Did worldwide decolonization after 1945 create more problems than it solved
Did worldwide decolonisation after 1945 create more problems than it solved?,
Decolonization after World War 2 created a whole new era of human history. Colonizers had drawn borders for the first time in places like Africa, created and promoted the idea of a state and national identity, as well as new technologies and ways of life. Independence would therefore create many problems. Conflict over disputed territories leading to ethnic violence, power struggles among the educated and a mass exodus of civilians to flee persecution, to name a few. The colonizers policies of using natural resources for self gain was retained, especially in Africa, which explains the vast economic and humanitarian crisis there today.
When British India was granted independence by the British Empire in 1947, partition was “In part because of the haste which the British withdrew there forces… a bloodbath…. Viscous Hindu-Muslim and Muslim-Sikh communal rioting, in which neither women nor children were spared, took the lives of hundreds of thousands’’ (Stearns, Adan, Schwartz, 1996, p. 464). The new task of setting out a national identity meant it was inevitable that the decolonisation would cause both sides to clash mainly on religious and cultural grounds. This problem had then furthered when India had partitioned into two states as the two ethnic groups would not coexist. Pakistan became an Islamic state, India secular and the problem, furthered into a mass exodus of Hindi and Muslim people into their respective states that “may have totalled 10 million people”. (Stearns, Adan, Schwartz, 1996, p. 464).
Similarly along these lines, when borders were drawn and demarcated in Africa, the idea of nationality had just been formed which only intensified cultural differences. It is quite clear to see from the process of decolonisation across Africa, that in relation to power struggles, violence and all out war, the process has created a vast amount of problems which seem unsolvable to
Decolonization after World War 2 created a whole new era of human history. Colonizers had drawn borders for the first time in places like Africa, created and promoted the idea of a state and national identity, as well as new technologies and ways of life. Independence would therefore create many problems. Conflict over disputed territories leading to ethnic violence, power struggles among the educated and a mass exodus of civilians to flee persecution, to name a few. The colonizers policies of using natural resources for self gain was retained, especially in Africa, which explains the vast economic and humanitarian crisis there today.
When British India was granted independence by the British Empire in 1947, partition was “In part because of the haste which the British withdrew there forces… a bloodbath…. Viscous Hindu-Muslim and Muslim-Sikh communal rioting, in which neither women nor children were spared, took the lives of hundreds of thousands’’ (Stearns, Adan, Schwartz, 1996, p. 464). The new task of setting out a national identity meant it was inevitable that the decolonisation would cause both sides to clash mainly on religious and cultural grounds. This problem had then furthered when India had partitioned into two states as the two ethnic groups would not coexist. Pakistan became an Islamic state, India secular and the problem, furthered into a mass exodus of Hindi and Muslim people into their respective states that “may have totalled 10 million people”. (Stearns, Adan, Schwartz, 1996, p. 464).
Similarly along these lines, when borders were drawn and demarcated in Africa, the idea of nationality had just been formed which only intensified cultural differences. It is quite clear to see from the process of decolonisation across Africa, that in relation to power struggles, violence and all out war, the process has created a vast amount of problems which seem unsolvable to
Bibliography: Darnton, J. (1994), ‘Lost decade’ drains African vitality. The New York Times, 19 June. http://www.nytimes.com/1994/06/19/world/lost-decade-drains-africa-s-vitality.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm [17 Oct. 2013] Englebert,P. (2000), ‘Pre-Colonial Institutions, Post-Colonial States, and Economic Development in Tropical Africa’ Political Research Quarterly, 53 (1): 7 – 36 Stearns, P. , Adas, M. , Schwartz, S. (1996) World Civilizations: The Global Experience. New York, Harper Collins. Price, R M. (1984) ‘Neo-Colonialism and Ghanas economic decline: a critical assessment’, Canadian journal of African studies, 18 (1), Available from : http://www.jstor.org/stable/485008?seq=2 [10 Oct 2013] Winter, J. (2006) ‘DR Congo poll crucial for Africa’ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/5209428.stm [17 Oct 2013]