decolonization: chapter 39. decolonization and the third world the third world consisted of nations...

38
Decolonization: Chapter 39

Upload: alexis-marshall

Post on 10-Dec-2015

231 views

Category:

Documents


0 download

TRANSCRIPT

Decolonization: Chapter 39

Decolonization and the Third World

• The Third World consisted of nations in Latin America, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East that had:– lagged behind countries in the West in

economic and political development – or had been kept under the political and

economic thumb of foreign powers – or had been directly colonized.

Factors Leading to Decolonization

• After World War II, decolonization and national liberation became major agents of change in Asia, the Middle East, and Africa.

• After the world struggle against dictatorship, many leaders argued that no country should control another nation.

• Others questioned the high cost and commitment of holding colonies.

• Nationalist movements among native peoples.

Factors that Impacted the Economic and Political

Success of Newly Liberated Nations: • Did the nation fight to become free?• How enlightened had the colonizing power been? Had it

educated a native elite, leaving behind politicians, economists, and trained personnel with practical skills?

• Were there serious ethnic, cultural, or religious divisions?• Did a country have natural resources to exploit? Did the

government exploit them efficiently or were they unable to diversify its economy?

• Did a newly liberated country take sides in the Cold War, i.e. the United States or the Soviet Union? Superpowers often intervened in the affairs of decolonized nations.

India

• Britain handed over power freely to India.• Mohandas Gandhi used passive resistance to

accomplish his goals.• In 1935, the British Parliament passed the

Government of India Act which increased suffrage and turn provincial governments over to Indian leaders.

• In 1947, the British granted India its independence.

• India followed a path of nonalignment with either superpower.

India

• Although the British did not have to be expelled by force, independence still led to violence.

• Hindu-Muslim conflict cost at least a million lives.• In 1948, Mohandas Gandhi, spiritual leader of

the Indian freedom movement, was assassinated by a Hindu extremist who opposed his rhetoric of tolerance between the two faiths.

What factors led to the division of India?

• Muhammad Ali Jinnah led the Muslim League in pushing for the division of Indian into two separate nations: Pakistan (Muslim) and India (Hindu)

• Pakistan was then divided into eastern and western regions separated by Indian territory.

• Unequal distribution of wealth between the two Pakistans ended in civil war in the early 1970’s. East Pakistan became the independent nation of Bangladesh.

What were the goals of the nonaligned movement?

• Led by Indian Prime Minister Nehru• Bandung Conference (1955)• Leaders from 23 Asian and six African nations met in

Bandung, Indonesia.• Goal: Find a path, a third alternative between choosing

between the U.S. and the Soviet Union; maintain neutrality.

• Stressed struggle against colonialism and racism• “first international conference of coloured peoples in the

history of mankind.”

Nonaligned Movement

• “The preservation of peace forms the central aim of India’s policy. It is in the pursuit of this policy that we have chosen the path of nonalignment in any military or like pact of alliance. Nonalignment does not mean passivity of mind or action, lack of faith or conviction. It does not mean submission to what we consider evil. We believe that each country has not only the right to freedom but also to decide its own policy and way of life. Only thus can true freedom flourish and a people grow according to their own genius.”

» Nehru’s Speech at Bandung Conference

Patterns in the Postwar Middle East

• The region’s strategic and economic importance as the world’s key source of petroleum. Two-thirds of the world’s crude oil is produced in the Middle East.

• Contradictions between the urge to modernize and a desire to preserve Islamic tradition. One of the difficult questions facing the Middle East is how to balance Islamic heritage with progressive social and political practices. In particular how women are treated depends on how this issue is resolved.

• Competition between the United States and the U.S.S.R. for influence in the region during the Cold War.

• Authoritarianism. Dictatorship and human rights abuses have persisted.

• The destabilizing effect of the Arab-Israeli conflict since 1948.

What events contributed to the Arab-Israeli conflict?

• The land called Palestine now consists of Israel, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip.

• To Jews, their claim to the land dates back 3,000 years, when Jewish kings ruled the region.

• To Palestinians (both Muslims and Christian), the land has belonged to them since the Jews were driven out around 135 C.E.

What events contributed to the Arab-Israeli conflict?

• After being forced out of Palestine during the second century, the Jewish people were not able to establish their own state and lived in different countries throughout the world.

• The global dispersal of Jews is known as the Diaspora.

• During the late 19th and 20th centuries, a group of Jews began returning to the regions. They were known as Zionists, people who favored a Jewish homeland in Palestine.

What events contributed to the Arab-Israeli conflict?

• At the time, Palestine was still part of the Ottoman Empire, ruled by Islamic Turks.

• After the defeat of the Ottomans in World War I, the League of Nations asked Britain to oversee Palestine until it was ready for independence

• In 1917, British Foreign Secretary Sir Arthur Balfour promoted the idea of creating a Jewish homeland in Palestine.

• Despite the Balfour Declaration, efforts to create a Jewish state failed.

• Hostility between Palestinians and Jews continued to grow.

What events contributed to the Arab-Israeli conflict?

• In 1947, the Untied Nations voted for a partition of Palestine into a Palestinian state and a Jewish state.

