. Singapore was evicted from Malaysia by Kuala Lumpur two years later. |
|||
|- |
|||
! 1964 |
|||
|| [[United Kingdom]] || Northern [[Rhodesia]] declares independence as [[Zambia]] and [[Malawi]], formerly [[Nyasaland]] does the same, both from the [[United Kingdom]]. The Mediterranean island of [[Malta]] becomes independent. |
|||
|- |
|||
! 1965 |
|||
|| [[United Kingdom]] || Southern [[Rhodesia]] (the present [[Zimbabwe]]) declares independence as Rhodesia, a second [[Apartheid]] regime, but is not recognized. [[Gambia]] is recognized as independent. The British protectorate over the [[Maldives]] archipelago in the Indian Ocean is ended. |
|||
|- |
|||
! 1966 |
|||
|| [[United Kingdom]] || In the Caribbean, [[Barbados]] and [[Guyana]]; and in Africa, [[Botswana]] (then Bechuanaland) and [[Lesotho]] become independent. |
|||
|- |
|||
! 1967 |
|||
|| [[United Kingdom]] || On the Arabian peninsula, [[Aden]] colony becomes independent as [[South Yemen]], to be united with formerly Ottoman North Yemen in 1990-1991. |
|||
|- |
|||
! 1968 |
|||
|| [[United Kingdom]] || [[Mauritius]] and [[Swaziland]] achieve independence. |
|||
|- |
|||
| ||| [[Portugal]] || After nine years of organized guerrilla resistance, most of [[Guinea-Bissau]] comes under native control. |
|||
|- |
|||
| || [[Spain]] || [[Equatorial Guinea]] (then Rio Muni) is made independent. |
|||
|- |
|||
| || [[Australia]] || Relinquishes UN trusteeship (nominally shared by the United Kingdom and New Zealand) of [[Nauru]] in the South Sea. |
|||
|- |
|||
! 1971 |
|||
| [[United Kingdom]] || [[Fiji]] and [[Tonga]] are given independence; [[Bangladesh]] achieves independence from Pakistan with the military help of [[India]]. |
|||
|- |
|||
| ||| [[United Kingdom]] || [[Bahrain]], [[Qatar]], [[Oman]] and seven [[Trucial States]] (the same year, six federated together as [[United Arab Emirates]] and the seventh, Ras al-Kaimah, joined soon after) become independent Arab monarchies in the Persian Gulf as the British protectorates are lifted. |
|||
|- |
|||
! 1973 |
|||
|| [[United Kingdom]] || The [[Bahamas]] are granted independence. |
|||
|- |
|||
| ||| [[Portugal]] || Guerrillas unilaterally declare independence in the Southeastern regions of [[Guinea-Bissau]]. |
|||
|- |
|||
! 1974 |
|||
|| [[United Kingdom]] || [[Grenada]] in the [[Caribbean]] becomes independent. |
|||
|- |
|||
| ||| [[Portugal]] || [[Guinea-Bissau]] on the coast of West-Africa is recognized as independent by Portugal. |
|||
|- |
|||
! 1975 |
|||
|| [[France]] || The [[Comoros]] archipelago in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Africa is granted independence. |
|||
|- |
|||
| || [[Portugal]] || [[Angola]], [[Mozambique]] and the island groups of [[Cape Verde]] and [[São Tomé and Príncipe]], all four in Africa, achieve independence. [[East Timor]] declares independence, but is subsequently occupied and annexed by Indonesia nine days later. |
|||
|- |
|||
| || [[The Netherlands]] || [[Suriname]] (then Dutch Guiana) becomes independent. |
|||
|- |
|||
| || [[Australia]] || Released from trusteeship, [[Papua New Guinea]] gains independence. |
|||
|- |
|||
! 1976 |
|||
|| [[United Kingdom]] || [[Seychelles]] archipelago in the Indian Ocean off the African coast becomes independent (one year after granting of self-rule). |
|||
|- |
|||
| || [[Spain]] || The Spanish colonial rule ''de facto'' terminated over the [[Western Sahara]] (then Rio de Oro), when the territory was passed on to and partitioned between [[Mauritania]] and [[Morocco]] (which annexes the entire territory in 1979), rendering the declared independence of the [[Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic]] ineffective to the present day. Since Spain did not have the right to give away Western Sahara, under international law the territory is still under Spanish administration. The ''de facto'' administrator is however Morocco. |
|||
|- |
|||
! 1977 |
|||
|| [[France]] || French Somaliland, also known as Afar & Issa-land (after its main tribal groups), the present [[Djibouti]], is granted independence. |
|||
|- |
|||
! 1978 |
|||
|| [[United Kingdom]] || [[Dominica]] in the Caribbean and the [[Solomon Islands]], as well as [[Tuvalu]] (then the Ellice Islands), all in the South Sea, become independent. |
|||
|- |
|||
! 1979 |
|||
|| [[United States]] || Returns the [[Panama Canal Zone]] (held under a regime ''sui generis'' since 1903) to the republic of Panama. |
|||
|- |
|||
| || [[United Kingdom]] || The Gilbert Islands (present-day [[Kiribati]]) in the South Sea as well as [[Saint Vincent and the Grenadines]] and [[Saint Lucia]] in the Caribbean become independent. |
|||
|- |
|||
! 1980 |
|||
|| [[United Kingdom]] || [[Zimbabwe]] (then [Southern] Rhodesia), already independent ''de facto'', becomes formally independent. The joint Anglo-French colony of the [[New Hebrides]] becomes the independent island republic of [[Vanuatu]]. |
|||
|- |
|||
! 1981 |
|||
|| [[United Kingdom]] || [[Belize]] (then British Honduras) and [[Antigua & Barbuda]] become independent. |
|||
|- |
|||
! 1983 |
|||
|| [[United Kingdom]] || [[Saint Kitts and Nevis]] (an associated state since 1963) becomes independent. |
|||
|- |
|||
! 1984 |
|||
|| [[United Kingdom]] || [[Brunei]] sultanate on Borneo becomes independent. |
|||
|- |
|||
! 1990 |
|||
|| [[South Africa]] || [[Namibia]] becomes independent from South Africa. |
|||
|- |
|- |
||
|1946 |
|||
| || [[United States]] || The [[UN Security Council]] gives final approval to end the [[Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands|U.S. Trust Territory of the Pacific]] (dissolved already in 1986), finalizing the independence of the [[Marshall Islands]] and the [[Federated States of Micronesia]], having been a colonial possession of the empire of Japan before UN trusteeship. |
|||
|{{flagicon|US}} [[United States]] |
|||
|{{flagicon|American Samoa}} [[American Samoa]] |
|||
|- |
|- |
||
|1946 |
|||
! 1991 |
|||
|{{flagicon|US}} [[United States]] |
|||
|| [[Soviet Union]] || [[Estonia]], [[Latvia]], [[Lithuania]], [[Ukraine]], [[Moldavia]], [[Armenia]], [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]], [[Azerbaijan]], [[Kazakhstan]], [[Uzbekistan]], [[Tajikistan]], [[Kyrgyzstan]] [[Russia]] and [[Turkmenistan]] become independent from the [[Soviet Union]]. |
|||
|{{flagicon|USVI}} [[United States Virgin Islands]] |
|||
|- |
|- |
||
|1946 |
|||
! 1991 |
|||
|{{flagicon|US}} [[United States]] |
|||
|| [[United States]] || U.S. forces withdraw from [[Subic Bay]] and [[Clark Air Base]] in the [[Philippines]] ending major [[U.S. military]] presence, which lasted for almost a century. |
|||
|{{flagicon|GUM}} [[Guam]] |
|||
|- |
|- |
||
|1946 |
|||
! 1994 |
|||
|{{flagicon|NZL}} [[New Zealand]] |
|||
|| [[United States]] || [[Palau]] (after a transitional period as a Republic since 1981, and before part of the [[Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands|U.S. Trust territory of the Pacific]]) becomes independent from its former trustee, having been a mandate of the Japanese Empire before UN trusteeship. |
|||
|{{flagicon|TOK}} [[Tokelau]] |
|||
|- |
|- |
||
|1963 |
|||
! 1997 |
|||
|{{flagicon|ESP}} [[Spain]] |
|||
|| [[United Kingdom]] || The sovereignty of [[Hong Kong]] is transferred to [[China]]. |
|||
|[[Western Sahara]] |
|||
|- |
|- |
||
|1946–47, 1986 |
|||
! 1999 |
|||
|{{flagicon|FRA}} [[France]] |
|||
|| [[Portugal]] || The sovereignty of [[Macau]] is transferred to [[China]] on schedule. It is the last in a series of coastal enclaves that militarily stronger powers had obtained through treaties from the [[Qing]] or Manchu Empire which ruled [[China]]. Macau, like Hong Kong, is not organized into the existing provincial structure applied to other provinces of the People's Republic of China, but is guaranteed a quasi-autonomous system of government within the People's Republic of China as a "Special Administrative Region" or S.A.R. |
|||
|{{flagicon|New Caledonia}} [[New Caledonia]] |
|||
|- |
|- |
||
|1946–47, 2013 |
|||
! 2002 |
|||
|{{flagicon|FRA}} [[France]] |
|||
|| [[Indonesia]] || [[East Timor]] formally achieves independence after a transitional UN administration, three years after Indonesia ended its violent quarter-century military occupation of the former Portuguese colony. |
|||
|{{flagicon|French Polynesia}} [[French Polynesia]] |
|||
|} |
|} |
||
"On 26 February 1976, [[Spain]] informed the [[Secretary-General of the United Nations|Secretary-General]] that as of that date it had terminated its presence in the Territory of the Sahara and deemed it necessary to place on record that Spain considered itself thenceforth exempt from any responsibility of any international nature in connection with the administration of the Territory, in view of the cessation of its participation in the temporary administration established for the Territory. In 1990, the General Assembly reaffirmed that the question of Western Sahara was a question of decolonization which remained to be completed by the people of Western Sahara."<ref name=":2" /> |
|||
On 10 December 2010, the [[United Nations]] published its official [[decree]], announcing the ''[[International Decade for the Eradication of Colonialism|Third International Decade for the Eradication of Colonialism]]'' wherein the United Nations declared its "renewal of the call to States Members of the United Nations to speed up the process of decolonization towards the complete elimination of colonialism".<ref>{{Cite web|title=Third International Decade for the Eradication of Colonialism|url=https://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/RES/65/119|access-date=2020-06-14|website=www.un.org}}</ref> According to an article by scholar John Quintero, "given the modern emphasis on the equality of states and inalienable nature of their sovereignty, many people do not realize that these non-self-governing structures still exist".<ref>{{Cite web|title=Residual Colonialism In The 21St Century|publisher=United Nations University|url=https://unu.edu/publications/articles/residual-colonialism-in-the-21st-century.html|access-date=2020-06-14|website=unu.edu|language=en-US|archive-date=17 July 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210717205732/https://unu.edu/publications/articles/residual-colonialism-in-the-21st-century.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> Some activists have claimed that the attention of the United Nations was "further diverted from the social and economic agenda [for decolonization] towards "firefighting and extinguishing" armed conflicts". Advocates have stressed that the United Nations "[remains] the last refuge of hope for peoples under the yolk ''[sic]'' of colonialism".<ref name=":3">{{Cite web|title=United Nations Should Eradicate Colonialism by 2020, Urges Secretary-General in Message to Caribbean Regional Decolonization Seminar {{!}} Meetings Coverage and Press Releases|url=https://www.un.org/press/en/2015/gacol3277.doc.htm|access-date=2020-06-14|website=www.un.org}}</ref> Furthermore, on 19 May 2015, [[Secretary-General of the United Nations|UN Secretary-General]] [[Ban Ki-moon]] addressed the attendants of the Caribbean Regional Seminar on Decolonization, urging international political leaders to "build on [the success of precedent decolonization efforts and] towards fully eradicating colonialism by 2020".<ref name=":3" /> |
|||
== Decolonization in coming years == |
|||
===French sphere=== |
|||
The largest territory is [[French Guyana]] in [[South America]] although this is unlikely to be decolonized soon. Of all the territories in the French sphere, [[New Caledonia]] in the Pacific are likely to be decolonized earliest. Further east in the Pacific, some inhabitants of what is currently [[French Polynesia]] centered on the island of [[Tahiti]] also hope for decolonization. There are also many remaining French islands in the [[Caribbean]] and the [[Indian Ocean]] which may one day be decolonized. |
|||
The sovereignty of the [[Chagos Archipelago]] in the Indian Ocean is [[Chagos Archipelago sovereignty dispute|disputed]] between the United Kingdom and [[Mauritius]]. In February 2019, the [[International Court of Justice]] in [[The Hague]] ruled that the United Kingdom must transfer the islands to Mauritius as they were not legally separated from the latter in 1965.<ref>{{cite web|title=Chagos Islands dispute: UK obliged to end control – UN |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-47358602 |work=BBC News |date=25 February 2019 }}</ref> On 22 May 2019, the [[United Nations General Assembly]] debated and adopted a resolution that affirmed that the Chagos Archipelago "forms an integral part of the territory of Mauritius".<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Sands |first=Philippe |date=2019-05-24 |quote=Britain's behaviour towards its former colony has been shameful. The UN resolution changes everything |title=At last, the Chagossians have a real chance of going back home|url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/may/24/chagossians-britain-colony-shameful-un-resolution?|journal=[[The Guardian]]}}</ref> The UK does not recognize Mauritius' sovereignty claim over the Chagos Archipelago.<ref>{{cite news |title=Chagos Islands dispute: UK misses deadline to return control |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-50511847 |work=BBC News |date=22 November 2019}}</ref> In October 2020, Mauritian Prime Minister [[Pravind Jugnauth]] described the British and American governments as "hypocrites" and "champions of double talk" over their response to the dispute.<ref>{{cite news |title=Chagos Islands dispute: Mauritius calls US and UK 'hypocrites' |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-54598084 |work=BBC News |date=19 October 2020}}</ref> |
|||
=== British sphere === |
|||
===Settler colonies=== |
|||
