28. The End of Imperialism and the Emergence of the Third World

The postwar period saw the rapid disintegration of the former overseas empires. This was the result of two converging factors.  1) Exhausted by the war and addressing themselves to pressing economic and social concerns, Britain, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, and eventually Portugal gave up their possessions in Africa and Asia.  2) Seeing their European masters weakened and distracted by the war, revolutionary and nationalist movements among African and Asian peoples pressed for independence. 

              In addition, during the war the Allied powers, often with the aid of colonial troops, fought in the name of such ideological principles as self-determination and democracy.  Early in the war, the Japanese, in their conquests of the British, French, and American possessions in Asia, presented themselves as liberators freeing Asian peoples from Western imperialism.  They, of course, then imposed their own imperial rule, but native Vietnamese, Burmese, Indonesians, and Filipinos were inspired to take up arms against the conqueror – to win freedom, not only from Japanese rule but also from the restoration of Western imperialism once Japan was defeated.  For the Western powers to restore colonial rule, as the French, British, and Dutch attempted to do in Indochina, Burma, and Indonesia, seemed blatantly hypocritical in light of the professed principles of self-determination for which the Allies fought.

            The shedding of empire was both violent and peaceful.  Britain partitioned India into two states: India and Pakistan - the division based largely on the two regions’ respective religious identities – and withdrew from both in 1947.  A brutal war ensued between them both.  In Palestine (1946 – 1948) Britain found itself caught between combative Jews and Arabs, both claiming the region as theirs.  Britain turned the matter over to the UN which attempted to partition the region, to the dissatisfaction of both groups.  In 1948 the Jewish sector declared itself the independent state of Israel with which the Arab states immediately went to war.   Britain fought bloody anti-colonial nationalist movements before ceding independence to Burma (1948) and Kenya (1963).  In Vietnam (1945-1954) and Algeria (1954-1962) France fought vicious – and losing - wars to retain its sovereignty.  The Dutch resisted East Indian independence for four years before accepting an independent Indonesia in 1949.

             In the case of most of the new countries, the transition to independence was peaceful.  For instance, in 1960 France’s de Gaulle, preoccupied with the Algerian problem, offered France’s colonies in sub-Saharan Africa the choice of independence or remaining in an earlier-established federation called the French Union.  Consequently, thirteen countries became independent in 1960.  France still retained a close relationship with the new countries, providing economic, financial, medical, and other humanitarian assistance and, at times, military support to new governments threatened by internal insurrection.  The transition to independence within the former British Empire was also largely peaceful.  Many of the former colonial territories retained close ties with Britain through the Commonwealth of Nations (today called simply The Commonwealth).  The Commonwealth is a global association of sovereign states that provides a forum for discussion and resolution of common interests and problems relating to trade and other matters.   Commonwealth members retain nominal allegiance to the British monarch.  In most of the former French and British colonies, French and English remain official languages.  All of the former colonial states became members of the United Nations.

            Because their economies are underdeveloped, the new nations of Asia and Africa and the older states in Latin America are collectively identified today as “less-developed” or “emerging” nations.  Until the 1990s the rather ethnocentric expression “Third World” was used to distinguish them from the two “industrial Worlds” – the “First World” capitalist American-led bloc of industrial democracies and the “Second World” Soviet-led Communist bloc.  What was (is) characteristic of these “emerging” countries?

            As former colonial possessions their natural resources were developed and exploited to serve the interests of the imperial powers.  Consequently, they provide foodstuffs, minerals, oil, and other primary commodities to the industrial world.   Many, especially in Africa and Latin America are single cash crop economies with little economic diversity and therefore vulnerable to variances in the global market.  As they were under colonialism, they have been largely dependent upon the industrial nations for manufactured goods, again a disadvantage in a fluctuating world market.  Some, such as the Arab states of the Middle East and Nigeria and Indonesia are major oil producers and have the advantage of commanding a commodity desperately needed by the industrial world.  In 1973 the international oil cartel, OPEC (the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries), made up largely of Arab states, exercised impressive political muscle by imposing a boycott of oil shipments to countries friendly to Israel.  In Southeast Asia in the 1980s and 90s states such as Singapore, Malaysia, and Vietnam  attempted to diversify their economies by attracting business investment by providing cheap labor. Overall, however, the peoples of the emerging countries, especially in Africa, are poor.  Their governments lack the financial abilities to provide adequate health and medical care, education, housing, and other social services that peoples of industrial nations take for granted.  Because it is in the Third World where population growth is most rapidly expanding, the future quality of life for most people remains limited at best.

