Decolonization

Decolonization technically refers to the breakup of empires, generally the European ones that took shape starting in the 16th century, and the formal independence of the former colonies. Just as colonialism began unevenly over the surface of the earth, so too did it end unevenly. World systems theorists argue that the opportunities for states on the global periphery to exert themselves against colonial powers are best when the core is in crisis. Thus, the Napoleonic Wars of the early 19th century afforded Latin America the opportunity to break away fairly early. Similarly, World Wars I and II proved to be the pivotal moments when Western control over much of Africa and Asia was finally broken.

The shift toward decolonization during the post– World War II era was complex. Often independence movements were composed of broad coalitions of nationalists, students, the intelligentsia, and peasants, frequently led by Western-educated intellectuals (e.g., Ho Chi Minh in Vietnam, Mohandas Gandhi in India). The cold war rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union afforded such movements a political space that allowed them to play the superpowers off against each other because both the United States and the Soviet Union were eager to appear different from older European colonial conquerors and friendly to the masses of the emerging states. Often the struggle for independence was violent, involving protracted guerrilla conflicts and wars (e.g., Malaysia, Vietnam, Algeria). The relatively peaceful independence movement in India was the exception, although the division of South Asia into India and Pakistan involved extensive civil strife and the deaths of millions.

Independence movements gradually succeeded throughout the late 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, leading[Page 89] to a proliferation of newly independent countries (from roughly 50 in 1945 to approximately 200 today in the United Nations). Major milestones in this process include India and Pakistan in 1947, Indonesia in 1949, and Angola and Mozambique in 1975. Virtually all parts of the globe have been decolonized, with a few small exceptions (e.g., French Guiana, Martinique, Gibraltar, Puerto Rico).

Decolonization involved political, economic, and ideological changes. Politically, this shift brought with it a new administrative and legal apparatus in the former colony, typically modeled after the colonial one. Indeed, often the very same people who served the foreign colonial power became leaders in the newly independent one. Ideologically, decolonization opened the door to challenges to long-standing racist notions of white inferiority (e.g., Ghana's Kwame Nkrumah), allowing a variety of experimental social projects (e.g., Tanzania's ujamaa [or African socialism]).

Although formal political independence inevitably brought with it the trappings of a new society—a new flag, currency, national airline, and so on—many observers question whether or not decolonization ended as simply as it appeared to end. Indeed, to dependency and world systems theorists, it is no accident that the former European colonies are inevitably part of the so-called Third World—the vast and diverse set of societies that encompass the bulk of the world's people but relatively little of its wealth. Despite ostensible political independence, such societies were often woefully unprepared for independence economically and remained heavily dependent on their former colonial powers for capital, trade assistance, and foreign aid, leading to widespread fears of neocolonialism, generally via multinational corporations. The dominant role of the United States as the world's leading neocolonial power, in both economic and military terms, made the contrast between nominal political independence and substantive economic independence all the more apparent. Most former colonies have inadequate infrastructure and human capital, with economies centered on raw materials (e.g., foodstuffs, mineral ores). Despite whatever measure is used—gross domestic product per capita, energy consumption, access to health or education services, and so on—former colonies almost always lag behind the industrialized world (although some, such as Singapore, rival it, and the newly industrializing countries have made rapid progress).

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