Decolonization Essay ⋆ Sociology Essay Examples ⋆ EssayEmpire

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Decolonization typically refers to a shift in a society’s political status from colony to autonomous state or independent nation. It can also refer to a shift from colonial status to full incorporation into the dominant polity such that it is no longer subordinate to the latter. While decolonization has occurred in many different places and times, typical usage of the term in the modern period refers to the decolonization by western colonial powers of dependencies in Asia, Africa, or the Americas. It is strongly associated with the fall of modern empires and the spread of nationalism and the nation-state around the world. Decolonization has also been used to refer to a cultural or psychological process that may or may not correlate with formal political decolonization.

The first major period of decolonization in the modern era occurred in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. In this period, colonies of England, France, Portugal, and Spain emerged as independent nations. The period began with the revolution of Britain’s continental colonies and the formation of the USA and the emergence of independent Haiti, formerly the French colony of Saint Domingue. Thereafter, in the early nineteenth century, colonies of Spain and Portugal in Latin America obtained independence in the wake of the occupation of Spain by Napoleon in 1808. The second major era of decolonization occurred in the mid-twentieth century. This period saw a far-reaching, global spread of decolonization. Most colonies in the Indian subcontinent, the Pacific, Southeast Asia, Africa, the Caribbean, and the Middle East obtained independence. The process began after World War I but was accelerated after World War II. From 1945 to 1981, approximately 105 new nations emerged as a direct or indirect result of decolonization. Most of these nations then joined the United Nations, such that the number of members in the United Nations expanded from 56 members to 156 in this period.

The two periods of decolonization differ in several respects, in part due to the character of the colonies involved. In the first period, decolonization was led by revolts among creoles and settlers who sought independence from their former mother country. In the second period, decolonization was led by indigenous groups rather than settlers or creoles.

There is little consensus on the causes of decolonization, but several classes of causation can be discerned. One includes factors internal to the colony, such as the emergence of nationalism among local populations and associated resistance to the metropolitan power. A second includes the relative capacity or willingness on the part of metropolitan powers. The third includes larger systemic factors in the global system of international politics, which might in turn shape the metropolitan powers’ willingness to decolonize. Some theories suggest, for example, that when an imperial state is ”hegemonic” in the world system, it prefers global free trade and therefore becomes more supportive of decolonization. A related factor is global political culture. After World War II, for example, colonial empires began to lose legitimacy and the ideal of the nation-state became most pronounced, in part because the USA lent support to anti-colonial sentiment.

One of the most significant consequences of decolonization is the emergence of the nation-state as the dominant form for organizing societies and the related realization of the modern interstate system around the world.

Bibliography:

Betts, R. (2004) Decolonization. Routledge, New York.
Strang, D. (1990) From dependency to sovereignty: an event history analysis of decolonization. American Sociological Review 55: 846-60.