The End of Empire and the Rise of the Global South
The Global Significance and Framework of Decolonization
**Definition and Scope: ** The process known as decolonization or the struggle for independence marked a fundamental shift in the world's political architecture during the twentieth century. It involved the triumph of nation-states over the empires that had dominated political life in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
**Nelson Mandela as a Symbol: ** Nelson Mandela, the nationalist leader of South Africa, serves as a primary example of this struggle. At his trial for treason, sabotage, and conspiracy to overthrow the apartheid government, he declared his dedication to a free and democratic society, stating he was prepared to die for this ideal.
**Imprisonment: ** Mandela spent years in prison, often performing hard labor in a stone quarry. His conditions were severe: he slept on the floor, used a bucket for a toilet, and for years was limited to one -minute visitor per year and one letter every months.
**Political Ascent: ** Released in under domestic and international pressure, he became South Africa's first black African president following the election, which allowed citizens of all races to vote.
**Mobilization and Legitimacy: ** Decolonization mobilized millions of people, occasionally leading to violence and warfare. It signaled the declining legitimacy of empire and race as credible bases for political or social organization.
**Challenges of New Nations: ** Newly independent nations faced immense hurdles, including:
Legacies of empire and deep internal divisions (language, ethnicity, religion, class).
Rapidly growing populations.
Competing demands from the capitalist West and communist East during the Cold War.
The task of building modern economies and stable politics within a world dominated by wealthy, industrialized nations.
The Chronology and Explanation of Imperial Dissolution
**Waves of Independence: **
**Late s: ** Breakthroughs in Asia and the Middle East, including the Philippines, India, Pakistan, Burma, Indonesia, Syria, Iraq, Jordan, and Israel.
**Mid-s to Mid-s: ** The "age of African independence," during which more than colonies achieved freedom.
**Histographic Comparison: ** Twentieth-century decolonization was unique compared to earlier collapses (Assyrian, Roman, Mongol) because it was associated with the mobilization of the masses around a nationalist ideology and generated a plethora of nation-states claiming international equality.
**Contrast with the Americas: ** Unlike the eighteenth and nineteenth-century decolonization in the Americas, where colonized people were often of European origin, the African and Asian struggles affirmed the vitality of indigenous cultures that had been denigrated under colonial rule.
**The Idea of National Self-Determination: ** This concept posits that humankind is naturally divided into distinct peoples or nations, each deserving an independent state. This idea gained global following and rendered empire illegitimate.
**Factors of "Conjuncture": ** Historians use the term "conjuncture" to explain the timing of decolonization, referring to the coming together of several developments:
**International Level: ** World wars weakened Europe and discredited its claim to moral superiority. The United States and the Soviet Union generally opposed older European empires. The United Nations provided a platform for anticolonial agitation.
**Social Level: ** A second or third generation of Western-educated elites (mostly male) arose. They were aware of the gap between European values and practices and no longer viewed colonial rule as a vehicle for progress.
**Grassroots Pressure: ** Veterans of world wars, urban workers, female traders, and rural dwellers who lost land all saw promise in independence.
The Case of India: Ending British Rule
**Cultural Identity: ** Prior to the twentieth century, South Asian identity was local (caste, village, language). British rule inadvertently promoted an "Indian" identity through railroads, telegraphs, postal services, and the English language, alongside the fact that the British never assimilated into Indian society.
**Indian National Congress (INC): ** Established in , this association of English-educated Indians (lawyers, teachers, journalists) initially sought greater inclusion in British India rather than an overthrow of the regime.
**Post-World War I Context: ** British promises of self-government in , attacks on the Ottoman Empire, and a massive influenza epidemic created the environment for Mohandas Gandhi's rise.
**Mohandas Gandhi (–): ** Born in Gujarat to a Vaisya (business) family, he studied law in England. His experience with racism in South Africa led him to develop his political philosophy.
**Satyagraha (Truth Force): ** A nonviolent, confrontational approach to political action involving "conscious suffering" rather than submission.
**The Mahatma (Great Soul): ** Gandhi's simple lifestyle and support for Muslims transformed the INC into a mass organization. He opposed modern industrialization, favoring self-sufficient villages based on morality.
**Role of Women: ** Gandhi mobilized women, viewing them as uniquely suited for nonviolent protest due to their capacity for endurance, though he still maintained traditional views on motherhood and domesticity.
**Internal Divisions: **
Jawaharlal Nehru embraced science and industry, contrary to Gandhi.
Militant Hindu organizations viewed India as an exclusively Hindu nation.
**The Muslim League: ** Established in . Leader Muhammad Ali Jinnah argued that Muslims and Hindus belonged to two different civilizations and demanded a separate state: Pakistan ("Land of the Pure").
**Partition (): ** Colonial India was divided into Muslim Pakistan and mostly Hindu India. The process was violent; or more people died, and refugees moved across borders.