The oldest colony in the New World is [[Bermuda]] in the Atlantic and it is a candidate for decolonization. Other candidates include islands in the [[Caribbean]] like the [[Cayman Islands]] currently under British sovereignty. The [[Falkland Islands]] is unlikely to be decolonized as territory being handed to Argentina as [[Hong Kong]] was handed to China and consideration of independence is premature given its present small population. [[British Indian Ocean Territory]] may one day be handed to [[Mauritius]] although this is unlikely to happen without consultation with the U.S. which would still want use of the military base. The population of [[Gibraltar]], apprehensive about [[Spain]]'s intentions, are not keen for decolonization. |
|||
{{Main article|Settler colonialism}} |
|||
Some authors contend that even in countries that have become politically independent from a former colonial power, indigenous peoples may still in effect be living under the impacts of colonization. In a 2023 paper on the political theory of settler colonialism, Canadian academics Yann Allard-Tremblay and Elaine Coburn posit that: "In Africa, the Middle East, South America, and much of the rest of the world, decolonization often meant the expulsion or departure of most colonial settlers. In contrast, in settler colonial states like [[New Zealand]], [[Australia]], [[Canada]], and the [[United States]], settlers have not left, even as independence from the metropole was gained... The systemic oppression and domination of the colonized by the colonizer is not historical — firmly in the past — but ongoing and supported by radically unequal political, social, economic, and legal institutions."<ref>{{cite journal | doi=10.1177/00323217211018127 | title=The Flying Heads of Settler Colonialism; or the Ideological Erasures of Indigenous Peoples in Political Theorizing | date=2023 | last1=Allard-Tremblay | first1=Yann | last2=Coburn | first2=Elaine | journal=Political Studies | volume=71 | issue=2 | pages=359–378 | s2cid=236234578 | doi-access=free }}</ref> |
|||
== Consequences of decolonization == |
|||
===U.S. sphere=== |
|||
A 2019 study found that "democracy levels increased sharply as colonies gained internal autonomy in the period immediately before their independence. However, conflict, revenue growth, and economic growth did not systematically differ before and after independence."<ref>{{Cite journal|date=2019|title=What Were the Consequences of Decolonization? |journal=International Studies Quarterly|doi=10.1093/isq/sqy064|last1=Lee|first1=Alexander|last2=Paine|first2=Jack|volume=63|issue=2|pages=406–416}}</ref> |
|||
The candidate territories are mainly in the Pacific such as [[Guam]] and [[American Samoa]]. American Samoa may be decolonized and form an autonomous region within independent [[Samoa]]. Other candidate territories are in the [[Caribbean]] such as [[U.S. Virgin Islands]] which once independent could form a confederation with the [[British Virgin Islands]] if the latter is decolonized. |
|||
According to political theorist Kevin Duong, decolonization "may have been the century's greatest act of disenfranchisement", as numerous anti-colonial activists primarily pursued universal suffrage within empires rather than independence: "As dependent territories became nation-states, they lost their voice in metropolitan assemblies whose affairs affected them long after independence."<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Duong |first1=Kevin |title=Universal Suffrage as Decolonization |journal=American Political Science Review |date=May 2021 |volume=115 |issue=2 |pages=412–428 |doi=10.1017/S0003055420000994 |s2cid=232422414 }}</ref> |
|||
=== Russian sphere === |
|||
David Strang writes that the loss of their empires turned France and Britain into "second-rate powers".<ref>{{cite book |doi=10.1017/CBO9781139174053.012 |chapter=British and French political institutions and the patterning of decolonization |title=The Comparative Political Economy of the Welfare State |date=1994 |last1=Strang |first1=David |pages=278–296 |isbn=978-0-521-43473-7 }}</ref> |
|||
It is debatable whether any territory along the southern border of the Russian Federation will succeed in their independence struggle. |
|||
== |
== See also == |
||
{{ |
{{Portal|History}} |
||
{{col div|colwidth=20em}} |
|||
* [[Anti-imperialism]] |
|||
* [[Blue water thesis]] |
|||
* [[Coloniality of power]] |
|||
* [[Colonial mentality]] |
|||
* [[Creole nationalism]] |
|||
* [[Decoloniality]] |
|||
* [[Decolonization of the Americas]] |
|||
* [[Decolonization of public space]] |
|||
* [[Dependency theory]] |
|||
* [[Exploitation colonialism]] |
|||
* [[Indigenism]] |
|||
** [[Indigenismo]] |
|||
* [[Neocolonialism]] |
|||
* {{lang|fr|[[Organisation internationale de la Francophonie]]|italic=no}} |
|||
* [[Postcolonialism]] |
|||
* [[Repatriation (cultural heritage)]] |
|||
* [[Repatriation and reburial of human remains]] |
|||
* [[Revanchism]] |
|||
* [[Subaltern (postcolonialism)]] |
|||
* [[Indigenous survival during colonization]] |
|||
* [[Timeline of national independence]] |
|||
* [[United Nations list of non-self-governing territories]] |
|||
* [[Wars of independence]] |
|||
{{div col end}} |
|||
== |
==Notes== |
||
{{Notelist}} |
|||
*[[Neocolonialism]] |
|||
{{Reflist|group=note}} |
|||
*[[Imperialism]] |
|||
*[[Partition (politics)]] |
|||
*[[Separatism]] |
|||
*[[Secession]] |
|||
== References == |
|||
[[Category:History of colonialism]] |
|||
{{Reflist|30em}} |
|||
== Further reading == |
|||
[[ca:Descolonització]] |
|||
{{Refbegin|30em}} |
|||
[[cs:Dekolonizace]] |
|||
* Bailey, Thomas A. ''A diplomatic history of the American people'' (1969) [https://archive.org/details/diplomatichistor00bail_0 online free] |
|||
[[de:Dekolonisation]] |
|||
* Betts, Raymond F. ''Decolonisation'' (2nd ed. 2004) |
|||
[[es:Descolonización]] |
|||
* Betts, Raymond F. ''France and Decolonisation, 1900–1960'' (1991) |
|||
[[eu:Deskolonizazio]] |
|||
* {{cite book |last1=Butler |first1=L. |last2=Stockwell |first2=S. |title=The Wind of Change: Harold Macmillan and British Decolonization |date=2013 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-1-137-31800-8 }} |
|||
[[fr:Décolonisation]] |
|||
* Chafer, Tony. ''The end of empire in French West Africa: France's successful decolonisation'' (Bloomsbury, 2002).{{ISBN?}} |
|||
[[hr:Dekolonizacija]] |
|||
* [[Chamberlain, Muriel E.]] ed. ''Longman Companion to European Decolonisation in the Twentieth Century'' (Routledge, 2014) |
|||
[[id:Dekolonisasi]] |
|||
* Clayton, Anthony. ''The wars of French decolonisation'' (Routledge, 2014). |
|||
[[is:Sjálfstæði nýlendnanna]] |
|||
* {{cite journal |last1=Cooper |first1=Frederick |title=French Africa, 1947–48: Reform, Violence, and Uncertainty in a Colonial Situation |journal=Critical Inquiry |date=2014 |volume=40 |issue=4 |pages=466–478 |doi=10.1086/676416 |jstor=10.1086/676416 |s2cid=162291339 }} |
|||
[[it:Decolonizzazione]] |
|||
* Darwin, John. "Decolonisation and the End of Empire" in Robin W. Winks, ed., ''The Oxford History of the British Empire – Vol. 5: Historiography'' (1999) 5: 541–557. |
|||
[[he:דה-קולוניזציה]] |
|||
* Gerits, Frank. ''The Ideological Scramble for Africa: How the Pursuit of Anticolonial Modernity Shaped a Postcolonial Order (1945–1966)'' (Cornell University Press, 2023). ISBN13: 9781501767913. Major scholarly coverage of British, French and Portuguese colonies. [https://hdiplo.org/to/RT26-4 see online reviews and reply by author] |
|||
[[lt:Dekolonizacija]] |
|||
[[nl:Dekolonisatie]] |
|||
* Grimal, Henri. ''Decolonisation: The British, Dutch, and Belgian Empires, 1919–1963'' (1978). |
|||
[[ja:脱植民地化]] |
|||
* {{cite book |last1=Hyam |first1=Ronald |title=Britain's Declining Empire: The Road to Decolonisation, 1918–1968 |date=2007 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-316-02565-9 }} |
|||
[[no:Avkolonisering]] |
|||
* Ikeda, Ryo. ''The Imperialism of French Decolonisation: French Policy and the Anglo-American Response in Tunisia and Morocco'' (Palgrave Macmillan, 2015) |
|||
[[pl:Dekolonizacja]] |
|||
* Jansen, Jan C. & Jürgen Osterhammel. ''Decolonisation: A Short History'' (Princeton UP, 2017). [http://press.princeton.edu/titles/10963.html online] |
|||
[[pt:Descolonização]] |
|||
* Jones, Max, et al. "Decolonising imperial heroes: Britain and France." ''Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History'' 42#5 (2014): 787–825. |
|||
[[scn:Diculunizzazzioni]] |
|||
* Klose, Fabian (2014), [http://ieg-ego.eu/en/threads/europe-and-the-world/european-overseas-rule/fabian-klose-decolonization-and-revolution?set_language=en&-C= ''Decolonization and Revolution''], [http://www.ieg-ego.eu/ EGO – European History Online], Mainz: [http://www.ieg-mainz.de/likecms/index.php Institute of European History], retrieved: March 17, 2021 ([https://d-nb.info/1061112594/34 pdf]). |
|||
[[simple:Decolonization]] |
|||
* Lawrence, Adria K. ''Imperial Rule and the Politics of Nationalism: Anti-Colonial Protest in the French Empire'' (Cambridge UP, 2013) [https://issforum.org/roundtables/7-18-imperial-rule-nationalism online reviews] |
|||
[[sl:Dekolonizacija]] |
|||
* {{cite journal |last1=McDougall |first1=James |title=The Impossible Republic: The Reconquest of Algeria and the Decolonization of France, 1945–1962 |journal=The Journal of Modern History |date=December 2017 |volume=89 |issue=4 |pages=772–811 |doi=10.1086/694427 |s2cid=148602270 |url=https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:3fcec5a2-738d-4cc7-ae7d-0e8acd9adae7 }} |
|||
[[fi:Dekolonisaatio]] |
|||
* MacQueen, Norrie. ''The Decolonisation of Portuguese Africa: Metropolitan Revolution and the Dissolution of Empire'' (1997). |
|||
[[sv:Avkolonisering]] |
|||
* Milford, Ismay. ''African Activists in a Decolonising World: The Making of an Anticolonial Culture, 1952–1966'' (Cambridge University Press, 2023) [https://hdiplo.org/to/RT26-14 online reviews of this book] |
|||
[[zh:非殖民化]] |
|||
* [[Elizabeth Monroe (historian)|Monroe, Elizabeth]]. '' Britain's Moment in the Middle East, 1914–1956'' (1963) |
|||
* O'Sullivan, Christopher. FDR and the End of Empire: The Origins of American Power in the Middle East (2012). |
|||
* Rothermund, Dietmar. ''The Routledge companion to decolonisation'' (Routledge, 2006), comprehensive global coverage; 365pp |
|||
* {{cite book |last1=Rothermund |first1=Dietmar |title=Memories of Post-Imperial Nations |date=2015 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-107-10229-3 }} Compares the impact on Great Britain, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Portugal, Italy and Japan |
|||
* Shepard, Todd. ''The Invention of Decolonisation: The Algerian War and the Remaking of France'' (2006) |
|||
* Simpson, Alfred William Brian. ''Human Rights and the End of Empire: Britain and the Genesis of the European Convention'' (Oxford University Press, 2004). |
|||
* Smith, Simon C. ''Ending empire in the Middle East: Britain, the United States and post-war decolonisation, 1945–1973'' (Routledge, 2013) |
|||
* {{cite journal |last1=Smith |first1=Tony |title=A Comparative Study of French and British Decolonization |journal=Comparative Studies in Society and History |date=January 1978 |volume=20 |issue=1 |pages=70–102 |doi=10.1017/S0010417500008835 |s2cid=145080475 }} |
|||
* {{cite journal |last1=Smith |first1=Tony |title=The French Colonial Consensus and People's War, 1946-58 |journal=Journal of Contemporary History |date=1974 |volume=9 |issue=4 |pages=217–247 |doi=10.1177/002200947400900410 |jstor=260298 |s2cid=159883569 }} |
|||
* Strayer, Robert. "Decolonisation, Democratisation, and Communist Reform: The Soviet Collapse in Comparative Perspective," Journal of World History 12#2 (2001), 375–406. [http://www.learner.org/courses/worldhistory/support/reading_26_3.pdf online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150224051615/http://www.learner.org/courses/worldhistory/support/reading_26_3.pdf |date=2015-02-24 }} |
|||
* Thomas, Martin, Bob Moore, and Lawrence J. Butler. ''Crises of Empire: Decolonisation and Europe's imperial states'' (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2015) |
|||
* {{cite book |last1=White |first1=Nicholas |title=Decolonisation: The British Experience since 1945 |date=2013 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-88789-8 }} |
|||
{{Refend}} |
|||
* |
|||
==External links== |
|||
{{Library resources box}} |
|||
* {{Commons category-inline|Decolonization}} |
|||
* {{Wikiquote-inline}} |
|||
* {{Wikisource-inline|United Nations General Assembly Resolution 66}} |
|||
* {{Wikisource-inline|United Nations Trusteeship Agreements listed by the General Assembly as Non-Self-Governing}} |
|||
* {{Wikisource-inline|United Nations General Assembly Resolution 1514}} |
|||
* {{Wikisource-inline|United Nations General Assembly Resolution 1541}} |
|||
* James E. Kitchen: [https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/colonial_empires_after_the_wardecolonisation/ Colonial Empires after the First World War/Decolonisation], in: [https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/home.html/ 1914–1918-online. International Encyclopedia of the First World War]. |
|||
{{South-South}} |
|||
{{Colonization}} |
|||
{{Authority control}} |
|||
[[Category:History of colonialism]] |
|||
[[Category:Sovereignty]] |
|||
[[Category:Decolonization]] |
|||
[[Category:Aftermath of World War II]] |
Latest revision as of 00:14, 19 December 2024
Decolonization is the undoing of colonialism, the latter being the process whereby imperial nations establish and dominate foreign territories, often overseas.[1] The meanings and applications of the term are disputed. Some scholars of decolonization focus especially on independence movements in the colonies and the collapse of global colonial empires.[2][3]
As a movement to establish independence for colonized territories from their respective metropoles, decolonization began in 1775 in North America. Major waves of decolonization occurred in the aftermath of the First World War and most prominently after the Second World War.