• The terms of the agreement gave Jews 55 percent of the area even though they made up only 34 percent of the population.

• In the wake of the war and the Holocaust, the U.S. and many Europeans felt great sympathy for the Jews.

• All of the Islamic countries voted against the partition. • On May 14, 1948, the state of Israel was established.• The day after it was proclaimed a state, six Islamic states—

Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, and Syria—invaded Israel. This was the first of many Arab-Israeli wars.

What factors have united the Arab nations since independence? What factors have divided them?

• Egypt became an independent republic in 1952. • Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser encouraged Arab

nationalism.• Nasser was a proponent of pan-Arabism. He wanted to

create a United Arab Republic to join all Arab nations together.

• Nasser also condemned states that joined with foreign powers in military alliances.

• Nasser dedicated himself to ridding Egypt and the Arab world of imperial interference

Describe the Suez crisis of 1956. What was the outcome?

• The Suez Cana, which runs along Egypt’s eastern border, was controlled by British interests for many years.

• In 1956, Egypt declared ownership of the Suez Canal.• French, British and Israeli troops tried to seize the canal.• The United States and USSR, however, did not want a

conflict and forced the British, French and Israelis to withdraw, leaving the canal in Egyptian hands.

• The end result was a huge blow to the diplomatic prestige of France and Britain.

Revolution in Iran

• Since the 1920’s Iran has been ruled by the secular, modernizing shahs.

• The last shah of Iran ruled form 1941 to 1979. He used Iran’s oil wealth to industrialize and modernize.

• Like the Turkish government, the shah’s regime opposed Islamic traditionalism, encouraging Western dress, Western education, the unveiling of women, and the eradication of Islamic law. He became an ally of the United States.

• Unfortunately, the shah relied on repression to carry out modernization.

• By 1979, the shah was in poor health, and his popularity had plummeted. He was viewed as an American puppet.

Revolution in Iran

• In 1979, Ayatollah Khomeini, an Islamic fundamentalist the shah had exiled years before, returned to Iran and took control of the country.

• This Iranian Revolution transformed the country into an anti-Western (anti-U.S.) dictatorship.

• The new regime held American hostages captive for many months from 1979 to 1981.

• At the same time, Iran went to war with Iraq.• The Iran-Iraq War lasted from 1980 to 1988 and

devastated both countries.• The Iranian Revolution is unusual in that it is anti-modern

and religiously based.

What about Iraq?

• Iraq came under control of Saddam Hussein in 1979.

• Hussein was one of the most powerful dictators.• Hussein turned his brutality against hiw own

people, his neighbors, and the United States.• During the war with Iran, he used poison gas,

drafted teenaged children to fight, and killed many civilians.

Decolonization in Africa

• Decolonization began in Africa mainly during the 1950’s and 1960’s.

• By the late 1990’s, Africa would contain 46 countries.

• Security and economic stability in most of them are still affected by the legacy of colonialism.

National Liberation in North Africa

• North African states had several advantages over sub-Saharan Africa when it came to decolonization.

• They were largely homogeneous in terms of religion, ethnicity, and language.

• They had existed as meaningful political units for a long time, making the transition to nation-state easier.

• Their colonizing powers left behind technology and industrial infrastructures (railroads, telegraphs, canals, roads, etc.)

Decolonization in North Africa.

• Egypt and Libya declared independence in 1952.

• Morocco and Tunisia gained freedom from France in 1956.

• The long and painful Algerian War of Independence against France completed the process of independence in North Africa.

• Algeria gained its independence in 1962.

Independence in Sub-Saharan Africa

• For the most part, the movements were nonviolent.

• They were led by intellectuals and labor activists.

• Kenya was an exception.

GHANA

• Following World War II, the British began making preparations for Ghana’s independence. For example, they allowed more African to be nominated to the Legislative Council.

• In 1947, Kwame Nkrumah led a nonviolent movement to liberate the Gold Coast (Ghana) from the British.

• He organized strikes and boycotts.• On receiving it independence in 1957, the Gold Coast took

the name Ghana.

GHANA

• Nkrumah pushed for new roads, new schools, and expanded health facilities.

• These costly projects crippled the country and undermined the economy and strengthened his opposition.

• In 1966, while Nkrumah was in China, the army and police in Ghana seized power.

• Since then, the country has shift back and forth between civilian and military rule.

• In 2000, Ghana held its first open elections.

KENYA

• Kenya, in contrast to Ghana had to take up arms against their European rulers in order to win their freedom.

• Mau Mau was a secret society that was made up of native Kenyan farmers forced out of the highlands by the British.

• Mau Mau used guerrilla war tactics to push white farmers from the highlands.

• By the time the British granted Kenya independence in 1963, more than 10,000 Africans and 100 settlers had been killed.

• Jomo Kenyatta became president of the new nation. • He worked hard to unite the various ethnic and language groups.• Ethnic conflicts in Kenya resulted in hundreds of deaths and

thousands homeless.

Varying Transitions of Freedom in Africa

• For the most part, decolonization in the parts of African that had been British and French went smoothly.