The Case of South Africa: Ending Apartheid
**Internal Colonialism: ** Unlike India, South Africa's struggle was against a white settler minority that had controlled the government since independence from Britain in . This minority (less than ) included British descendants and Afrikaners (Boers).
**Economic Context: ** South Africa had a mature industrial economy based on gold, diamonds, steel, and manufacturing. Black Africans were essential labor but were denied political rights.
**Apartheid (): ** An official policy to separate blacks and whites while maintaining black labor. Measures included "pass laws" to control movement and the creation of "Bantustans" (impoverished ethnic homelands).
**African National Congress (ANC): ** Established in . Following the rise of the Afrikaner-led National Party in , younger leaders like Nelson Mandela moved toward nonviolent civil disobedience.
**Shift to Armed Struggle: ** Following the shooting of unarmed demonstrators at Sharpeville in , the ANC was banned, and leaders turned to sabotage and guerrilla warfare.
**Black Consciousness Movement: ** A student-led effort to foster pride and political awareness, culminating in the Soweto uprising where hundreds were killed.
**International Pressure: ** South Africa faced sporting boycotts, economic sanctions, and withdrawal of investment, isolating the white regime.
**Transition (): ** Internal protest and external pressure led to negotiations, the legalization of the ANC, and the release of Mandela, ending apartheid without a racial bloodbath.
Experiments in Political Order and Economic Development
**The Diversity of Political Systems: ** The "Global South" or "Third World" experimented with various orders: communist control (China, Cuba), multi-party democracy (India), military regimes (much of Africa and Latin America), and personal dictatorships (Uganda).
**Democracy in India: ** Remained stable due to a prolonged independence struggle, gradual power handover by the British, and a single dominant party (INC) that incorporated various interests.
**Military Rule in Africa: ** Economic disappointment and ethnic conflict (e.g., Nigerian civil war, Rwandan genocide) led to military takeovers in at least of Africa's independent states by the s.
**Military Rule in Latin America: ** Chronic inflation and class conflict led to coups (often US-backed) to contain radicalism, such as the Cuban Revolution ().
**Case Study: Chile: ** Salvador Allende (Marxist) was elected in and launched socialist reforms. He was overthrown in a CIA-backed coup by General Augusto Pinochet, whose regime was highly repressive but saw annual economic growth in the late s.
**Global Democracy Revival (s): ** Authoritarian regimes gave way to democratic movements in Latin America, Africa, and Asia (South Korea, Philippines, etc.), fueled by the failure of authoritarianism and the growth of civil society.
**Economic Paradigms: **
**Role of the State: ** Initially, state-directed industrialization was favored (e.g., China, Cuba). Since the s, a shift toward market economies occurred (privatization in India, China, Latin America).
**Import Substitution Industrialization (ISI): ** Used by Latin American countries like Brazil (the "Brazilian miracle") to reduce dependence on the global market by manufacturing consumer goods locally.
**Export-Led Growth: ** Used by East Asian "Tigers" (South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore) focusing on products for the global market (textiles, electronics).
Cultural Experiments: Turkey and Iran
**Turkey (Mustafa Kemal Atatürk): ** After World War I, Atatürk sought to create a modern, secular state.
**Secularization: ** Abolished the caliphate (), closed religious schools, replaced sharia with European law codes, and replaced Arabic script with a Western alphabet.
**Social Reform: ** Ordered men to wear brimmed hats instead of the fez. Abolished polygamy and granted women the right to vote in .
**Iran (Ayatollah Khomeini): ** A movement against the secularizing Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi culminated in the Islamic Revolution.
**Islamization: ** The government became an Islamic Republic where clerics (Council of Guardians) exercised dominant power. Sharia became the basis of the legal system.
**Social Restrictions: ** The hijab became mandatory by . Sexual segregation was imposed in public spaces. The marriage age for girls was reduced to (later raised to or ).
Questions & Discussion
**Why is Abdul Khan generally unknown? ** He was a Muslim pacifist (the "Frontier Gandhi") who led the nonviolent "Servants of God" movement among Pathan people. His legacy was complicated by his opposition to the partition of India, which made his patriotism suspect in Pakistan.
**How did the experience of the "global south" register on world history? ** It signaled the end of territorial empires, challenged the global hierarchy of race, and created a laboratory for varying political and economic experiments that account for of world population growth in the twentieth century.
**Comparison of Independence Movements: ** Leaders faced obstacles in recruiting mass followings and managing fragile alliances of differing classes and ethnic groups. Tactics ranged from peaceful pressure to decades of guerrilla warfare (Vietnam).
**What international circumstances contributed to the end of empires? ** The weakening of Europe by world wars, the rise of the US and USSR as anti-colonial superpowers, and the platform for agitation provided by the United Nations.
**Development Challenges: ** Lack of literacy, minimal managerial experience, weak infrastructure oriented toward exports, and negotiations with powerful transnational corporations from the Global North.