Zusammenfassung der Ressource
The maintenance of power
- Once gained, superpower status has to be maintained. How this is achieved has changed over time.
- As recently as 1945, large parts of the world were under colonial rule
- Most colonial powers were European, although the USA did maintain some colonies, e.g. the Philippines
- Colonial rule usually has a number of distinct phases:
- Exploration, resulting in the discovery of new lands
- Initial settlement, usually on coasts, in defended forts
- The beginnings of trade in raw materials
- Gradual extension of rule over larger territories by direct military action and conquest
- The development of political systems and institutions and transport and trade networks
both to rule the colony and to exploit its resources
- Some colonies became relatively peaceful places, but the threat of military action against insurgents was ever-present and
indigenous people usually lacked freedoms, living mostly in poverty
- Colonial
India
- In India today it is possible to see the legacy of British rule
- In order to maintain power, British military personnel, civil servants and businessmen emigrated to run the Raj
- Symbols of power were built, such as the residence of the governor-general of India in Delhi
- A process of acculturalisation was undertaken as British traditions such as cricket and tea-drinking, and crucially the English Language, were introduced
- A strict social order was maintained, differentiating between ruling white British and the Indians
- India was modernised so that its economy could better serve the needs of the mother country
- Perhaps the most durable feature of this process was the railway system, built by the British
- By 1880, 14,000km of railway had been built
- By 1920, 61,000km had been built
- The railways hugely improved transport and trade, but also allowed more efficient military transport - useful when putting down rebellions
- When independence was granted in 1947 there followed a period of chaos as colonial India was partitioned
- In many colonies, the era of decolonisation and independence brought conflict and division rather than the immediate freedom and prosperity people hoped for
- In many countries, colonial borders did not reflect religious and ethnic boundaries, which led to conflict over territory
- Although colonies had government institutions, indigenous people had been
excluded from running them, so experience in governance was lacking
- As colonial powers packed up and left, insurgents took the opportunity to push them out, which resulted in violence
- Neo-colonialism
- After decolonisation and independence, some new national leaders argued that their countries were being
subjected to a new form of colonialism, waged by the former colonial powers and other developed nations
- The term neo-colonialism was first used by Kwame Nkrumah, the first president of independent Ghana
- He regarded neo-colonialism as worse than colonialism because, as he put it:
- Neo-colonialism is the worst form of imperialism. For those who practice it, it means power without responsibility and for those who suffer from it, it means exploitation without redress.
- In the days of old-fashioned colonialism, the imperial power had at least to explain and justify at home the actions it was taking abroad
- In the colony those who served the ruling imperial power could at least look to its protection against any violent move by their opposition
- With neo-colonialism
neither is the case
- Neo-colonialism refers to a form of indirect control over
developing countries, most of them former colonies
- Neo-colonialism is most often linked to Africa and is used as an explanation for the lack of development in that continent
- Proponents of neo-colonialism point to evidence such as the share of world trade that goes to the
least developed countries to argue that neo-colonialism has prevented any real development
progress in the 40 years since colonies gained their independence
- Neo-colonialism is a theory which cannot be proved, but its
supporters point to a number of mechanisms which work to allow the
developed world to maintain control over parts of the developing world
- Neo-colonialism is really an extension of dependency theory
- Possible mechanisms of neo-colonialism
- Strategic
Alliances
- The USA and USSR formed alliances with many developing nations
to spread their global influence, often by means of foreign aid
- Aid
- Aid can be given with 'strings attached', forcing the recipients to spend the aid in the way the donors wish
- TNCs
- Foreign direct investment, e.g. locating low-tech manufacturing in the developing world, means big profits for TNCs but low wages and few skills for the developing world
- Terms
of
Trade
- Low raw material and commodity export prices contrast with the
high prices the developing world must pay for manufactured goods
- Global finance and debt
- Many developing nations pay huge sums to the developed world each year in debt
interest payments, which often exceed aid receipts
- Structural adjustment policies (SAPs
- Countries wishing to have their debt relieved have to apply Western economic policies
devised by the World Bank and IMF, losing some of their economic sovereignty