GLST 201: Week 5 Colon & Decolon

Colonization

Political control of a territory for the purpose of economic exploitation for the benefit of colonizer

Imperialism

Extension or expansion of a nation's authority or rule over territories not currently under its control, usually by the use of military force

Metropole

Homeland, central territory, or the state exercising power over a colonial empire

Settler Colonialism

Large scale population movement where the migrants displace or marginalize an indigenous group

Encomienda

Spanish colonial system that rewarded conquerors land and the right to exploit the compulsory labor of indigenous Americans on that land

Potosi

Villa Imperial de Potosí in the colonial period, is the capital city and a municipality of the Department of Potosí in Bolivia

Casta System

Racial hierarchy constructed in the Spanish American empire based on measuring one's level of legal privileges according to one's degree of Spanish ancestor

Divide and Rule

Common strategy of colonial rulers to emphasize or create differences among populations of colonial subjects, granting particular groups certain privileges

Sphere of Influence

Spatial region or concept division over which a state or organization has a level of cultural, economic, military, or political exclusivity (United States & Latin American)

The Civilizing Mission

Characterization of imperialism and colonialism as a grand project of benevolence, development, and human improvement that justified imperialism as righteous (White Man's Burden)

Neo-Colonialism

Continuation of colonial institutions by a state over an otherwise nominally independent state through other means

Dependency Theory

Theory that core wealthy states are able to exert influence over peripheral poorer states through the extraction of resources and labor from poorer states, perpetuating patterns of colonial relations

Debt-Trap

Creditors extend debt to a borrowing state partially with the intention to increase political leverage

Conditionality

Practice of offering emergency or developmental loans on the condition of extracting economic and political policy changes

The Resource Curse

Paradoxical situation in which an economy underperforms despite possessing considerable wealth in natural resources

Brain Drain

Emigration of highly trained or educated people in a poor country to a wealthier country