Decolonization

End of European Hegemony and the Challenge to BiPolar order of the 3rd World

“EuropeanCivilization:”A Gift thatkeeps on giving. 1994Rwanda Genocide

Great Britain

• Gandhi and the end of British Rule• Factors compelling ending of British Rule• Partition of India 1947• Independence for Ceylon (Sri Lanka) and Burma

(Myanmar) 1946• Egypt—1953 • Sudan—1956• Kenya -- 1963• Nigeria; Ghana--1960• Zimbabwe and Zambia--1980

Don Stephen Senanayake (1884-1952 [Sri Lanka

Gandhi, 1869-1948

Sao Shwe Thaik, 1894-1962

France• Impact of World War II—occupation of France and its empire• Renewed nationalist movements• Failed attempts to form effective Union: France proper; protectorates; and

associate states• Indochina War—Dienbienphu, 1954• Laos—1954• Vietnam—1955• Cambodia--1953• Algeria—1952-1962• Tunisia—1956• Morocco—1956• French West Africa—1958 (Mauritania, Senegal, French Sudan (now Mali),

French Guinea (now Guinea), Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast), Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso), Dahomey (now Benin) and Niger.)

Jomo Kenyatta, 1894-1978

Belgium and the Netherlands

• Christian Socialists under Gaston Eyskens grant independence to the Congo in 1958-1960. Secessions of South Katai and Kantaga in 1960 and murder of Patrice Lumumba in 1961.

• Indonesian Independence—1949; West Irian independence and incorporation into Indonesia—1945-1962.

Bandung Conference, 1956• Respect for fundamental human rights and for the purposes and principles of the

charter of the United Nations• Respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all nations • Recognition of the equality of all races and of the equality of all nations large and small • Abstention from intervention or interference in the internal affairs of another country • Respect for the right of each nation to defend itself, singly or collectively, in conformity

with the charter of the United Nations• (a) Abstention from the use of arrangements of collective defence to serve any

particular interests of the big powers (b) Abstention by any country from exerting pressures on other countries

• Refraining from acts or threats of aggression or the use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any country

• Settlement of all international disputes by peaceful means, such as negotiation, conciliation, arbitration or judicial settlement as well as other peaceful means of the parties own choice, in conformity with the charter of the United Nations

• Promotion of mutual interests and cooperation • Respect for justice and international obligations.• “They taught us to speak Dutch!”

So What?

• Balance of power in UN general assembly shifts to Africa.

• Emergence of 3rd world.• Cold war competition in newly decolonized

world.• Cold War realities—arms races--made Europe

relevant as a source for industrial and technological know how and development.