Critical scholars extend the meaning beyond independence or equal rights for colonized peoples to include broader economic, cultural and psychological aspects of the colonial experience.[4][5] Extending the meaning of decolonization beyond political independence has been disputed and received criticism.[6][7][8]
Scope
The United Nations (UN) states that the fundamental right to self-determination is the core requirement for decolonization, and that this right can be exercised with or without political independence.[9] A UN General Assembly Resolution in 1960 characterised colonial foreign rule as a violation of human rights.[10][11] In states that have won independence, Indigenous people living under settler colonialism continue to make demands for decolonization and self-determination.[12][13][14][15]
Although discussions of hegemony and power, central to the concept of decolonization, can be found as early as the writings of Thucydides,[16] there have been several particularly active periods of decolonization in modern times. These include the decolonization of Africa, the breakup of the Spanish Empire in the 19th century; of the German, Austro-Hungarian, Ottoman, and Russian Empires following World War I; of the British, French, Dutch, Portuguese, Belgian, Italian, and Japanese Empires following World War II; and of the Soviet Union at the end of the Cold War.[17]
Early studies of decolonisation appeared in the 1960s and 1970s. An important book from this period was The Wretched of the Earth (1961) by Martiniquan author Frantz Fanon, which established many aspects of decolonisation that would be considered in later works. Subsequent studies of decolonisation addressed economic disparities as a legacy of colonialism as well as the annihilation of people's cultures. Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o explored the cultural and linguistic legacies of colonialism in the influential book Decolonising the Mind (1986).[4]
"Decolonization" has also been used to refer to the intellectual decolonization from the colonizers' ideas that made the colonized feel inferior.[18][19][20] Issues of decolonization persist and are raised contemporarily. In the Americas and South Africa, such issues are increasingly discussed under the term decoloniality.[21][22]
Independence movements
In the two hundred years following the American Revolutionary War in 1783, 165 colonies have gained independence from Western imperial powers.[23] Several analyses point to different reasons for the spread of anti-colonial political movements. Institutional arguments suggest that increasing levels of education in the colonies led to calls for popular sovereignty; Marxist analyses view decolonization as a result of economic shifts toward wage labor and an enlarged bourgeois class; yet another argument sees decolonization as a diffusion process wherein earlier revolutionary movements inspired later ones.[23][24][25][26] Other explanations emphasize how the lower profitability of colonization and the costs associated with empire prompted decolonization.[27][28] Some explanations emphasize how colonial powers struggled militarily against insurgents in the colonies due to a shift from 19th century conditions of "strong political will, a permissive international environment, access to local collaborators, and flexibility to pick their battles" to 20th century conditions of "apathetic publics, hostile superpowers, vanishing collaborators, and constrained options".[29] In other words, colonial powers had more support from their own region in pursuing colonies in the 19th century than they did in the 20th century, where holding on to such colonies was often understood to be a burden.[29]
A great deal of scholarship attributes the ideological origins of national independence movements to the Age of Enlightenment. Enlightenment social and political theories such as individualism and liberalism were central to the debates about national constitutions for newly independent countries.[30] Contemporary decolonial scholarship has critiqued the emancipatory potential of Enlightenment thought, highlighting its erasure of Indigenous epistemologies and failure to provide subaltern and Indigenous people with liberty, equality, and dignity.[31]
American Revolution
Great Britain's Thirteen North American colonies were the first to declare independence, forming the United States of America in 1776, and defeating Britain in the Revolutionary War.[32][33]
Haitian Revolution
The Haitian Revolution was a revolt in 1789 and subsequent slave uprising in 1791 in the French colony of Saint-Domingue, on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola. In 1804, Haiti secured independence from France as the Empire of Haiti, which later became a republic.
Spanish America
The chaos of the Napoleonic Wars in Europe cut the direct links between Spain and its American colonies, allowing for the process of decolonization to begin.[34]
With the invasion of Spain by Napoleon in 1806, the American colonies declared autonomy and loyalty to King Ferdinand VII. The contract was broken and each of the regions of the Spanish Empire had to decide whether to show allegiance to the Junta of Cadiz (the only territory in Spain free from Napoleon) or have a junta (assembly) of its own. The economic monopoly of the metropolis was the main reason why many countries decided to become independent from Spain. In 1809, the independence wars of Latin America began with a revolt in La Paz, Bolivia. In 1807 and 1808, the Viceroyalty of the River Plate was invaded by the British. After their 2nd defeat, a Frenchman called Santiague de Liniers was proclaimed a new Viceroy by the local population and later accepted by Spain. In May 1810 in Buenos Aires, a Junta was created, but in Montevideo it was not recognized by the local government who followed the authority of the Junta of Cadiz. The rivalry between the two cities was the main reason for the distrust between them. During the next 15 years, the Spanish and Royalist on one side, and the rebels on the other fought in South America and Mexico. Numerous countries declared their independence. In 1824, the Spanish forces were defeated in the Battle of Ayacucho. The mainland was free, and in 1898, Spain lost Cuba and Puerto Rico in the Spanish–American War. Puerto Rico became an unincorporated territory of the US, but Cuba became independent in 1902.
Portuguese America
The Napoleonic Wars also led to the severing of the direct links between Portugal and its only American colony, Brazil. Days before Napoleon invaded Portugal, in 1807 the Portuguese royal court fled to Brazil. In 1820 there was a Constitutionalist Revolution in Portugal, which led to the return of the Portuguese court to Lisbon. This led to distrust between the Portuguese and the Brazilian colonists, and finally, in 1822, to the colony becoming independent as the Empire of Brazil, which later became a republic.
British Empire
The emergence of Indigenous political parties was especially characteristic of the British Empire, which seemed less ruthless than, for example, Belgium, in controlling political dissent. Driven by pragmatic demands of budgets and manpower the British made deals with the local politicians. Across the empire, the general protocol was to convene a constitutional conference in London to discuss the transition to greater self-government and then independence, submit a report of the constitutional conference to parliament, if approved submit a bill to Parliament at Westminster to terminate the responsibility of the United Kingdom (with a copy of the new constitution annexed), and finally, if approved, issuance of an Order of Council fixing the exact date of independence.[35]
After World War I, several former German and Ottoman territories in the Middle East, Africa, and the Pacific were governed by the UK as League of Nations mandates. Some were administered directly by the UK, and others by British dominions – Nauru and the Territory of New Guinea by Australia, South West Africa by the Union of South Africa, and Western Samoa by New Zealand.
Egypt became independent in 1922, although the UK retained security prerogatives, control of the Suez Canal, and effective control of the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan. The Balfour Declaration of 1926 declared the British Empire dominions as equals, and the 1931 Statute of Westminster established full legislative independence for them. The equal dominions were six– Canada, Newfoundland, Australia, the Irish Free State, New Zealand, and the Union of South Africa; Ireland had been brought into a union with Great Britain in 1801 creating the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland until the formation of the Irish Free State in 1922. However, some of the Dominions were already independent de facto, and even de jure and recognized as such by the international community. Thus, Canada was a founding member of the League of Nations in 1919 and served on the council from 1927 to 1930.[36] That country also negotiated on its own and signed bilateral and multilateral treaties and conventions from the early 1900s onward. Newfoundland ceded self-rule back to London in 1934. Iraq, a League of Nations mandate, became independent in 1932.
In response to a growing Indian independence movement, the UK made successive reforms to the British Raj, culminating in the Government of India Act 1935. These reforms included creating elected legislative councils in some of the provinces of British India. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, India's independence movement leader, led a peaceful resistance to British rule. By becoming a symbol of both peace and opposition to British imperialism, many Indians began to view the British as the cause of India's problems leading to a newfound sense of nationalism among its population. With this new wave of Indian nationalism, Gandhi was eventually able to garner the support needed to push back the British and create an independent India in 1947.[37]
Africa was only fully drawn into the colonial system at the end of the 19th century. In the north-east the continued independence of the Ethiopian Empire remained a beacon of hope to pro-independence activists. However, with the anti-colonial wars of the 1900s (decade) barely over, new modernizing forms of Africa nationalism began to gain strength in the early 20th century with the emergence of Pan-Africanism, as advocated by the Jamaican journalist Marcus Garvey (1887–1940) whose widely distributed newspapers demanded swift abolition of European imperialism, as well as republicanism in Egypt. Kwame Nkrumah (1909–1972) who was inspired by the works of Garvey led Ghana to independence from colonial rule.
Independence for the colonies in Africa began with the independence of Sudan in 1956, and Ghana in 1957. All of the British colonies on mainland Africa became independent by 1966, although Rhodesia's unilateral declaration of independence in 1965 was not recognized by the UK or internationally.
Some of the British colonies in Asia were directly administered by British officials, while others were ruled by local monarchs as protectorates or in subsidiary alliance with the UK.
In 1947, British India was partitioned into the independent dominions of India and Pakistan. Hundreds of princely states, states ruled by monarchs in a treaty of subsidiary alliance with Britain, were integrated into India and Pakistan. India and Pakistan fought several wars over the former princely state of Jammu and Kashmir. French India was integrated into India between 1950 and 1954, and India annexed Portuguese India in 1961, and the Kingdom of Sikkim merged with India by popular vote in 1975.
Violence, civil warfare, and partition
Significant violence was involved in several prominent cases of decolonization of the British Empire; partition was a frequent solution. In 1783, the North American colonies were divided between the independent United States, and British North America, which later became Canada.
The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was a major uprising in India against British East India Company. It was characterized by massacres of civilians on both sides. It was not a movement for independence, however, and only a small part of India was involved. In the aftermath, the British pulled back from modernizing reforms of Indian society, and the level of organised violence under the British Raj was relatively small. Most of that was initiated by repressive British administrators, as in the Amritsar massacre of 1919, or the police assaults on the Salt March of 1930.[38] Large-scale communal violence broke out between Hindus and Muslims and between Muslims and Sikhs after the British left in 1947 in the newly independent dominions of India and Pakistan. Much later, in 1970, further communal violence broke out within Pakistan in the detached eastern part of East Bengal, which became independent as Bangladesh in 1971.