• Both Britain and France prepared their colonies for freedom by educating native elites, allowing greater native representation in transitional governments, and minimizing the possibility of interethnic conflict.

• The worst transitions to independence were made by Belgian and Portuguese colonies who had been exploitative and did not prepare colonies for independence.

South Africa

• Decolonization in South Africa was tainted by the clash between white and black citizens of the newly free country.

• The government that declared freedom from Britain was controlled by the white minority, largely descended from the Dutch Boers.

• These Afrikaners practiced the policy of apartheid (extreme racial segregation).

• South Africa is one of the world’s richest sources of gold and diamonds.

• Between the 60’s and 90’s, the white government of South Africa turned the country into the wealthiest, most modern, and most industrialized on the continent.

South Africa

• By the 1980’s, internal unrest, economic problems, and international revulsion were placing pressure on the South African government to abandon apartheid.

• Nelson Mandela, who was the leader of the African National Congress, was imprisoned form 1964 to 1990 by the white authorities.

• In 1990, Nelson Mandela was released.• In 1994, free elections resulted in Mandela becoming the

country’s president.

Problems Facing Independent Africa

• Dictatorship (Uganda 1971-1979) and Zaire (1965-1977)• Corruption: Many African regimes tended to function under unlawful

systems.• Failure to modernize and diversify economies.• The Cold War: Many nations became pawns in the “global chess

game between the United States and USSR.”• Rapid population growth and food shortages (Somalia and Ethiopia)• The HIV/AIDS pandemic• Lack of cultural or linguistic unity: Most borders were drawn by

European colonizers for their own benefit and convenience, leaving behind confusing varieties of ethnicities, languages, cultural practices and religions in each country.

Problems Facing Independent Africa

• Intertribal and interethnic conflict: Nearly all African wars have been fought within national borders, not between different countries.

• Uncontrolled flow of small arms and light weapons: Thousands of children have been forcibly drafted into militias and paramilitaries.

• Treatment of women: In African’s more developed countries and especially in cities, women have attained a certain degree of economic and social equality.

• However, progress has been slow and women are still dominated by men, especially in rural areas.

What about Latin America?

• Latin America had freed itself form colonial domination in the 1800’s.

• National liberation and modernization involved the struggle against dictatorship at home and the political and economic influence of the United States.

• World War II forced a number of the dictators out of power.

• From 1950-1980, many Latin American countries reverted to exploitative economies and dictatorial governments.

• In Latin America, modernization often led to a concentration of wealth in the hands of a few and weak social justice for the working classes and indigenous peoples.

• By the mid 1970’s, only Colombia, Venezuela, and Costa Rica could be considered democratic.

What about Latin America?

• Argentina – military rule from 1976-1983. This regime ruthlessly purged intellectuals and dissidents, causing at least 30,000 to disappear over a decade and a half.

• Brazil and Chile had military regimes form the mid 1960’s through the mid 1980’s.

• Mexico was an authoritarian oligarchy during the 50’s and 60’s.

• Cuba was led by dictator Fidel Castro beginning in 1959.

Latin America as a Cold War Battlefield

• Almost all of the military dictatorships in the 70’s and 80’s found themselves heavily in debt, especially to the U.S.

• The U.S., fearing the spread of Marxist ideas, made a practice of supporting any Latin American regime that opposed communism.

• Unfortunately, the pro-US regimes in Latin America tended to be right-wind and dictatorial.

• Nicaraguan Revolution: In 1979, the Marxist, Soviet supported movement

China Under Mao Zedong

• 1953-1957 – Five Year Plan: Industry grew 15 percent a year; agricultural output grew slowly.

• 1958-1961 – Great Leap Forward: China suffered economic disaster; industrial declines and food shortages. Mao lost influence.

• 1966-1976 – Cultural Revolution: Mao regained influence by backing radicals. Purges and conflicts among leaders created economic, social, and political chaos

Describe China after Mao Zedong’s death in 1976..

• 1970’s – Zhou Enlai tried to form ties to the West.

• 1971 – The U.S. reversed its policy and endorsed UN membership for the People’s Republic of china.

• 1972 – President Nixon made a state visit to China. He met with Mao and Zhou.

• In 1979 – the U.S. and China established diplomatic relations.

• 1980 – Deng Xiaoping, a lifelong communist, supported moderate economic policies. He used capitalist ideas to help China’s economy.

Deng eliminated Mao’s communes and leased land to individual farmers. He called for progress in agriculture, industry, defense, and science and technology.

Describe China after Mao Zedong’s death in 1976..

• 1970’s – Zhou Enlai tried to form ties to the West.

• 1971 – The U.S. reversed its policy and endorsed UN membership for the People’s Republic of china.

• 1972 – President Nixon made a state visit to China. He met with Mao and Zhou.

• In 1979 – the U.S. and China established diplomatic relations.

• 1980 – Deng Xiaoping, a lifelong communist, supported moderate economic policies. He used capitalist ideas to help China’s economy.

Deng eliminated Mao’s communes and leased land to individual farmers. He called for progress in agriculture, industry, defense, and science and technology.