decolonization and global development (Essay Sample)

Name of Writer Date of Submission Decolonization and Global Development Introduction Global development has been a major goal of the international community to address problems like poverty, illiteracy, hunger, underdevelopment, unemployment, and others. The global development strategy has been linked with many factors. European colonialism promoted the development of trade between colonies, colonial empire, and other parts of the world. Many colonies were established with the aim of protecting and promoting trade. Trade was followed by military action designed to safeguard the monopoly and trade posts of colonial empires. One factor has been decolonization that refers to the independence of colonies from European powers. The wave of decolonization that swept the developing world led to the initial enthusiasm that these countries would be able to achieve development and stability in short time. The reality has been that the colonial legacy has led to structural and historical weaknesses in developing countries that have prevented them from successfully realizing their potential. The colonial legacy was to transform colonies into areas that would produce raw materials for the colonial power. It led to the development of economic, social, and political structures that sought to ensure the compliance and submission of the indigenous people. These distortions led to conflicts, instability, corruption, and mismanagement in many developing states. The aim of this paper is to study the concept of decolonization. It will study the impact of decolonization on global development. It uses multiple sources to derive valid and reliable inferences. Concept of Decolonization Decolonization as a concept has referred to the collapse of colonialism. In other words, many nations established their hegemony over one or more territories during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries (Shipway, 2007). Primarily, colonialism has been seen as the rise of European powers that were able to rule over different parts of Asia, Africa, and Latin America. The dismantling of colonial powers took place after the end of World War II. As a concept decolonization also refers to the intellectual decolonization from the colonizers’ values, ideas, and institutions that sought to consider the indigenous population in a state of inferiority (Burnell et al, 2017). European colonialism promoted the development of trade between colonies, colonial empire, and other parts of the world. Many colonies were established with the aim of protecting and promoting trade. Trade was followed by military action designed to safeguard the monopoly and trade posts of colonial empires. For instance, England armed the East India Company to establish control over trading posts in India (Burnell et al, 2017). The abundance of mineral wealth in certain colonies led to colonial powers plundering and stealing the wealth such as the case of Spain when it conquered the Aztec and Inca empires. However, this phase was over as the conquistadors established themselves as feudal lords that supplied agriculture products to European markets and paid tribute to the Spanish monarchy (Selwyn, 2014). Colonization led to the major restructuring of colonial economics while Europeans were interested in using the colonies to provide raw materials and goods to be consumed in Europe. The Spanish used silver to develop the Latin American economy (Selwyn, 2014). Brand new products were imported and established in other cases such development of sugar plantations in Brazil and Azores by Portugal. Many colonies offered coffee, tobacco, indigo, cotton, wool, and other products that were sent to Europe where they were used for manufacturing goods (Selwyn, 2014). The impact of colonialism on colonies has been debated extensively by scholars and researchers. One view is that colonialism helped to introduce modern education and institutions in many developing countries (Rist, 2014). Moreover, colonialism led to the introduction of new technology that allowed them to introduce new crops. Modern farming methods were instrumental in helping in the development of productivity and food output (Rist, 2014). Additionally, colonialism helped in the development of modern infrastructure like medical facilities, transport, communication networks, and industries. The advent of modern economic structures allowed indigenous population to get new jobs and improve their standard of living. In contrast, there is another view that colonialism was destructive since it destroyed indigenous social, political, and economic structures (Kitching, 2012). It led to disruption of local values and institutions while exacerbating ethnic and linguistic tensions in native societies. The loss of identity also created a sense of inferiority in the native population. It led to contemplation about the failure of the native societies to effectively challenge the colonial threat. During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Europe was at the height of its power. Large parts of Africa, Asia, and Latin America were colonies by the European powers. The global sea trade by dominated by European states likes Britain, France, and Germany (McMichael, 2012). The industrial revolution of the nineteenth century had transformed Europe from a feudal agrarian based economy into massive cities where production centers were located. However by the start of the twentieth century, a chain of events would eventually lead to the downfall of European domination. Right up till World War 2 where Europe would soon begin a process of retreat and decolonization from its overseas possessions (Packenham, 2015). The late nineteenth century witnessed a profound struggle by major European powers like Britain, France, Germany, and Russia over world dominance. However no major confrontation or clash had broken down between major powers. On the other hand each power was consolidating its political, economic, and military might. Industrialization resulted in the development of new technologies (Packenham, 2015). Economies were now driven by the use of machines that assembled new products in huge quantities. The start of World War I would signal a brutal and barbaric conflict in which millions of soldiers and civilians would perish. Entire generations of Europeans would perish in costly and bloody war of attritions fought in trenches (Packenham, 2015). World War I would ultimately exact a heavy cost on many countries. Germany would become occupied and dominated by the Allied powers. Russia would witness a revolution. Other European states would also feel the economic and military losses from World War I. By the 1930s, the Wall Street Crash had signaled the beginning of the Great Depression. Trade and commerce was virtually halted while industrial and agricultural production slumped. There were severe economic problems in various countries (Hargreaves, 2014). The dominant political and economic ideologies were severely criticized and censured by political factions. Millions of people were without jobs as inflation and economic fluctuations increased. The Great Depression witnessed a serious blow to the economic resilience of Europe. The results of Great Depression were the rise in totalitarian and authoritarian ideologies like fascism and National Socialism. The fascists promised to solve the economic problems of Italy while the Nazis vowed to make Germany a great power (Hargreaves, 2014). Many European intellectuals supported these totalitarian ideologies which called for strict regimentation and obedience of society. Social change and nation building would be accomplished by a charismatic leader (Hargreaves, 2014). Democracy and peace were in decline in this time period. The rise of Hitler would eventually lead to the events of World War 2 which would finally end European dominance and hegemony in the world (Hargreaves, 2014). Europe’s decline can be traced to the events like World War I, Great Depression, and failure of peace in the late 1930s. All these events would effectively challenge European hegemony and dominance. By the end of World War 2 European colonialism and dominance was under retreat. These factors would contribute to decolonization as European powers lacked the power, resources, and wealth to maintain their colonies. Decolonization and Global Development The decolonization of Asian and African countries did not initiate development policies by the newly independent countries that would lead to reduction in poverty, illiteracy, hunger, mismanagement, corruption, and other problems (Thakur, 2013). In contrast, the relationships between colonies and former colonizers continued to remain the same even after the colonies had asserted their independence. Bilateral and favored policies would gradually evolve into reciprocal beneficial relationships (Thakur, 2013). The foundations of underdevelopment and economic dependence were attributed to decolonization as the collapse of military presence of the colonizer would lead to the movement of expatriate population and foreign investment in the colonies. The results were economic instability, internal conflicts, destitute poverty, and widespread corruption (Thakur, 2013). Global development has been considered to be a universal goal in the context of decolonization. However, the problem with this paradigm is that it has sought to evaluate progress of former colonies in Western economic terms. Moreover, the emphasis has been on global economic development to address the problems of developing countries. Global policy makers failed to address historical and structural factors like states being stripped of their wealth and extent to which Western powers relied on exploitation of resources in colonies (Garavini, 2012). Multilateral institutions like the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank (WB) were established with the aim of promoting economic growth (Garavini, 2012). They sought to p...