Cyprus, which came under full British control in 1914 from the Ottoman Empire, was culturally divided between the majority Greek element (which demanded "enosis" or union with Greece) and the minority Turks. London for decades assumed it needed the island to defend the Suez Canal; but after the Suez crisis of 1956, that became a minor factor, and Greek violence became a more serious issue. Cyprus became an independent country in 1960, but ethnic violence escalated until 1974 when Turkey invaded and partitioned the island. Each side rewrote its own history, blaming the other.[39]
Palestine became a British mandate from the League of Nations after World War I, initially including Transjordan. During that war, the British gained support from Arabs and Jews by making promises to both (see McMahon–Hussein Correspondence and Balfour Declaration). Decades of ethno—religious violence reached a climax with the UN Partition Plan and the ensuing war. The British eventually pulled out, and the former Mandate territory was divided between Israel, Jordan and Egypt.[40]
French Empire
After World War I, the colonized people were frustrated at France's failure to recognize the effort provided by the French colonies (resources, but more importantly colonial troops – the famous tirailleurs). Although in Paris the Great Mosque of Paris was constructed as recognition of these efforts, the French state had no intention to allow self-rule, let alone grant independence to the colonized people. Thus, nationalism in the colonies became stronger in between the two wars, leading to Abd el-Krim's Rif War (1921–1925) in Morocco and to the creation of Messali Hadj's Star of North Africa in Algeria in 1925. However, these movements would gain full potential only after World War II.
After World War I, France administered the former Ottoman territories of Syria and Lebanon, and the former German colonies of Togoland and Cameroon, as League of Nations mandates. Lebanon declared its independence in 1943, and Syria in 1945.
In some instances, decolonization efforts ran counter to other concerns, such as the rapid increase of antisemitism in Algeria in the course of the nation's resistance to French rule.[41]
Although France was ultimately a victor of World War II, Nazi Germany's occupation of France and its North African colonies during the war had disrupted colonial rule. On 27 October 1946, France adopted a new constitution creating the Fourth Republic, and substituted the French Union for the colonial empire. However power over the colonies remained concentrated in France, and the power of local assemblies outside France was extremely limited. On the night of 29 March 1947, a Madagascar nationalist uprising led the French government headed by Paul Ramadier (Socialist) to violent repression: one year of bitter fighting, 11,000–40,000 Malagasy died.[42]
In late 1946, Vietnam of French Indochina withdrew from the French Union, leading to the Indochina War (1946–54). France later recognized independence of Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia in 1949. France also recognized the unity of Vietnam and supported the anti-communist faction in this country against the expansion of communism in the name of anti-colonialism, the war thus became part of the world-wide Cold War. Cambodia and Laos became fully independent in late 1953, Vietnam became fully independent on 4 June 1954, and the Geneva Accords of 21 July 1954 left Vietnam divided into the North and South with the fact that France recognized communists gaining the North. After North Vietnamese military victory, Vietnam would be united under communism on 2 July 1976.
In 1956, Morocco and Tunisia gained their independence from France. In 1960, eight independent countries emerged from French West Africa, and five from French Equatorial Africa. The Algerian War of Independence raged from 1954 to 1962. To this day, the Algerian war – officially called a "public order operation" until the 1990s – remains a trauma for both France and Algeria. Philosopher Paul Ricœur has spoken of the necessity of a "decolonisation of memory", starting with the recognition of the 1961 Paris massacre during the Algerian war, and the decisive role of African and especially North African immigrant manpower in the Trente Glorieuses post–World War II economic growth period. In the 1960s, due to economic needs for post-war reconstruction and rapid economic growth, French employers actively sought to recruit manpower from the colonies, explaining today's multiethnic population.
After 1918
United States
A union of former colonies itself, the United States approached imperialism differently from the other Powers. Much of its energy and rapidly expanding population was directed westward across the North American continent against English and French claims, the Spanish Empire and Mexico. The Native Americans were sent to reservations, often unwillingly. With support from Britain, its Monroe Doctrine reserved the Americas as its sphere of interest, prohibiting other states (particularly Spain) from recolonizing the newly independent polities of Latin America. However, France, taking advantage of the American government's distraction during the Civil War, intervened militarily in Mexico and set up a French-protected monarchy. Spain took the step to occupy the Dominican Republic and restore colonial rule. The Union victory in the Civil War in 1865 forced both France and Spain to accede to American demands to evacuate those two countries. America's only African colony, Liberia, was formed privately and achieved independence early; Washington unofficially protected it. By 1900, the U.S. advocated an Open Door Policy and opposed the direct division of China.[43]
After 1898 direct intervention expanded in Latin America. The United States purchased Alaska from the Russian Empire in 1867 and annexed Hawaii in 1898. Following the Spanish–American War in 1898, the US added most of Spain's remaining colonies: Puerto Rico, Philippines, and Guam. Deciding not to annex Cuba outright, the U.S. established it as a client state with obligations including the perpetual lease of Guantánamo Bay to the U.S. Navy. The attempt of the first governor to void the island's constitution and remain in power past the end of his term provoked a rebellion that provoked a reoccupation between 1906 and 1909, but this was again followed by devolution. Similarly, the McKinley administration, despite prosecuting the Philippine–American War against a native republic, set out that the Territory of the Philippine Islands was eventually granted independence.[44] In 1917, the U.S. purchased the Danish West Indies (later renamed the US Virgin Islands) from Denmark and Puerto Ricans became full U.S. citizens that same year.[45] The US government declared Puerto Rico the territory was no longer a colony and stopped transmitting information about it to the United Nations Decolonization Committee.[46] As a result, the UN General Assembly removed Puerto Rico from the U.N. list of non-self-governing territories. Four referendums showed little support for independence, but much interest in statehood such as Hawaii and Alaska received in 1959.[47]
The Monroe Doctrine was expanded by the Roosevelt Corollary in 1904, providing that the United States had a right and obligation to intervene "in flagrant cases of such wrongdoing or impotence" that a nation in the Western Hemisphere became vulnerable to European control. In practice, this meant that the United States was led to act as a collections agent for European creditors by administering customs duties in the Dominican Republic (1905–1941), Haiti (1915–1934), and elsewhere. The intrusiveness and bad relations this engendered were somewhat checked by the Clark Memorandum and renounced by President Franklin D. Roosevelt's "Good Neighbor Policy".
The Fourteen Points were preconditions addressed by President Woodrow Wilson to the European powers at the Paris Peace Conference following World War I. In allowing allies France and Britain the former colonial possessions of the German and Ottoman Empires, the US demanded of them submission to the League of Nations mandate, in calling for V. A free, open-minded, and absolutely impartial adjustment of all colonial claims, based upon a strict observance of the principle that in determining all such questions of sovereignty the interests of the populations concerned must have equal weight with the equitable government whose title is to be determined. See also point XII.
After World War II, the U.S. poured tens of billions of dollars into the Marshall Plan, and other grants and loans to Europe and Asia to rebuild the world economy. At the same time American military bases were established around the world and direct and indirect interventions continued in Korea, Indochina, Latin America (inter alia, the 1965 occupation of the Dominican Republic), Africa, and the Middle East to oppose Communist movements and insurgencies. Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the United States has been far less active in the Americas, but invaded Afghanistan and Iraq following the September 11 attacks in 2001, establishing army and air bases in Central Asia.
Japan
Before World War I, Japan had gained several substantial colonial possessions in East Asia such as Taiwan (1895) and Korea (1910). Japan joined the allies in World War I, and after the war acquired the South Seas Mandate, the former German colony in Micronesia, as a League of Nations Mandate. Pursuing a colonial policy comparable to those of European powers, Japan settled significant populations of ethnic Japanese in its colonies while simultaneously suppressing Indigenous ethnic populations by enforcing the learning and use of the Japanese language in schools. Other methods such as public interaction, and attempts to eradicate the use of Korean, Hokkien, and Hakka among the Indigenous peoples, were seen to be used. Japan also set up the Imperial Universities in Korea (Keijō Imperial University) and Taiwan (Taihoku Imperial University) to compel education.
In 1931, Japan seized Manchuria from the Republic of China, setting up a puppet state under Puyi, the last Manchu emperor of China. In 1933 Japan seized the Chinese province of Rehe, and incorporated it into its Manchurian possessions. The Second Sino-Japanese War started in 1937, and Japan occupied much of eastern China, including the Republic's capital at Nanjing. An estimated 20 million Chinese died during the 1931–1945 war with Japan.[48]
In December 1941, the empire of Japan joined World War II by invading the European and U.S. colonies in Southeast Asia and the Pacific, including French Indochina, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Burma, Malaya, Indonesia, Portuguese Timor, and others. Following its surrender to the Allies in 1945, Japan was deprived of all its colonies with a number of them being returned to the original colonizing Western powers. The Soviet Union declared war on Japan in August 1945, and shortly after occupied and annexed the southern Kuril Islands, which Japan still claims.
After 1945
Planning for decolonization
U.S. and Philippines
In the United States, the two major parties were divided on the acquisition of the Philippines, which became a major campaign issue in 1900. The Republicans, who favored permanent acquisition, won the election, but after a decade or so, Republicans turned their attention to the Caribbean, focusing on building the Panama Canal. President Woodrow Wilson, a Democrat in office from 1913 to 1921, ignored the Philippines, and focused his attention on Mexico and Caribbean nations. By the 1920s, the peaceful efforts by the Filipino leadership to pursue independence proved convincing. When the Democrats returned to power in 1933, they worked with the Filipinos to plan a smooth transition to independence. It was scheduled for 1946 by Tydings–McDuffie Act of 1934. In 1935, the Philippines transitioned out of territorial status, controlled by an appointed governor, to the semi-independent status of the Commonwealth of the Philippines. Its constitutional convention wrote a new constitution, which was approved by Washington and went into effect, with an elected governor Manuel L. Quezon and legislature. Foreign Affairs remained under American control. The Philippines built up a new army, under general Douglas MacArthur, who took leave from his U.S. Army position to take command of the new army reporting to Quezon. The Japanese occupation 1942 to 1945 disrupted but did not delay the transition. It took place on schedule in 1946 as Manuel Roxas took office as president.[49]
Portugal
As a result of its pioneering discoveries, Portugal had a large and particularly long-lasting colonial empire which had begun in 1415 with the conquest of Ceuta and ended only in 1999 with the handover of Portuguese Macau to China. In 1822, Portugal lost control of Brazil, its largest colony.
From 1933 to 1974, Portugal was an authoritarian state (ruled by António de Oliveira Salazar). The regime was fiercely determined to maintain the country's colonial possessions at all costs and to aggressively suppress any insurgencies. In 1961, India annexed Goa and by the same year nationalist forces had begun organizing in Portugal. Revolts (preceding the Portuguese Colonial War) spread to Angola, Guinea Bissau and Mozambique.[50] Lisbon escalated its effort in the war: for instance, it increased the number of natives in the colonial army and built strategic hamlets. Portugal sent another 300,000 European settlers into Angola and Mozambique before 1974. That year, a left-wing revolution inside Portugal overthrew the existing regime and encouraged pro-Soviet elements to attempt to seize control in the colonies. The result was a very long and extremely difficult multi-party Civil War in Angola, and lesser insurrections in Mozambique.[51]
Belgium
Belgium's empire began with the annexation of the Congo in 1908 in response to international pressure to bring an end to the terrible atrocities that had taken place under King Leopold's privately run Congo Free State. It added Rwanda and Burundi as League of Nations mandates from the former German Empire in 1919. The colonies remained independent during the war, while Belgium was occupied by the Germans. There was no serious planning for independence, and exceedingly little training or education provided. The Belgian Congo was especially rich, and many Belgian businessmen lobbied hard to maintain control. Local revolts grew in power and finally, the Belgian king suddenly announced in 1959 that independence was on the agenda – and it was hurriedly arranged in 1960, for country bitterly and deeply divided on social and economic grounds.[52]
Netherlands
The Netherlands had spent centuries building up its empire. By 1940 it consisted mostly of the Dutch East Indies, corresponding to what is now Indonesia. Its massive oil reserves provided about 14 percent of the Dutch national product and supported a large population of ethnic Dutch government officials and businessmen in Batavia (now Jakarta) and other major cities. The Netherlands was overrun and almost starved to death by the Nazis during the war, and Japan sank the Dutch fleet in seizing the East Indies. In 1945 the Netherlands could not regain these islands on its own; it did so by depending on British military help and American financial grants. By the time Dutch soldiers returned, an independent government under Sukarno was in power, originally set up by the Empire of Japan. The Dutch both abroad and at home generally agreed that Dutch power depended on an expensive war to regain the islands. Compromises were negotiated, but were trusted by neither side. When the Indonesian Republic successfully suppressed a large-scale communist revolt, the United States realized that it needed the nationalist government as an ally in the Cold War. Dutch possession was an obstacle to American Cold War goals, so Washington forced the Dutch to grant full independence. A few years later, Sukarno nationalized all Dutch East Indies properties and expelled all ethnic Dutch—over 300,000—as well as several hundred thousand ethnic Indonesians who supported the Dutch cause. In the aftermath, the Netherlands prospered greatly in the 1950s and 1960s but nevertheless public opinion was bitterly hostile to the United States for betrayal. The Dutch government eventually gave up on claims to Indonesian sovereignty in 1949, after American pressure.[53][54] The Netherlands also had one other major colony, Dutch Guiana in South America, which became independent as Suriname in 1975.