            Politically, the original leaders of the new states, especially in Africa and Southeast Asia, were often the nationalists who led the movement for independence.  Pledging to end all traces of colonialism, they promised a social as well as political revolution.  To this end most governments were single-party regimes that rejected democratic power-sharing.  Seeking immediate change they often followed the Soviet example of social revolution by nationalizing foreign investments and implementing central economic planning.  Often they maintained their power through military dictatorship.  Because the political boundaries of the new nations were drawn up by the colonial powers, they had little relationship to the actual ethnic and cultural distributions of the people of those states.  Consequently, peoples of the same tribal or linguistic group might find themselves a privileged majority in one country and a despised and persecuted minority in the neighboring state.  Nigeria, a multicultural state, experienced a brutal ethnic civil war in the late 1960s.  In 1994 Rwanda experienced the government-ordered genocidal slaughter of hundreds of thousands of Hutu and Tutsi peoples. 

             The Third World became a political battlefield of the Cold War.  The Soviet Union, presenting itself as the champion of oppressed peoples everywhere, actively encouraged colonial peoples to throw off Western imperial rule, both direct and indirect.  In the 1950s Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev made goodwill visits to India, Egypt, and Burma seeking to build “solidarity” with anti-colonial forces.  The United States found itself in the unenviable position of being perceived as the friend and champion of imperial interests.  The US’ closest allies were the former imperialist powers, Britain and France.  American industrial interests depended largely on raw materials received from the former British and French imperial territories.  Soviet propaganda loudly and effectively called Third World attention to a US opposed to the rightful ambitions of colonial and newly independent peoples.  And with reason, the US did appear to be opposed to colonial independence and Third World self-determination.  The US had provided financial and military aid to the French in their losing war against the Vietnamese nationalists in Vietnam’s war for independence.  The US had successfully intervened and helped overthrow governments undertaking social revolutions in Iran, Guatemala, and the Congo and unsuccessfully tried to do so in Cuba in 1961.  To make matters worse, American diplomatic personnel in the new countries were often ignorant of the customs and native languages of their host countries.  Dark-skinned representatives of the new countries in Washington were subjected to the racist overtones of the then-existent Jim Crow laws and were refused service in restaurants and hotels.  Soviet diplomatic personnel, on the other hand, were trained in the local languages and customs of the countries to which they were sent.

            Many of the Third World nations rejected the Cold War and proclaimed themselves neutral in world affairs.  This was acceptable to the Soviets but not to the US.  In 1955 representatives of the new countries met in Bandung, Indonesia to discuss common interests and concerns.  There Jawaharlal Nehru, the Indian Prime Minister, called for a collective policy of neutralism and nonalignment – in effect, true independence.  Because the conference was attended by representatives from the Communist government of China, the US condemned the meeting as a Soviet attempt to undermine and subvert the emerging nations.  The US position was seen as reactionary and insulting to the new nations. 

            The new countries may have been under radical or militarist governments with socialist motives and directions, but they were not communist. This did not matter to the Soviet Union.  Whatever served the Soviet goal of discrediting the US and the West in Third World opinion was to Soviet advantage. The Soviet Union, therefore, offered its friendship and support to any regime, no matter how right-wing it might be, as long as it was anti-US or anti-Western.  Because Israel was supported by the US, the Soviet Union gave financial and military assistance to the Arab states.  In all of the Arab states, the Communist Party was outlawed.  The Third World remained a Cold War context until the fall of Communism and collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.  Today new issues, outside of ideology, continue to make the emerging nations cause for concern and attention. 

