Chapter 22

Toward Freedom: Struggles for Independence
  • Nelson Mandela spent 27 years in prison for treason, sabotage, and conspiracy
  • decolonization was important in the second half of the 20th century
    • newly independent states experimented politically, economically, and culturally
    • faced challenges:
      • divisions of language, ethnicity, race, class
      • rapidly growing populations
      • working toward stability and economic modernization
      • influence of industrialized nations
  • European colonial empires not as permanent as they seemed in the early 1900s
    • the 1940s: India, Pakistan, Burma, Indonesia, Iraq, Jordan, and Israel won independence
    • the 1950s-1970s: African Independence
  • imperial breakup; novelty was a mobilization of masses around nationalist ideology and creation of new nation-states
    • comparison to the first decolonization of the late 18th and early 19th centuries
    • in the Americas, most colonized people of European origin
      • common culture with common rulers
  • fall of many empires in the 20th century
    • after WWI: Austrian and the Ottoman empires
    • Russian Empire collapsed but was then recreated as USSR
    • African and Asian independence movements shared with "end of empire" stories ideal of national self-determination
    • non-territorial empires (the U.S. held powerful influence) under attack
    • 1991: the disintegration of USSR was propelled by national self-determination
      • created 15 new states
  • 1900: few people predicted the imperial collapse
  • explanations for decolonization
    • the fundamental contradiction in the colonial enterprise
    • historians use the idea of "conjuncture" to explain timing of decolonization
    • changes in social values encouraged Africans and Asians seeking independence
  • independence contested everywhere
    • efforts usually not cohesive movements of uniformly oppressed people
    • fragile coalitions of conflicting groups and parties
Comparing Freedom Struggles
  • freedom movements varied in length of time to achieve independence, use of violence, and ideological affiliation
  • before 1900, few people of India subcontinent thought of themselves as Indians
    • cultural identity was primarily local
    • big diversity
  • British rule promoted a growing sense of Indian identity
    • unlike before, the British didn't assimilate
    • British communications and administrative networks, schools, and use of English bound India together
  • 1885: Indian National Congress (INC)
    • almost exclusively an association of English-educated, high-caste Hindus
    • moderate demands; asked for a greater role in British India
    • British mocked and rejected them
    • INC gained a wide following after WWI
  • role of Mohandas Gandhi (1869-1948)
    • studied law in England
    • 1893, found a job in South Africa
    • he developed political philosophy of satyagraha (true force)
    • became a leader of INC in India
    • attacked colonial rule and mistreatment of India's untouchables and evils of modernization
  • Gandhi embraces efforts to mobilize women
    • asserting spiritual and mental equality
    • without breaking older conceptions of gender roles
  • not all agreed with Gandhi
    • Jawaharlal Nehru embraced science, technology, and the industry as future
    • others rejected nonviolence
    • growing divisions between Hindus and Muslims
    • 1906: All India Muslim League
    • some Hindu politicians defined nationalist struggle in religious terms
    • Muhammad Ali Jinnah, head of Muslim League, argued region with Muslim majority should be separate states (Pakistan, land of pure)
  • 1947: independence created 2 countries
    • Pakistan (Muslim, divided into 2 wings - 1,000 miles part)
    • India (mostly Hindu)
    • the process came with mass violence; one million dies, 12 million refugees relocated
  • 1948: Hindu extremist assassinated Gandhi
  • 1990: South Africa won freedom from Great Britain
  • the government was controlled by white settler minority
  • white population split between British descendants (economic superiority) and Afrikaners (Boers) Dutch descent (political dominance)
    • 1899-1902: Afrikaners failed to win independence from the British in the Boer War
    • both white groups felt threatened by the black minority rule
  • the early 1900s: South Africa had a mature industrial economy
    • the 1960s: major foreign investments and loans
    • black South Africans extremely dependent on the white-controlled economy
  • race issue overwhelmingly prominent
    • reflected in apartheid laws separating races
  • 1912: African National Congress (ANC) founded
    • like INC, consisting of elite Africans wanting a voice in society
    • 40 years, ANC was peaceful and moderate
    • women denied full membership until 1943 but protested and boycotted
    • the 1950s: moved to nonviolent civil disobedience
    • governments response was overwhelming repression
  • underground nationalist leaders turned to sabotage and assassination
    • opposition focused on student groups
    • 1976: Soweto uprising was the start of spreading violence
    • organization of strikes
  • growing international pressure
    • exclusion from international sporting events
    • economic boycotts