United Nations trust territories
When the United Nations was formed in 1945, it established trust territories. These territories included the League of Nations mandate territories which had not achieved independence by 1945, along with the former Italian Somaliland. The Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands was transferred from Japanese to US administration. By 1990 all but one of the trust territories had achieved independence, either as independent states or by merger with another independent state; the Northern Mariana Islands elected to become a commonwealth of the United States.
The emergence of the Third World (1945–present)
Newly independent states organised themselves in order to oppose continued economic colonialism by former imperial powers. The Non-Aligned Movement constituted itself around the main figures of Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India, Sukarno, the Indonesian president, Josip Broz Tito the Communist leader of Yugoslavia, and Gamal Abdel Nasser, head of Egypt.[55][56][57] In 1955 these leaders gathered at the Bandung Conference along with Sukarno, the leader of Indonesia, and Zhou Enlai, Premier of the People's Republic of China.[58][59] In 1960, the UN General Assembly voted on the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples. The next year, the first Non-Aligned Movement conference was held in Belgrade (1961),[60] and was followed in 1964 by the creation of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) which tried to promote a New International Economic Order (NIEO).[61][62] The NIEO was opposed to the 1944 Bretton Woods system, which had benefited the leading states which had created it, and remained in force until 1971 after the United States' suspension of convertibility from dollars to gold. The main principles of the NIEO are:
- The sovereign equality of all States, with non-interference in their internal affairs, their effective participation in solving world problems and the right to adopt their own economic and social systems;
- Full sovereignty of each State over its natural resources and other economic activities necessary for development, as well as regulation of transnational corporations;
- Just and equitable relationship between the price of raw materials and other goods exported by developing countries, and the prices of raw materials and other goods exported by the developed countries;
- Strengthening of bilateral and multilateral international assistance to promote industrialization in the developing countries through, in particular, the provisioning of sufficient financial resources and opportunities for transfer of appropriate techniques and technologies.[63]
The UNCTAD however was not very effective in implementing the NIEO, and social and economic inequalities between industrialized countries and the Third World grew throughout the 1960s until the 21st century. The 1973 oil crisis which followed the Yom Kippur War (October 1973) was triggered by the OPEC which decided an embargo against the US and Western countries, causing a fourfold increase in the price of oil, which lasted five months, starting on 17 October 1973, and ending on 18 March 1974. OPEC nations then agreed, on 7 January 1975, to raise crude oil prices by 10%. At that time, OPEC nations – including many who had recently nationalized their oil industries – joined the call for a New International Economic Order to be initiated by coalitions of primary producers. Concluding the First OPEC Summit in Algiers they called for stable and just commodity prices, an international food and agriculture program, technology transfer from North to South, and the democratization of the economic system. But industrialized countries quickly began to look for substitutes to OPEC petroleum, with the oil companies investing the majority of their research capital in the US and European countries or others, politically sure countries. The OPEC lost more and more influence on the world prices of oil.
The second oil crisis occurred in the wake of the 1979 Iranian Revolution. Then, the 1982 Latin American debt crisis exploded in Mexico first, then Argentina and Brazil, which proved unable to pay back their debts, jeopardizing the existence of the international economic system.
The 1990s were characterized by the prevalence of the Washington consensus on neoliberal policies, "structural adjustment" and "shock therapies" for the former Communist states.
Decolonization of Africa
The decolonization of North Africa and sub-Saharan Africa took place in the mid-to-late 1950s, very suddenly, with little preparation. There was widespread unrest and organized revolts, especially in French Algeria, Portuguese Angola, the Belgian Congo and British Kenya.[64][65][66][67]
In 1945, Africa had four independent countries – Egypt, Ethiopia, Liberia, and South Africa.
After Italy's defeat in World War II, France and the UK occupied the former Italian colonies. Libya became an independent kingdom in 1951. Eritrea was merged with Ethiopia in 1952. Italian Somaliland was governed by the UK, and by Italy after 1954, until its independence in 1960.
By 1977, European colonial rule in mainland Africa had ended. Most of Africa's island countries had also become independent, although Réunion and Mayotte remain part of France. However the black majorities in Rhodesia and South Africa were disenfranchised until 1979 in Rhodesia, which became Zimbabwe-Rhodesia that year and Zimbabwe the next, and until 1994 in South Africa. Namibia, Africa's last UN Trust Territory, became independent of South Africa in 1990.
Most independent African countries exist within prior colonial borders. However Morocco merged French Morocco with Spanish Morocco, and Somalia formed from the merger of British Somaliland and Italian Somaliland. Eritrea merged with Ethiopia in 1952, but became an independent country in 1993.
Most African countries became independent as republics. Morocco, Lesotho, and Eswatini remain monarchies under dynasties that predate colonial rule. Burundi, Egypt, Libya, and Tunisia gained independence as monarchies, but all four countries' monarchs were later deposed, and they became republics.
African countries cooperate in various multi-state associations. The African Union includes all 55 African states. There are several regional associations of states, including the East African Community, Southern African Development Community, and Economic Community of West African States, some of which have overlapping membership.
- United Kingdom: Sudan (1956); Ghana (1957); Nigeria (1960); Sierra Leone and Tanganyika (1961); Uganda (1962); Kenya and Sultanate of Zanzibar (1963); Malawi and Zambia (1964); Gambia and Rhodesia (1965); Botswana and Lesotho (1966); Mauritius and Swaziland (1968); Seychelles (1976)
- France: Morocco and Tunisia (1956); Guinea (1958); Cameroon, Togo, Mali, Senegal, Madagascar, Benin, Niger, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Chad, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, Gabon and Mauritania (1960); Algeria (1962); Comoros (1975); Djibouti (1977)
- Spain: Equatorial Guinea (1968)
- Portugal: Guinea-Bissau (1974); Mozambique, Cape Verde, São Tomé and Príncipe and Angola (1975)
- Belgium: Democratic Republic of the Congo (1960); Burundi and Rwanda (1962)
Decolonization in the Americas after 1945
- United Kingdom: Newfoundland (formerly an independent dominion but under direct British rule since 1934) (1949, union with Canada); Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago (1962); Barbados and Guyana (1966); Bahamas (1973); Grenada (1974); Trinidad and Tobago (1976, removal of Queen Elizabeth II as head of state, transition to republic); Dominica (1978); Saint Lucia and St. Vincent and the Grenadines (1979); Antigua and Barbuda and Belize (1981); Saint Kitts and Nevis (1983); Barbados (2021, removal of Queen Elizabeth II as head of state, transition to republic).[68]
- Netherlands: Netherlands Antilles, Suriname (1954, both becoming constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Netherlands), 1975 (independence of Suriname)
- Denmark: Greenland (1979, became an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark).
Decolonization of Asia
Japan expanded its occupation of Chinese territory during the 1930s, and occupied Southeast Asia during World War II. After the war, the Japanese colonial empire was dissolved, and national independence movements resisted the re-imposition of colonial control by European countries and the United States.
The Republic of China regained control of Japanese-occupied territories in Manchuria and eastern China, as well as Taiwan. Only Hong Kong and Macau remained in outside control until both places were transferred to the People's Republic of China by the UK and Portugal in 1997 and 1999.
The Allied powers divided Korea into two occupation zones, which became the states of North Korea and South Korea. The Philippines became independent of the U.S. in 1946.
The Netherlands recognized Indonesia's independence in 1949, after a four-year independence struggle. Indonesia annexed Netherlands New Guinea in 1963, and Portuguese Timor in 1975. In 2002, former Portuguese Timor became independent as East Timor.
The following list shows the colonial powers following the end of hostilities in 1945, and their colonial or administrative possessions. The year of decolonization is given chronologically in parentheses.[69]
- United Kingdom: Transjordan (1946), British India and Pakistan (1947); British Mandate of Palestine, Burma and Ceylon (1948); British Malaya (1957); Kuwait (1961); Kingdom of Sarawak, North Borneo and Singapore (1963); Maldives (1965); Aden (1967); Bahrain, Qatar and United Arab Emirates (1971); Brunei (1984); Hong Kong (1997)
- France: French India (1954) and Indochina comprising Vietnam (1954), Cambodia (1953) and Laos (1953)
- Portugal: Portuguese India (1961); East Timor (1975); Macau (1999)
- United States: Philippines (1946)
- Netherlands: Indonesia (1949)
Decolonization in Europe
Italy had occupied the Dodecanese islands in 1912, but Italian occupation ended after World War II, and the islands were integrated into Greece. British rule ended in Cyprus in 1960, and Malta in 1964, and both islands became independent republics.
Soviet control of its non-Russian member republics weakened as movements for democratization and self-government gained strength during the late 1980s, and four republics declared independence in 1990 and 1991. The Soviet coup d'état attempt in August 1991 accelerated the breakup of the USSR, which formally ended on 26 December 1991. The Republics of the Soviet Union became sovereign states—Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus (formerly called Byelorussia,) Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan. Historian Robert Daniels says, "A special dimension that the anti-Communist revolutions shared with some of their predecessors was decolonization."[70] Moscow's policy had long been to settle ethnic Russians in the non-Russian republics. After independence, minority rights have been an issue for Russian-speakers in some republics and for non-Russian-speakers in Russia; see Russians in the Baltic states.[71] Meanwhile, the Russian Federation continues to apply political, economic, and military pressure on former Soviet colonies. In 2014, it annexed Ukraine's Crimean peninsula, the first such action in Europe since the end of the Second World War. In March 2023, following the 2022 Russian invasion and subsequent Russian occupation of parts of Ukraine, Ukraine passed a law that did forbid to have toponymy with names associated with Russian ("the occupying state").[72] This law in particular has been described by Ukrainian media as providing "a legitimate framework and effective mechanisms" for the decolonization of Ukraine.[73]
After the 2022 Russian invasion, scholars of Eastern Europe and Central Asia Studies ("Russian studies") have renewed awareness of Russian colonialism and interest in decolonizing scholarship in their field,[74][75] with academic conferences organized on the theme by the Centre for Baltic and East European Studies (CBEES) in Stockholm in December 2022,[76] the British Association for Slavonic and Eastern European Studies (BASEES) in April 2023,[77] the Aleksanteri Institute in October,[78] and the Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies (ASEEES) in Philadelphia in November–December.
Decolonization of Oceania
The decolonization of Oceania occurred after World War II when nations in Oceania achieved independence by transitioning from European colonial rule to full independence.
- United Kingdom: Tonga and Fiji (1970); Solomon Islands and Tuvalu (1978); Kiribati (1979)
- United Kingdom and France: Vanuatu (1980)
- Australia: Nauru (1968); Papua New Guinea (1975)
- New Zealand: Samoa (1962)
- United States: Marshall Islands and Federated States of Micronesia (1986); Palau (1994)
Challenges
Typical challenges of decolonization include state-building, nation-building, and economic development.
State-building
After independence, the new states needed to establish or strengthen the institutions of a sovereign state – governments, laws, a military, schools, administrative systems, and so on. The amount of self-rule granted prior to independence, and assistance from the colonial power and/or international organizations after independence, varied greatly between colonial powers, and between individual colonies.[79]
Except for a few absolute monarchies, most post-colonial states are either republics or constitutional monarchies. These new states had to devise constitutions, electoral systems, and other institutions of representative democracy.
Nation-building
Nation-building is the process of creating a sense of identification with, and loyalty to, the state.[80][81] Nation-building projects seek to replace loyalty to the old colonial power, and/or tribal or regional loyalties, with loyalty to the new state. Elements of nation-building include creating and promoting symbols of the state like a flag, a coat of arms and an anthem, monuments, official histories, national sports teams, codifying one or more Indigenous official languages, and replacing colonial place-names with local ones.[79] Nation-building after independence often continues the work began by independence movements during the colonial period.
