The reasons behind decolonization

Résumé du document

Between the two world wars, colonialism reached its zenith. Geographically first: at this time, colonial empires were indeed established in every continent, notably in Africa where France and Britain had the lion's share. Economically speaking, the context of economic slump and protectionism during the thirties had increased the dependence of the western powers towards their colonies. The First World War was absolutely no caesura concerning colonialism: the triumph of the colonial powers was surely partly built on their colonies' contributions and efforts during the war. But this was seen as evidence of their loyalty towards their colonial masters and their behaviour was alleged to confirm that white colonialism was well-funded. On the other hand, the Second World War was synonymous with a dramatic expansion of the fights to the colonies, notably in Africa, which emphasized the emerging strategic and political importance of these areas, in addition to the economic dimension.

Extraits

[...] The episode of Suez, which we analysed in the previous chapter, is a good illustration of that. The two countries managed to united their efforts and threats (economic and atomic) in order to force France and Britain to stop their invasion of Egypt. In Africa, let alone a brief and minor crisis in ex-Congo Belgium (summer 1960), the African process of decolonisation has not led to any major situation between the two juggernauts. It is rather after the waves of decolonisation that things went worse between them. [...]

[...] The Arab League was funded in March 1945 and had a very anti-colonialist programme. It supported the access to independence of Syria and Lebanon but its whole action was far too much focused on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It only made vague declarations about the other conflicts: if Libya and Algeria became independent, it is more thanks to the UN, Nasser and the GPRA than to the Arab League. The OAU, created in 1963 was based on a Charter that supported the principles of sovereign equality between states and non-interference. [...]

[...] The role of the Catholic and Protestant Churches In this chapter, we first need to remember that there was initially a very strong relation between colonialism and religion. The process of evangelisation that occurred during the second half of the XIXth century had partly justified imperialism. The religious missions in Africa were officially recognized and subsidized and they had almost a monopole in teaching and providing medical care. The Church began to distance itself from colonialism when it realized that colonialism had lost its messianic role and was becoming increasingly commercial. [...]

[...] In conclusion, both Churches have anticipated decolonisation. They brought to the debate a rational criticism of imperialism and of their own past action; this enabled a certain continuity of its action in Africa, even after the waves of decolonisation. Bibliography Books - Bernard DROZ Histoire de la Décolonisation, Paris, Seuil 2006. - Marie-Claude SMOUTS La France à l'ONU, Paris, Presse de la FNSP - C. LIAUZU Colonisation : droit d'inventaire, A. Colin Websites - www.wikipedia.com, articles Decolonisation and Colonisation (accessed on 10/12/2006). [...]

[...] Pie XII was directly concerned by the first wave of decolonisation. He produced the encyclical dei Domuni” (April 1957). Its main ideas were to refuse any hierarchy concerning different cultures, to recognize the harm made by Western countries to their colonies and to promote a progressive access of these colonies to independence. In this affair, we can explain this attitude with the fact that the Church did not want to be amalgamated to Western civilization and, consequently, be rejected by the Africans. [...]