            Over the last three decades, the emerging nations of Africa, Asia, and Latin America have experienced a gradual, although not universal, transition to greater stability and constitutional government. The problems of ignorance, poverty, overpopulation, and economic inequity remain staggering challenges to nations still largely dependent upon the wealthier industrial states for credit and customers.  In some countries the initial state-controlled command economies have experienced transition to market economies, but at great expense to overall wellbeing.  The need to achieve greater productivity and some form of industrial capability has caused many nations to abuse and exploit their environmental settings.  Land clearing and mineral excavation in Indonesia, Brazil, and Africa threaten serious ecological damage to such essential resources as rainforests.  The Sahara Desert is expanding.  Millions face starvation in the Horn region (Ethiopia, Sudan, Somalia) of East Africa.  Traditional cultures and lifestyles are threatened by the globalization of productivity, drugs, and disease.  Africa has been devastated by the seemingly uncontrolled spread of AIDS.   How well humanity survives the twenty-first century will be determined in how well it addresses the problems of the emerging nations.

                                     ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

What follows is a partial listing by former imperial master and region of the nations achieving independence between 1945 and 1990.  The list is partial in that it covers largely continental states and not the smaller Caribbean and Pacific island nations that achieved independence in since 1960.  Where possible the dates of independence are included.  The list is chronological by year of independence but the order of independence within a single year (e.g., the former French colonies in Africa) is not chronological.

Britain            Asia: British India, the “Raj” was  partitioned into two separate states:

                           India (primarily Hindu), 1947

                           Pakistan (primarily Muslim), 1947

                          Burma (today Myanmar) and Ceylon (today Sri Lanka), 1948

                          Malaya, 1957                                     

                         Singapore, 1965                                 

            Middle East:    Jordan 1946,  Israel (Palestine) 1948,   Kuwait 1961

            Africa:  Sudan, 1956                                                    

                        Ghana, 1957

                        Nigeria, 1960

                        Somalia (British Somaliland), 1960

                        Sierra Leone, 1961                                             South Africa remained a member of the

                        Uganda, 1962                                                      Commonwealth until 1961 when

                        Kenya, 1963                                                          it declared itself a republic.

                        Malawi, 1964

                        Zambia, 1964                                                     Many, but not all, of these states became

                        Tanzania, 1964                                                   members of the Commonwealth of Nations.

                        Gambia, 1965                                                     In many English remains an official language.

                        Lesotho, 1966

                        Botswana, 1966

                        Swaziland, 1968

                        Zimbabwe, 1980

France            Asia:    Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, (former French Indochina) 1954

                        Middle East: Lebanon 1946

                                                 Syria 1946

Africa              Morocco, 1956

                        Tunisia, 1956                           Many of the former French African colonies became

                        Guinea, 1958                           members of the African Financial Community,

                        Mauritania, 1960                     a French-based institution that provides economic

                        Mali, 1960                                  and financial assistance.  In all of these countries French

                        Senegal, 1960                            remains an official language.

                        Chad, 1960

                        Niger, 1960,

                        Upper Volta (today, Burkina Faso), 1960

                        Cameroon, 1960

                        Central African Republic, 1960

                        Congo (former French Congo), 1960

                        Togo, 1960

                        Benin, 1960

                        Madagascar, 1960

                        Gabon, 1960

                        Algeria, 1962

                        Djibouti, 1977

Netherlands   Asia:  Indonesia (former Dutch East Indies), 1949

Belgium     Africa:  Congo (former Belgian Congo, later called Zaire, now the Democratic Republic of the Congo), 1960

                                  Rwanda, 1962

                                  Burundi, 1962

Italy  (Italy’s former imperial territories became United Nations Trusteeships at the end of the war and were later granted independence.)

            Africa: Libya, 1951

                        Somalia (Italian Somaliland), 1960

                        Eritrea (to Ethiopia 1952; independence 1993)

Portugal         Africa: Angola, 1975

                                     Mozambique, 1975

 Spain              Africa:  Equatorial Guinea, 1968

With the victory of the Communist Revolution in China in 1949, all Western powers were compelled to accept the loss of their concessions, spheres of influence, and special privileges (extraterritoriality) in China.  In 1997 Britain returned Hong Kong (held since 1842) to Chinese sovereignty. In 1999 Portugal likewise restored Macao (held since 1557) to China.

Although not a European nation, the United States ended its imperial presence in Asia by granting independence to the Philippines in 1946.  

The US assumed UN Trusteeship over the former Japanese Pacific island groups; The Marshalls, Marianas, and Carolines

                                                Marshall Islands (independent 1990)

                                                 Marianas (still under US Trusteeship)

                                                 Carolines (independent as part of the Federated States of Micronesia, 1979).

                         All three of these island groups maintain strong ties to the US, including American responsibility for their defense.