Language policy
From the perspective of language policy (or language politics), "linguistic decolonization" entails the replacement of a colonizing (imperial) power's language with a given colony's indigenous language in the function of official language. With the exception of colonies in Eurasia, linguistic decolonization did not take place in the former colonies-turned-independent states on the other continents ("Rest of the World").[82] Linguistic imperialism is the imposition and enforcement of one dominant language over other languages, and one response to this form of imperialism is linguistic decolonization.[83][84]
Settled populations
Decolonization is not an easy matter in colonies with large settler populations, particularly if they have been there for several generations. When settlers remain in former colonies after independence, colonialism is ongoing and takes the form of settler colonialism, which is highly resistant to decolonisation.[85] Repatriation of existing colonizers or prevention of immigration of additional colonizers can be seen as opposition to immigration.[86]
In a few cases, settler populations have been repatriated. For instance, the decolonization of Algeria by France was particularly uneasy due to the large European population (see also pied noir),[87] which largely evacuated to France when Algeria became independent.[88] In Zimbabwe, former Rhodesia, Robert Mugabe seized property from white African farmers, killing several of them, and forcing the survivors to emigrate.[89][90] A large Indian community lived in Uganda as a result of Britain colonizing both India and East Africa, and Idi Amin expelled them for domestic political gain.[91]
Cinematography
Kenyan writer Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o has written about colonization and decolonization in the film universe. Born in Ethiopia, filmmaker Haile Gerima describes the "colonization of the unconscious" he describes experiencing as a child:[92]
...as kids, we tried to act out the things we had seen in the movies. We used to play cowboys and Indians in the mountains around Gondar...We acted out the roles of these heroes, identifying with the cowboys conquering the Indians. We didn't identify with the Indians at all and we never wanted the Indians to win. Even in Tarzan movies, we would become totally galvanized by the activities of the hero and follow the story from his point of view, completely caught up in the structure of the story. Whenever Africans sneaked up behind Tarzan, we would scream our heads off, trying to warn him that 'they' were coming".
In Asia, kung fu cinema emerged at a time Japan wanted to reach Asian populations in other countries by way of its cultural influence. The surge in popularity of kung fu movies began in the late 1960s through the 1970s. Local populations were depicted as protagonists opposing "imperialists" (foreigners) and their "Chinese collaborators".[92]
Economic development
Newly independent states also had to develop independent economic institutions – a national currency, banks, companies, regulation, tax systems, etc.
Many colonies were serving as resource colonies which produced raw materials and agricultural products, and as a captive market for goods manufactured in the colonizing country. Many decolonized countries created programs to promote industrialization. Some nationalized industries and infrastructure, and some engaged in land reform to redistribute land to individual farmers or create collective farms.
Some decolonized countries maintain strong economic ties with the former colonial power. The CFA franc is a currency shared by 14 countries in West and Central Africa, mostly former French colonies. The CFA franc is guaranteed by the French treasury.
After independence, many countries created regional economic associations to promote trade and economic development among neighboring countries, including the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), and the Gulf Cooperation Council.
Effects on the colonizers
John Kenneth Galbraith argues that the post–World War II decolonization was brought about for economic reasons. In A Journey Through Economic Time, he writes:
"The engine of economic well-being was now within and between the advanced industrial countries. Domestic economic growth – as now measured and much discussed – came to be seen as far more important than the erstwhile colonial trade.... The economic effect in the United States from the granting of independence to the Philippines was unnoticeable, partly due to the Bell Trade Act, which allowed American monopoly in the economy of the Philippines. The departure of India and Pakistan made small economic difference in the United Kingdom. Dutch economists calculated that the economic effect from the loss of the great Dutch empire in Indonesia was compensated for by a couple of years or so of domestic post-war economic growth. The end of the colonial era is celebrated in the history books as a triumph of national aspiration in the former colonies and of benign good sense on the part of the colonial powers. Lurking beneath, as so often happens, was a strong current of economic interest – or in this case, disinterest."
In general, the release of the colonized caused little economic loss to the colonizers. Part of the reason for this was that major costs were eliminated while major benefits were obtained by alternate means. Decolonization allowed the colonizer to disclaim responsibility for the colonized. The colonizer no longer had the burden of obligation, financial or otherwise, to their colony. However, the colonizer continued to be able to obtain cheap goods and labor as well as economic benefits (see Suez Canal Crisis) from the former colonies. Financial, political and military pressure could still be used to achieve goals desired by the colonizer. Thus decolonization allowed the goals of colonization to be largely achieved, but without its burdens.
Assassinated anti-colonialist leaders
A non-exhaustive list of assassinated leaders would include:
Leader | Title | Assassin | Place of death | Date of death |
---|---|---|---|---|
Tiradentes | Colonial Brazilian revolutionary | Portuguese colonial admiministration | Rio de Janeiro, Portuguese Colony of Brazil | 21 April 1792 |
Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla | Leader of the Mexican War of Independence | Spanish colonial admiministration | Chihuahua, Nueva Vizcaya, Viceroyalty of New Spain | 30 July 1811 |
Ruben Um Nyobé[93][94] | Leader of the Union of the Peoples of Cameroon | French army | Nyong-et-Kellé French Cameroon | 13 September 1958 |
Barthélemy Boganda | Leader of the independence movement in the Central African Republic | Plane crash. Some believe that the crash was a deliberate and suspect that expatriate businessmen, possibly aided by the French secret service, were responsible. | Boda District, Central African Republic | 29 March 1959 |
Félix-Roland Moumié.[95] | Leader of the Cameroon's People Union | French secret police SDECE | Geneva, Switzerland | 3 November 1960 |
Patrice Lumumba | First Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo | Executed by the separatist Katangan authorities of Moïse Tshombe after being handed over by Joseph-Désiré Mobutu. | Élisabethville, Democratic Republic of the Congo | 17 January 1961 |
Louis Rwagasore | Burundi nationalist | Assassinated at the direction of leaders of a rival political party (PDC) with potential support from the Belgian Resident in Burundi. | Usumbura, Ruanda-Urundi | 13 October 1961 |
Pierre Ngendandumwe | Rwandan Tutsi refugee | Bujumbura, Burundi | 15 January 1965 | |
Sylvanus Olympio | First president of Togo | Assasinated during the 1963 Togolese coup d'état. | Lomé, Togo | 13 January 1963 |
Mehdi Ben Barka | Leader of the Moroccan National Union of Popular Forces (UNPF) | Moroccan secret service | Paris, France | 29 October 1965 |
Ahmadu Bello | First premier of Northern Nigeria | Killed during the 1966 Nigerian coup d'état. | Kaduna, Nigeria | 15 January 1966 |
Eduardo Mondlane | Leader of FRELIMO | Unknown. Possibly the Portuguese secret police (PIDE) | Dar es Salaam, Tanzania | 3 February 1969 |
Mohamed Bassiri | Leader of the Movement for the Liberation of Saguia el Hamra and Wadi el Dhahab | Spanish Legion | El Aaiun, Spanish Sahara | 18 June 1970 |
Amílcar Cabral | Leader of PAIGC | Portuguese secret police DGS/PIDE | Conakry, Guinea | 20 January 1973 |
Current colonies
The United Nations, under "Chapter XI: Declaration Regarding Non-Self Governing Territories" of the Charter of the United Nations, defines Non-Self Governing Nations (NSGSs) as "territories whose people have not yet attained a full measure of self-government"—the contemporary definition of colonialism.[96] After the conclusion of World War II with the surrender of the Axis Powers in 1945, and two decades into the latter half of the 20th century, over three dozen "states in Asia and Africa achieved autonomy or outright independence" from European administering powers.[97] As of 2020, 17 territories remain under Chapter XI distinction:[98]
United Nations NSGS list
Year Listed as NSGS | Administering Power | Territory |
---|---|---|
1946 | United Kingdom | Anguilla |
1946 | United Kingdom | Bermuda |
1946 | United Kingdom | British Virgin Islands |
1946 | United Kingdom | Cayman Islands |
1946 | United Kingdom | Falkland Islands |
1946 | United Kingdom | Montserrat |
1946 | United Kingdom | Saint Helena |
1946 | United Kingdom | Turks and Caicos Islands |
1946 | United Kingdom | Gibraltar |
1946 | United Kingdom | Pitcairn |
1946 | United States | American Samoa |
1946 | United States | United States Virgin Islands |
1946 | United States | Guam |
1946 | New Zealand | Tokelau |
1963 | Spain | Western Sahara |
1946–47, 1986 | France | New Caledonia |
1946–47, 2013 | France | French Polynesia |
"On 26 February 1976, Spain informed the Secretary-General that as of that date it had terminated its presence in the Territory of the Sahara and deemed it necessary to place on record that Spain considered itself thenceforth exempt from any responsibility of any international nature in connection with the administration of the Territory, in view of the cessation of its participation in the temporary administration established for the Territory. In 1990, the General Assembly reaffirmed that the question of Western Sahara was a question of decolonization which remained to be completed by the people of Western Sahara."[98]
On 10 December 2010, the United Nations published its official decree, announcing the Third International Decade for the Eradication of Colonialism wherein the United Nations declared its "renewal of the call to States Members of the United Nations to speed up the process of decolonization towards the complete elimination of colonialism".[99] According to an article by scholar John Quintero, "given the modern emphasis on the equality of states and inalienable nature of their sovereignty, many people do not realize that these non-self-governing structures still exist".[100] Some activists have claimed that the attention of the United Nations was "further diverted from the social and economic agenda [for decolonization] towards "firefighting and extinguishing" armed conflicts". Advocates have stressed that the United Nations "[remains] the last refuge of hope for peoples under the yolk [sic] of colonialism".[101] Furthermore, on 19 May 2015, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon addressed the attendants of the Caribbean Regional Seminar on Decolonization, urging international political leaders to "build on [the success of precedent decolonization efforts and] towards fully eradicating colonialism by 2020".[101]
The sovereignty of the Chagos Archipelago in the Indian Ocean is disputed between the United Kingdom and Mauritius. In February 2019, the International Court of Justice in The Hague ruled that the United Kingdom must transfer the islands to Mauritius as they were not legally separated from the latter in 1965.[102] On 22 May 2019, the United Nations General Assembly debated and adopted a resolution that affirmed that the Chagos Archipelago "forms an integral part of the territory of Mauritius".[103] The UK does not recognize Mauritius' sovereignty claim over the Chagos Archipelago.[104] In October 2020, Mauritian Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth described the British and American governments as "hypocrites" and "champions of double talk" over their response to the dispute.[105]
Settler colonies
Some authors contend that even in countries that have become politically independent from a former colonial power, indigenous peoples may still in effect be living under the impacts of colonization. In a 2023 paper on the political theory of settler colonialism, Canadian academics Yann Allard-Tremblay and Elaine Coburn posit that: "In Africa, the Middle East, South America, and much of the rest of the world, decolonization often meant the expulsion or departure of most colonial settlers. In contrast, in settler colonial states like New Zealand, Australia, Canada, and the United States, settlers have not left, even as independence from the metropole was gained... The systemic oppression and domination of the colonized by the colonizer is not historical — firmly in the past — but ongoing and supported by radically unequal political, social, economic, and legal institutions."[106]
Consequences of decolonization
A 2019 study found that "democracy levels increased sharply as colonies gained internal autonomy in the period immediately before their independence. However, conflict, revenue growth, and economic growth did not systematically differ before and after independence."[107]
According to political theorist Kevin Duong, decolonization "may have been the century's greatest act of disenfranchisement", as numerous anti-colonial activists primarily pursued universal suffrage within empires rather than independence: "As dependent territories became nation-states, they lost their voice in metropolitan assemblies whose affairs affected them long after independence."[108]
David Strang writes that the loss of their empires turned France and Britain into "second-rate powers".[109]
See also
- Anti-imperialism
- Blue water thesis
- Coloniality of power
- Colonial mentality
- Creole nationalism
- Decoloniality
- Decolonization of the Americas
- Decolonization of public space
- Dependency theory
- Exploitation colonialism
- Indigenism
- Neocolonialism
- Organisation internationale de la Francophonie
- Postcolonialism
- Repatriation (cultural heritage)
- Repatriation and reburial of human remains
- Revanchism
- Subaltern (postcolonialism)
- Indigenous survival during colonization
- Timeline of national independence
- United Nations list of non-self-governing territories
- Wars of independence
Notes
References
- ^ Note however discussion of (for example) the Russian and Nazi empires below.
- ^ Hack, Karl (2008). International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences. Detroit: Macmillan Reference. pp. 255–257. ISBN 978-0028659657.
- ^ John Lynch, ed. Latin American Revolutions, 1808–1826: Old and New World Origins (1995).
- ^ a b Betts, Raymond F. (2012). "Decolonization a brief history of the word". Beyond Empire and Nation. Brill. pp. 23–37. doi:10.1163/9789004260443_004. ISBN 978-90-04-26044-3. JSTOR 10.1163/j.ctt1w8h2zm.5.
- ^ Corntassel, Jeff (8 September 2012). "Re-envisioning resurgence: Indigenous pathways to decolonization and sustainable self-determination". Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education & Society. 1 (1). ISSN 1929-8692.
- ^ Táíwò, Olúfẹ́mi (2022). Against decolonisation: taking African agency seriously. African arguments. London: Hurst & Company. ISBN 978-1-78738-692-1.[page needed]
- ^ Kurzwelly, Jonatan; Wilckens, Malin S (2023). "Calcified identities: Persisting essentialism in academic collections of human remains". Anthropological Theory. 23 (1): 100–122. doi:10.1177/14634996221133872. S2CID 254352277.
