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It is often
said that British decolonization was smooth
because the British Empire was never intended to
be permanent, whereas French decolonization was
difficult because the French believed they had a
'Mission Civilisatrice' which still had to be
accomplished after the Second World War.
Consequently, the French tried to hang on when
all the forces around collaborated to make their
hopeful task impossible.
Modern approaches to History have made us wary of
such simplifications and we labour to show the
inconsistencies of this statement, sometimes to
the point of reversing it completely. Our error,
however, is to try to discover patterns and
intentions in a process that came about in a
haphazard and unplanned way, sometimes nobly but
often cynically. The real forces that shaped the
process of decolonization are to be found outside
the Empires themselves: in the terrifying
aggression unleashed by the Japanese, and the
contrasting idealism found within the ruling
Democratic Party of the United States of America.
For decolonization, as we understand it, began in
Asia, and under its influence Africa followed. |
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