Decolonization: Causes, Stages, and Impact After WWII
Concepts and Causes of Decolonization
Impact of the Second World War
The myth of European invincibility was definitively broken. The colonies had participated in the war and had also fought in their own territory. Guerrilla training and the inclusion of troops in the colonial armies were used militarily to lead numerous independence processes. The European powers had serious economic and military problems. The hopes of independence were related to the development of ideas such as freedom and democracy, which had formed the ideological force to defeat Nazism and Fascism.
Appearance of Anti-Colonial Movements
Post-war nationalist and emancipatory movements emerged in the colonies. Their lineage included:
- The Communist International.
- Ideologies advocating the recovery and dignity of indigenous cultures or Arabism.
- The defense of religious identity.
The driving force behind these independence groups was the administrative and commercial bourgeoisie, who formed the local dominant minority that provided the necessary leaders and resources.
Changes in Public Opinion
Public opinion included the right of self-determination of the colonies. The change intensified by the action of various Christian churches. Appeals against socialist parties and imperialism were seeping between popular and intellectual sectors.
The Role of the UN
The UN’s position on the colonial problem followed the spirit of what was signed in the Atlantic Charter in 1941 and favored the process of self-determination of the colonial territories. More than half of the UN states had been colonies. The UN greatly influenced addressing the colonial topic. Its charter already included the right of self-determination of the colonies in 1945. A few years later, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights included the right of colonized peoples to dispose of themselves. And in 1960, a resolution condemned colonialism.
Influence of the Cold War
Both the U.S. and the USSR had consistently opposed colonialism. In the U.S.’s own game, the defense of democratic values predisposed this country to defend the emancipation of colonies, to capture colonial markets, and to align the new countries in the Western bloc. The USSR maintained a strong hostility to the colonial empires for ideological reasons.
Stages of the Decolonization Process
Decolonization began in the Indian subcontinent and then spread to the rest of Africa. Three stages can be distinguished:
- A first initial phase between 1945 and 1955. This phase mainly affected the Asian continent and the countries of the Middle East. It involved the Third World’s awareness and non-alignment.
- The second phase covers the period of the decolonization phenomenon throughout Africa and in the last Asian territories.
- The last stage refers to the period between 1970 and the present. It involves the independence of the last colonies in Africa and other territories in different parts of the world that were supposed to be remnants of the colonial era.
Decolonization in Asia
The emancipation of the colonies followed two models: the first occurred in the British Empire through dialogue and agreements with local elites; the second involved confrontation and colonial war.
British Independence in Asia
It was due to the political and economic relations that London had established with its colonies. An indirect colonial administration, granting broad autonomy to local governments, established the Commonwealth. The decolonization process was a gesture during the Second World War. The Indian leader Gandhi advocated the policy of passive resistance, which was based on the population’s refusal to cooperate with the British colonial authorities. The British government decided that the best solution was the concession of independence. The Mountbatten Plan followed, which divided India into two states according to the religious beliefs of the populations. In 1971, a new independent state emerged to the west of the eastern part: Bangladesh. Pakistan and India remain in conflict, extending to the disputed region of Kashmir, a territory with a large Indian population but a Muslim majority.