- ^ Naicker, Veeran (2023). "The problem of epistemological critique in contemporary Decolonial theory". Social Dynamics. 49 (2): 220–241. doi:10.1080/02533952.2023.2226497. S2CID 259828705.
- ^ "Residual Colonialism In The 21St Century". United Nations University. Archived from the original on 17 July 2021. Retrieved 18 October 2019.
The decolonization agenda championed by the United Nations is not based exclusively on independence. There are three other ways in which an NSGT can exercise self-determination and reach a full measure of self-government (all of them equally legitimate): integration within the administering power, free association with the administering power, or some other mutually agreed upon option for self-rule. [...] It is the exercise of the human right of self-determination, rather than independence per se, that the United Nations has continued to push for.
- ^ Getachew, Adom (2019). Worldmaking after Empire: The Rise and Fall of Self-Determination. Princeton University Press. pp. 14, 73–74. doi:10.2307/j.ctv3znwvg. ISBN 978-0-691-17915-5. JSTOR j.ctv3znwvg.
- ^ Adopted by General Assembly resolution 1514 (XV) (14 December 1960). "Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples". The United Nations and Decolonisation.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ Roy, Audrey Jane (2001). Sovereignty and Decolonization: Realizing Indigenous Self-Determinationn at the United Nations and in Canada (Thesis). University of Victoria. Retrieved 19 October 2019.
- ^ Ortiz, Roxanne Dunbar (1984). Indians of the Americas : human rights and self determination. Internet Archive. New York : Praeger Publishers, Inc. p. 278. ISBN 978-0-03-000917-4.
- ^ Shrinkhal, Rashwet (March 2021). ""Indigenous sovereignty" and right to self-determination in international law: a critical appraisal". AlterNative: An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples. 17 (1): 71–82. doi:10.1177/1177180121994681. ISSN 1177-1801. S2CID 232264306.
For them, indigenous sovereignty is linked with identity and right to self determination. Self determination should be understood as power of peoples to control their own destiny. Therefore for indigenous peoples, right to self determination is instrumental in the protection of their human rights and struggle for self-governance.
- ^ Allard-Tremblay, Yann; Coburn, Elaine (May 2023). "The Flying Heads of Settler Colonialism; or the Ideological Erasures of Indigenous Peoples in Political Theorizing". Political Studies. 71 (2): 359–378. doi:10.1177/00323217211018127. ISSN 0032-3217. S2CID 236234578.
- ^ Lebow, Richard Ned; Kelly, Robert (2001). "Thucydides and Hegemony: Athens and the United States". Review of International Studies. 27 (4): 593–609. doi:10.1017/S0260210501005939. ISSN 0260-2105. JSTOR 20097762.
- ^ Strayer, Robert W. (2001). "Decolonization, Democratization, and Communist Reform: The Soviet Collapse in Comparative Perspective". Journal of World History. 12 (2): 375–406. doi:10.1353/jwh.2001.0042. S2CID 154594627.
- ^ Prasad, Pushkala (2005). Crafting Qualitative Research: Working in the Postpositivist Traditions. London: Routledge. ISBN 978-1-317-47369-5. OCLC 904046323.[page needed]
- ^ Sabrin, Mohammed (2013). "Exploring the intellectual foundations of Egyptian national education" (PDF). hdl:10724/28885.
- ^ Mignolo, Walter D. (2011). The Darker Side of Western Modernity: Global Futures, Decolonial Options. Durham: Duke University Press. ISBN 978-0-8223-5060-6. OCLC 700406652.[page needed]
- ^ "Decoloniality". Global Security Theory. Retrieved 15 October 2019.
- ^ Hodgkinson, Dan; Melchiorre, Luke (18 February 2019). "Africa's student movements: history sheds light on modern activism". The Conversation. Retrieved 15 October 2019.
- ^ a b Strang, David (December 1991). "Global Patterns of Decolonization, 1500-1987". International Studies Quarterly. 35 (4): 429–454. doi:10.2307/2600949. JSTOR 2600949.
- ^ Strang, David (1990). "From Dependency to Sovereignty: An Event History Analysis of Decolonization 1870–1987". American Sociological Review. 55 (6): 846–860. doi:10.2307/2095750. JSTOR 2095750.
- ^ Strang, David (1991). "Global Patterns of Decolonization, 1500–1987". International Studies Quarterly. 35 (4): 429–454. doi:10.2307/2600949. JSTOR 2600949.
- ^ Boswell, Terry (1989). "Colonial Empires and the Capitalist World-Economy: A Time Series Analysis of Colonization, 1640–1960". American Sociological Review. 54 (2): 180–196. doi:10.2307/2095789. JSTOR 2095789.
- ^ Gartzke, Erik; Rohner, Dominic (2011). "The Political Economy of Imperialism, Decolonization and Development" (PDF). British Journal of Political Science. 41 (3): 525–556. doi:10.1017/S0007123410000232. JSTOR 41241795. S2CID 231796247.
- ^ Spruyt, Hendrik (2018). Ending Empire: Contested Sovereignty and Territorial Partition. Cornell University Press. ISBN 978-1-5017-1787-1.[page needed]
- ^ a b MacDonald, Paul K. (April 2013). "'Retribution Must Succeed Rebellion': The Colonial Origins of Counterinsurgency Failure". International Organization. 67 (2): 253–286. doi:10.1017/S0020818313000027. S2CID 154683722.
- ^ Kelly, John D.; Kaplan, Martha (2001). "Nation and decolonization: Toward a new anthropology of nationalism". Anthropological Theory. 1 (4): 419–437. doi:10.1177/14634990122228818. S2CID 143978771.
- ^ Clement, Vincent (2019). "Beyond the sham of the emancipatory Enlightenment: Rethinking the relationship of Indigenous epistemologies, knowledges, and geography through decolonizing paths". Progress in Human Geography. 43 (2): 276–294. doi:10.1177/0309132517747315. S2CID 148760397.
- ^ Robert R. Palmer, The age of the Democratic Revolution: a political history of Europe and America, 1760–1800 (1965)[page needed]
- ^ Richard B. Morris, The emerging nations and the American Revolution (1970).[page needed]
- ^ Bousquet, Nicole (1988). "The Decolonization of Spanish America in the Early Nineteenth Century: A World-Systems Approach". Review. 11 (4). Fernand Braudel Center: 497–531. JSTOR 40241109.
- ^ Verzijl, J. H. W. (1969). International Law in Historical Perspective. Vol. II. Leyden: A. W. Sijthoff. pp. 76–68.
- ^ "Canada and the League of Nations". The Canadian Encyclopedia.
- ^ Hunt, Lynn; Martin, Thomas R.; Rosenwein, Barbara H.; Hsia, R. Po-chia; Smith, Bonnie G. (2008). The Making of the West Peoples and Cultures. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's.
- ^ On the nonviolent methodology see Masselos, Jim (1985). "Audiences, actors and congress dramas: Crowd events in Bombay city in 1930". South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies. 8 (1–2): 71–86. doi:10.1080/00856408508723067.
- ^ Papadakis, Yiannis (2008). "Narrative, Memory and History Education in Divided Cyprus: A Comparison of Schoolbooks on the 'History of Cyprus'". History and Memory. 20 (2): 128–148. doi:10.2979/his.2008.20.2.128. JSTOR 10.2979/his.2008.20.2.128. S2CID 159912409.
- ^ Laqueur, Walter; Schueftan, Dan (2016). The Israel-Arab Reader: A Documentary History of the Middle East Conflict: 8th edition. Penguin. ISBN 978-1-101-99241-8.
- ^ Heuman, J. (2023). The silent disappearance of Jews from Algeria: French anti-racism in the face of antisemitism in Algeria during the decolonization. Journal of Modern Jewish Studies, 22(2), 149-168.
- ^ Randrianja, Solofo (22 November 2022), "Colonialism, Nationalism, and Decolonization in Madagascar", Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Asian History, doi:10.1093/acrefore/9780190277727.013.675, ISBN 978-0-19-027772-7, retrieved 30 November 2024
- ^ Thomas A, Bailey, A diplomatic history of the American people (1969) online free
- ^ Wong, Kwok Chu (1982). "The Jones Bills 1912–16: A Reappraisal of Filipino Views on Independence". Journal of Southeast Asian Studies. 13 (2): 252–269. doi:10.1017/S0022463400008687. S2CID 162468431.
- ^ Levinson, Sanford; Sparrow, Bartholomew H. (2005). The Louisiana Purchase and American Expansion: 1803–1898. New York: Rowman and Littlefield. pp. 166, 178. ISBN 978-0-7425-4983-8.
U.S. citizenship was extended to residents of Puerto Rico by virtue of the Jones Act, chap. 190, 39 Stat. 951 (1971) (codified at 48 U.S.C. § 731 (1987))
- ^ "Decolonization Committee Calls on United States to Expedite Process for Puerto Rich Self-determination". Welcome to the United Nations. 9 June 2003. Retrieved 17 January 2021.
The United States had used its exempt status from the transmission of information under Article 73 e of the United Nations Charter as a loophole to commit human rights violations in Puerto Rico and its territories.
- ^ Torres, Kelly M. (2017). "Puerto Rico, the 51st state: The implications of statehood on culture and language". Canadian Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Studies. 42 (2): 165–180. doi:10.1080/08263663.2017.1323615. S2CID 157682270.
- ^ "Remember role in ending fascist war". chinadaily.com.cn. Retrieved 25 February 2016.
- ^ H. W. Brands, Bound to Empire: The United States and the Philippines (1992) pp. 138–60. online free
- ^ John P. Cann, Counterinsurgency in Africa: The Portuguese Way of War 1961–74 Solihull, UK (Helion Studies in Military History, No. 12), 2012.
- ^ Norrie MacQueen, The Decolonisation of Portuguese Africa: Metropolitan Revolution and the Dissolution of Empire
- ^ Henri Grimal, Decolonisation: The British, French, Dutch and Belgian Empires, 1919–63 (1978).
- ^ Frances Gouda (2002). American Visions of the Netherlands East Indies/Indonesia: US Foreign Policy and Indonesian Nationalism, 1920–1949. Amsterdam UP. p. 36. ISBN 978-90-5356-479-0.
- ^ Baudet, Henri (1969). "The Netherlands after the Loss of Empire". Journal of Contemporary History. 4 (1): 127–139. doi:10.1177/002200946900400109. JSTOR 259796. S2CID 159531822.
- ^ Nehru, Jawaharlal (2004). Jawaharlal Nehru.: an autobiography. Penguin Books. ISBN 9780143031048. OCLC 909343858.
- ^ "Non-Aligned Movement | Definition, Mission, & Facts". Encyclopedia Britannica. Archived from the original on 27 February 2021. Retrieved 10 July 2020.
- ^ Mukherjee, Mithi (2010). "'A World of Illusion': The Legacy of Empire in India's Foreign Relations, 1947-62". The International History Review. 32: 2 (2): 253–271. doi:10.1080/07075332.2010.489753. JSTOR 25703954. S2CID 155062058.
- ^ Jung Chang and John Halliday, Mao: The Unknown Story, pp. 603–604, 2007 edition, Vintage Books
- ^ Bogetić, Dragan (2017). "Sukob Titovog koncepta univerzalizma i Sukarnovog koncepta regionalizma na Samitu nesvrstanih u Kairu 1964" [The Conflict Between Tito’s Concept of Universalism and Sukarno’s Concept of Regionalism in the 1964 Summit of Non-Aligned Countries in Cairo]. Istorija 20. Veka. 35 (2). Institute for Contemporary History, Belgrade: 101–118. doi:10.29362/IST20VEKA.2017.2.BOG.101-118. S2CID 189123378.
- ^ "Belgrade declaration of non-aligned countries" (PDF). Egyptian presidency website. 6 September 1961. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 October 2011. Retrieved 23 April 2011.
- ^ Laszlo, Ervin; Baker, Robert Jr.; Eisenberg, Elliott; Raman, Venkata (1978). The Objectives of the New International Economic Order. New York, NY: Pergamon Press.
- ^ Mazower, Mark (2012). Governing the World: The History of an Idea. New York City: Penguin Press. p. 310. ISBN 9780143123941.
- ^ Mahiou, Ahmed (1 May 1974). "Introductory Note, Declaration of the Establishment of a New International Economic Order". UN Audiovisual Library of International Law. Retrieved 17 December 2020.
- ^ John Hatch, Africa: The Rebirth of Self-Rule (1967)
- ^ William Roger Louis, The transfer of power in Africa: decolonisation, 1940–1960 (Yale UP, 1982).
- ^ John D. Hargreaves, Decolonisation in Africa (2014).
- ^ for the viewpoint from London and Paris see Rudolf von Albertini, Decolonisation: the Administration and Future of the Colonies, 1919–1960 (Doubleday, 1971).
