Introduction
Decolonization happened as a response to independence movements in various colonized countries. Todd Shepard, in his book, Voices of Decolonization, explores why and how mid-twentieth century process of decolonization changed societies as well as cultures in a way that shaped today’s world. Shepard explores decolonization as an aspirational movement as well as a historical era. He provides a rich collection of primary sources to highlight the voices of the colonizers and colonized in Africa, Asia and other parts of the world. The documents he provides reveal why and how formal decolonization, became quickly inevitable to the imperialists. From these documents, the motivations for and against decolonization emerge. There were a number of economic reasons that drove the argument for and against decolonization. First, the natives wanted to regain economic control over their regions. Also, the imperialists realized that maintaining their colonies was not worth the costs they were incurring, thirdly, the colonialists realized they could exercise neo-colonialism without the challenges of colonialism. One major argument, against decolonization, however, was that some colonies were still economically viable. This paper provides a look at these documents and provides a look at the role that economics played in arguments for and against decolonization.
First, economics played a paramount role on the part of the colonized in convincing them to wrestle back control of their national income from the imperialists. In his book, Todd Shepard explores this factor extensively. The imperialists in the colonized regions extracted all the riches from their territories, leaving the locals with little in the form of economic income from their activities. According to Shepard (49), for example, the Vietnamese people were driven by their urge to recover their land and economic value from the French imperialists who had colonized them. In one of the documents that Shepard covers, by Ho Chi Minh, the Vietnamese Communist leader, he highlights this fact. He writes that in economics, the French had fleeced the Vietnamese people “to the backbone,”“impoverished” their people, and “devastated” their land. The clamor for decolonization and independence, therefore, had to start with the indigenous people of the given colony. Similarly, Shepard also provides a document titled, “Fifth Pan-African Congress, The Challenge to the Colonial Powers” (Minh 54). In this document, he outlines the proceedings of the fifth Pan-African Congress that took place in Manchester in 1945. In this document, the African leaders present in the congress outlined their grievances, stating that all colonies should be free from “political or economic” foreign imperial control (Minh 54). The document further indicated that the African people were ready to resort to violence to regain control of their political and economic destiny. These two examples show that economics shaped the motivations of the African people to quicken the decolonization process by clamoring for the restoration of political and economic government to the natives of the given territories.
Secondly, economics contributed to arguments for decolonization amongst the colonizers in cases where they realized that they would still be in control of their territories through neo-colonialism. Although they decolonized their territories, they did so partly because of the promise of the gains to be made through neo-colonialism. The colonizers realized that they would still make money if the relinquished the running of the colonies to the natives and practiced neo-colonialism, a form of latent colonialism from a distance. In his book, Shepard highlights this issue through Kwame Nkrumah’s text, “Neo-Colonialism: The Last Stage of Imperialism, 1965” (Nkrumah 165). He provides the overview of this document, which is a look at neocolonialism through control items such as “aid” to poor nations. The issuing of “aid” is an economic activity in itself that gives the imperialists financial gains from interests accruing from the financial aid. Neo-colonialism is economically-motivated, and it must have been a lure for the imperialists. It presented them with an opportunity to continue controlling the economic affairs of their former colonies in the comfort of their home countries without incurring the running costs that they had incurred before decolonization.
Thirdly, one major argument for the decolonization of the colonies was that running some of the colonies became more costly than the gains that the colonialists were obtaining. Colonies were becoming less profitable because administrative costs were soaring as a result of resistance. One example of this occurrence is the case of Algeria. Charles De Gaulle, the Fench military general in charge of Algeria, remarked in his 1961 comments on Algeria: “The fact is that to say the least, Algeria costs us much more than it is worth to us. Whether in the matter of administrative expenses, economic investments, social welfare, cultural development” (De Gaulle 109). These words highlight France’s position with regard to their Algerian colony. De Gaulle’s comments underline the fact that the administration was beginning to realize that Algeria was no longer bringing in the income that it had promise. Economically, the colony had become less viable. Some of the expenses that France was incurring include administrative, economic investments, cultural development, and heavy diplomatic and military burdens.
One major economic argument against decolonization is based on the fact that some colonies were still economically viable. Colonialists still looked ay potential gains in which they would miss out if they restored economic control of the colonies to the natives. According to Todd Shepard’s book, some colonialists still saw the potential in their colonies, hence the stern warning by Winston Churchill in his text, “Hands off the British Empire” (Churchill 45). Churchill believed that keeping the British Empire intact would consolidate Britain’s position as a leading power in the world in economic and political terms. This example underlines the fact that some of the arguments against decolonization would have been that the colonies still had economic value to the imperialists.
Conclusion
Todd Shepard in his text, Voices of Decolonization, provides various historical documents on colonization that underpin the observations in this paper. These documents highlight the motivations behind decolonization. There were several economic reasons that drove the argument for and against decolonization. First, the colonized peoples were motivated to wrestle back control of their national income from the imperialists. For example, this reason is highlighted in the texts documenting the fifth Pan-African congress held in Britain. Secondly, the lure of neo-colonialism was a major factor. Neo-colonialism would enable the imperialists to continue being in control of their territories even after the official decolonization. Thirdly, some colonialists, such as the French, found the running costs of the colonies to exceed the incomes they generated. Consequently, the colonies, such as Algeria, were deemed unprofitable. One major economic argument against decolonization, however, was that some colonies were still economically lucrative. This factor made some colonialists to delay the decolonization process. Overall, it is evident that various economic factors had a role to play in slowing or expediting the decolonization processes.
Work Cited
Churchill, Winston. "Hands Off The British Empire." Voices Of Decolonization: A Brief History With Documents. Todd Shepard. 1st ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2014. Print.
De Gaulle, Charles. "Presidential Press Conference." Voices of Decolonization: A Brief History With Documents. Todd Shepard. 1st ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2014. Print.
Minh, Ho Chi. "Declaration Of Independence Of The Democratic Republic Of Vietnam." Voices of Decolonization: A Brief History With Documents. Todd Shepard. 1st ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2014. Print.
Nkrumah, Kwame. "Neo-Colonialism: The Last Stage of Imperialism." Voices of Decolonization: A Brief History with Documents. Todd Shepard. 1st ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2014. Print.
Shepard, Todd. Voices of Decolonization: A Brief History with Documents. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2014. Print.