    • withdrawal of private investment funds
  • the 1980s: began negotiations
    • key apartheid policies abandoned
    • Mandela freed and ANC was legalized
  • 1994: national elections brought ANC to power
    • apartheid ended without major bloodshed
    • the most important threat was the number of separatists and "Africans only" groups
Experiments with Freedom
  • new nations emerging from colonial rule confronted the problem of how to parlay independence into economic growth, unification, and political participation
    • independent, but not industrialized countries faces quest for a better life
    • 1950-2000: developing nations contained 70% world's population
    • independence created euphoria, optimism faded
  • conditions confronted efforts to establish political order:
    • explosive population growth
    • high expectations for independence
    • cultural diversity, with little loyalty to a central state
  • variety of government types were communist, one-party states, and democracies
  • the 1950s: European authorities set up democratic institutions in African colonies
  • India: Western-style democracy succeeded
    • independence movement more extended, power handed over
    • more Indians than Africans had administrative and technical skills at a time of independence
    • Indian Congress Party embodied nationalist movement without internal discord
  • elsewhere democracy was more fragile
    • the early 1970s: few still survived
    • many defeated via military coups
    • some evolved into one-party systems or personal dictatorships
  • various arguments why Africans initially rejected democracy
    • Africans not ready for democracy or lacked some necessary element
    • African traditional culture - communal based on consensus, not compatible with party politics
    • Western-style democracy inadequate to the task of development
  • widespread economic disappointment discredited early democracies
    • African economic performance was poor since independence
    • economic hardship
    • modern government staked popularity on economic success
  • well-educated elite benefited most obtaining high paying bureaucratic jobs caused resentment
  • economic resentment found expression in ethnic conflict
  • the military took power in crisis
  • Latin America experienced military coups
    • military forces had a long history of intervention
    • demographic, economic, and social tensions challenged the privileges of rich and power
    • left-wing insurrections encountered by military coups backed by elites and the United States
    • 1970: Chile elected Marxist leader, fell to a military coup
  • the 1980s: Western-style democracy resurfaced
    • Spain, Portugal, and Greece
    • the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe
    • extensive-expression in developing countries of Global South
    • recently in Arab countries
  • poverty isn't inevitable
    • colonial rule hadn't provided much infrastructure for modern development
    • developing countries didn't have leverage negotiating with wealthy nations and corporations
    • contradictory advice on developing successfully
  • expectations in developing word that the state would spur economic growth
    • private economies weakly developed
    • Chinese and Soviet industrialization provided models
    • growing dependence on market forces for economic development over several decades
  • urban vs rural development
    • women's access to employment, education, and birth control provided incentives to limit family size
  • degree of economic development varied
    • eastern Asia has been the most successful
    • the 1990s: India opened itself to the world market
    • Brazil was 8th largest economy in the world
    • Turkey and Indonesia - top 20
    • no general agreement why such great variations developed
  • Western-style modernity and tradition has been an issue across the developing world
    • Islam: Turkey and Iran approached the issue of how Islam and modernity relate to each other differently
  • Turkey: emerged after WWI, led by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk (1881-1938)
    • the 1920s and 1930s: major cultural revolution
    • efforts for modern, western society
    • Islamic underpinning of society abolished or under firm government control
    • men: not allowed to wear fez; elite women gave up the veil
    • women: gained legal rights, polygamy abolished, vote
  • the 1970s: Iran became center of Islamic revival
    • growing opposition to Shah Muhammad Reza Pahlavi's modernizing, secularizing, the U.S. supported the government
    • Shah's reforms offended traditional Islamic practices
    • the mosque became the main canter of opposition to the government
    • 1979: Shah forced to abdicate, Khomeini assumed control
    • a cultural revolution based on Islamization of public life
    • Sharia law replaced Secular law
    • women required to wear hijab, segregation in public life, restrictive marriage laws
    • women found greater educational opportunities, retained the right to vote
    • Iran wanted to spread the revolutionary spirit
    • the revolution continues, opposition among some
    • the country continues to pursue economic modernity

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