- ^ Faulconbridge, Guy; Ellsworth, Brian (30 November 2021). "Barbados ditches Britain's Queen Elizabeth to become a republic". Reuters.
- ^ Baylis, J. & Smith S. (2001). The Globalisation of World Politics: An introduction to international relations.
- ^ David Parker, ed. (2002). Revolutions and the Revolutionary Tradition: In the West 1560–1991. Routledge. pp. 202–3. ISBN 978-1-134-69058-9.
- ^ Kirch, Aksel; Kirch, Marika; Tuisk, Tarmo (1993). "Russians in the Baltic States: To be or Not to Be?". Journal of Baltic Studies. 24 (2): 173–188. doi:10.1080/01629779300000051. JSTOR 43211802.
- ^ "Geographical names associated with Russia have been banned in Ukraine". Lb.ua (in Ukrainian). 22 March 2023. Retrieved 22 March 2023.
- ^ "Що таке деколонізація, чому вона важлива і як буде здійснюватися згідно з законом?" (in Ukrainian). 22 March 2023. Retrieved 23 January 2024.
- ^ Prince, Todd (1 January 2023). "Moscow's Invasion Of Ukraine Triggers 'Soul-Searching' At Western Universities As Scholars Rethink Russian Studies". Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Retrieved 24 April 2023.
- ^ Smith-Peter, Susan (14 December 2022). "How the Field was Colonized: Russian History's Ukrainian Blind Spot". H-Net. Retrieved 24 April 2023.
- ^ Administration (2 November 2012). "PhD". ccrs.ku.dk. Retrieved 24 April 2023.
- ^ "BASEES Annual Conference 2022". www.myeventflo.com. Retrieved 24 April 2023.
- ^ "Aleksanteri Conference takes a stand for Ukraine | Aleksanteri Institute | University of Helsinki". www.helsinki.fi. 6 October 2022. Retrieved 24 April 2023.
- ^ a b Glassner, Martin Ira (1980). Systematic Political Geography 2nd Edition. John Wiley & Sons, New York.
- ^ Karl Wolfgang Deutsch, William J. Folt, eds, Nation Building in Comparative Contexts, New York, Atherton, 1966.[page needed]
- ^ Mylonas, Harris (2017). "Nation-Building". International Relations. doi:10.1093/obo/9780199743292-0217. ISBN 978-0-19-974329-2.
- ^ Kamusella, Tomasz (1 December 2020). "Global Language Politics: Eurasia versus the Rest". Journal of Nationalism, Memory & Language Politics. 14 (2): 117–151. doi:10.2478/jnmlp-2020-0008. hdl:10023/21315. S2CID 230283299.
- ^ Phillipson, Robert (1992). Linguistic Imperialism. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-437146-9. OCLC 30978070. p. 46-47.
- ^ Agyekum, Kofi (23 May 2018). "Linguistic imperialism and language decolonisation in Africa through documentation and preservation". African Linguistics on the Prairie: 87–88. doi:10.5281/zenodo.1251718.
- ^ Veracini, Lorenzo (2007). "Settler colonialism and decolonisation". Faculty of Law, Humanities and the Arts - Papers (Archive).
- ^ Sharma, Nandita. "Migrants and indigeneity: Nationalism, nativism and the politics of place." Routledge International Handbook of Migration Studies. Routledge, 2019. 246-257.
- ^ Cook, Bernard A. (2001). Europe since 1945: an encyclopedia. New York: Garland. pp. 398. ISBN 978-0-8153-4057-7.
- ^ "Pieds-noirs": ceux qui ont choisi de rester, La Dépêche du Midi, March 2012
- ^ Cybriwsky, Roman Adrian. Capital Cities around the World: An Encyclopedia of Geography, History, and Culture. ABC-CLIO, LLC 2013. ISBN 978-1610692472 pp. 54–275.
- ^ "Origins: History of immigration from Zimbabwe – Immigration Museum, Melbourne Australia". Museumvictoria.com.au. Archived from the original on 2 February 2013. Retrieved 30 April 2016.
- ^ Lacey, Marc (17 August 2003). "Once Outcasts, Asians Again Drive Uganda's Economy". New York Times. New York City. Retrieved 14 March 2016.
- ^ a b Kato, M. T. (2012). From Kung Fu to Hip Hop: Globalization, Revolution, and Popular Culture. State University of New York Press. ISBN 978-0-7914-8063-2.[page needed]
- ^ Gabriel Périès and David Servenay, Une guerre noire: Enquête sur les origines du génocide rwandais (1959-1994) (A Black War: Investigation into the origins of the Rwandan genocide (1959-1994)), Éditions La Découverte, 2007, p. 88. (Another account claims, without supporting citation, that Nyobe "was killed in a plane crash on September 13, 1958. No clear cause has ever been ascertained for the mysterious crash. Assassination has been alleged with the French SDECE being blamed.")
- ^ "Power of the dead and language of the living: The Wanderings of Nationalist Memory in Cameroon", African Policy (June 1986), pp. 37-72
- ^ Jacques Foccart, counsellor to Charles de Gaulle, Georges Pompidou and Jacques Chirac for African matters, recognized it in 1995 to Jeune Afrique review. See also Foccart parle, interviews with Philippe Gaillard, Fayard – Jeune Afrique (in French) and also "The man who ran Francafrique – French politician Jacques Foccart's role in France's colonization of Africa under the leadership of Charles de Gaulle – Obituary" in The National Interest, Fall 1997
- ^ "Chapter XI". www.un.org. 17 June 2015. Retrieved 14 June 2020.
- ^ "Milestones: 1945–1952 – Office of the Historian". history.state.gov. Retrieved 14 June 2020.
- ^ a b "Non-Self-Governing Territories | The United Nations and Decolonization". www.un.org. Retrieved 14 June 2020.
- ^ "Third International Decade for the Eradication of Colonialism". www.un.org. Retrieved 14 June 2020.
- ^ "Residual Colonialism In The 21St Century". unu.edu. United Nations University. Archived from the original on 17 July 2021. Retrieved 14 June 2020.
- ^ a b "United Nations Should Eradicate Colonialism by 2020, Urges Secretary-General in Message to Caribbean Regional Decolonization Seminar | Meetings Coverage and Press Releases". www.un.org. Retrieved 14 June 2020.
- ^ "Chagos Islands dispute: UK obliged to end control – UN". BBC News. 25 February 2019.
- ^ Sands, Philippe (24 May 2019). "At last, the Chagossians have a real chance of going back home". The Guardian.
Britain's behaviour towards its former colony has been shameful. The UN resolution changes everything
- ^ "Chagos Islands dispute: UK misses deadline to return control". BBC News. 22 November 2019.
- ^ "Chagos Islands dispute: Mauritius calls US and UK 'hypocrites'". BBC News. 19 October 2020.
- ^ Allard-Tremblay, Yann; Coburn, Elaine (2023). "The Flying Heads of Settler Colonialism; or the Ideological Erasures of Indigenous Peoples in Political Theorizing". Political Studies. 71 (2): 359–378. doi:10.1177/00323217211018127. S2CID 236234578.
- ^ Lee, Alexander; Paine, Jack (2019). "What Were the Consequences of Decolonization?". International Studies Quarterly. 63 (2): 406–416. doi:10.1093/isq/sqy064.
- ^ Duong, Kevin (May 2021). "Universal Suffrage as Decolonization". American Political Science Review. 115 (2): 412–428. doi:10.1017/S0003055420000994. S2CID 232422414.
- ^ Strang, David (1994). "British and French political institutions and the patterning of decolonization". The Comparative Political Economy of the Welfare State. pp. 278–296. doi:10.1017/CBO9781139174053.012. ISBN 978-0-521-43473-7.
Further reading
- Bailey, Thomas A. A diplomatic history of the American people (1969) online free
- Betts, Raymond F. Decolonisation (2nd ed. 2004)
- Betts, Raymond F. France and Decolonisation, 1900–1960 (1991)
- Butler, L.; Stockwell, S. (2013). The Wind of Change: Harold Macmillan and British Decolonization. Springer. ISBN 978-1-137-31800-8.
- Chafer, Tony. The end of empire in French West Africa: France's successful decolonisation (Bloomsbury, 2002).[ISBN missing]
- Chamberlain, Muriel E. ed. Longman Companion to European Decolonisation in the Twentieth Century (Routledge, 2014)
- Clayton, Anthony. The wars of French decolonisation (Routledge, 2014).
- Cooper, Frederick (2014). "French Africa, 1947–48: Reform, Violence, and Uncertainty in a Colonial Situation". Critical Inquiry. 40 (4): 466–478. doi:10.1086/676416. JSTOR 10.1086/676416. S2CID 162291339.
- Darwin, John. "Decolonisation and the End of Empire" in Robin W. Winks, ed., The Oxford History of the British Empire – Vol. 5: Historiography (1999) 5: 541–557.
- Gerits, Frank. The Ideological Scramble for Africa: How the Pursuit of Anticolonial Modernity Shaped a Postcolonial Order (1945–1966) (Cornell University Press, 2023). ISBN13: 9781501767913. Major scholarly coverage of British, French and Portuguese colonies. see online reviews and reply by author
- Grimal, Henri. Decolonisation: The British, Dutch, and Belgian Empires, 1919–1963 (1978).
- Hyam, Ronald (2007). Britain's Declining Empire: The Road to Decolonisation, 1918–1968. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-316-02565-9.
- Ikeda, Ryo. The Imperialism of French Decolonisation: French Policy and the Anglo-American Response in Tunisia and Morocco (Palgrave Macmillan, 2015)
- Jansen, Jan C. & Jürgen Osterhammel. Decolonisation: A Short History (Princeton UP, 2017). online
- Jones, Max, et al. "Decolonising imperial heroes: Britain and France." Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History 42#5 (2014): 787–825.
- Klose, Fabian (2014), Decolonization and Revolution, EGO – European History Online, Mainz: Institute of European History, retrieved: March 17, 2021 (pdf).
- Lawrence, Adria K. Imperial Rule and the Politics of Nationalism: Anti-Colonial Protest in the French Empire (Cambridge UP, 2013) online reviews
- McDougall, James (December 2017). "The Impossible Republic: The Reconquest of Algeria and the Decolonization of France, 1945–1962". The Journal of Modern History. 89 (4): 772–811. doi:10.1086/694427. S2CID 148602270.
- MacQueen, Norrie. The Decolonisation of Portuguese Africa: Metropolitan Revolution and the Dissolution of Empire (1997).
- Milford, Ismay. African Activists in a Decolonising World: The Making of an Anticolonial Culture, 1952–1966 (Cambridge University Press, 2023) online reviews of this book
- Monroe, Elizabeth. Britain's Moment in the Middle East, 1914–1956 (1963)
- O'Sullivan, Christopher. FDR and the End of Empire: The Origins of American Power in the Middle East (2012).
- Rothermund, Dietmar. The Routledge companion to decolonisation (Routledge, 2006), comprehensive global coverage; 365pp
- Rothermund, Dietmar (2015). Memories of Post-Imperial Nations. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-107-10229-3. Compares the impact on Great Britain, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Portugal, Italy and Japan
- Shepard, Todd. The Invention of Decolonisation: The Algerian War and the Remaking of France (2006)
- Simpson, Alfred William Brian. Human Rights and the End of Empire: Britain and the Genesis of the European Convention (Oxford University Press, 2004).
- Smith, Simon C. Ending empire in the Middle East: Britain, the United States and post-war decolonisation, 1945–1973 (Routledge, 2013)
- Smith, Tony (January 1978). "A Comparative Study of French and British Decolonization". Comparative Studies in Society and History. 20 (1): 70–102. doi:10.1017/S0010417500008835. S2CID 145080475.
- Smith, Tony (1974). "The French Colonial Consensus and People's War, 1946-58". Journal of Contemporary History. 9 (4): 217–247. doi:10.1177/002200947400900410. JSTOR 260298. S2CID 159883569.
- Strayer, Robert. "Decolonisation, Democratisation, and Communist Reform: The Soviet Collapse in Comparative Perspective," Journal of World History 12#2 (2001), 375–406. online Archived 2015-02-24 at the Wayback Machine
- Thomas, Martin, Bob Moore, and Lawrence J. Butler. Crises of Empire: Decolonisation and Europe's imperial states (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2015)
- White, Nicholas (2013). Decolonisation: The British Experience since 1945. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-317-88789-8.
External links
- Media related to Decolonization at Wikimedia Commons
- Quotations related to Decolonization at Wikiquote
- Works related to United Nations General Assembly Resolution 66 at Wikisource
- Works related to United Nations Trusteeship Agreements listed by the General Assembly as Non-Self-Governing at Wikisource
- Works related to United Nations General Assembly Resolution 1514 at Wikisource
- Works related to United Nations General Assembly Resolution 1541 at Wikisource
- James E. Kitchen: Colonial Empires after the First World War/Decolonisation, in: 1914–1918-online. International Encyclopedia of the First World War.