帝國主義的末日：去殖民的風潮吹過亞洲與非洲，改變了二十世紀的世界版圖

by Jürgen Osterhammel, 傅熙理 (Translator)

二戰至今新建立的國家高達一百三十多個。這反映二十世紀中葉以來的去殖民過程，直到今日深深影響你我與周遭世界： ．台灣和韓國對日本殖民的視角為何總是不同？．菲律賓總統為了去殖民化要改國名？．澳洲、加拿大等國組成的大英國協又從何而起？．為何有人說歐盟是歐洲歷史退回十五世紀殖民以前的結果？ 帝國末日的警鐘 十五世紀以來的殖民活動，到了二十世紀初，發展為從摩洛哥到台灣亞非兩洲處處可見殖民政權。但在第一次世界大戰之後，有座警鐘敲響了全世界，那是象徵帝國末日的鐘聲，也是殖民統治的倒數計時。1919的民族自決與兩次大戰之間蓄積的動能，為第二次世界大戰以後的去殖民過程打下了基礎。 世界版圖重新洗牌 去殖民表現在各殖民紛紛以不同的形式脫離殖民母國的統治或改變從屬形式。其次，也讓版圖擴及全世界的歐洲殖民帝國，將領地限縮回歐洲，1970年的歐洲共同體與現代的歐盟，有人說，正是體現了這股潮流。 沒有一個殖民記憶是相同的 去殖民是一個30年間急遽產生的過程，亞洲大多發生於1945-50年之間，非洲則是始於1960年代。過程牽涉甚廣：政權的轉移形式、仰賴殖民母國的經濟建設如何自立、以及在歷史教育中如何處理殖民政權的痕跡。 今日我們清楚看見，即使共有的殖民記憶看起來十分相似，但殖民歷史的詮釋總是搖擺不定。例如回顧日本在東亞殖民統治的「記憶」與評價，南韓將之歸咎為「殖民主義」，台灣則視其為助益良多的「現代化」。況且今日牽涉到政治外交議題，過往的殖民與被殖民關係總會浮上檯面，成為要挾或控訴的利器。 本書以時間為序，系統化描述去殖民過程與在二十世紀中的演化，並提供殖民地、帝國與全球的解釋觀點，追問去殖民為世界經濟、國際體系與思想史帶來的影響，探究去殖民在前殖民地、前殖民母國所遺留之多元且長遠的後果。希望藉此引領讀者思索何謂國族與認同，以及以對這段歷史的認識來思索現實的社會政治國際議題。「兩位歷史學家巧妙建構體系，即使非專家也能充分理解這個專業的題材。」——德國時代週報

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Politics, World History, Race, Social Justice

137 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 16, 2013

About the author

Jürgen Osterhammel is professor emeritus of modern and contemporary history at the University of Konstanz.

Reviews

[Gerhard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Academics love caveats ... the most important here is that decolonisation is not the same as decoloniality. You just need to read Quijano and Mignolo to suss out the nuances. Anyway, why are we quibbling about semantics when late-stage capitalism is fucking up the planet for generations to come?

[Jason Friedlander · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a dense but concise volume on the rocky process of decolonization around the world, with a particular focus on those that occurred from 1945 to 1975. It’s meant to be a broad overview of the trends that tied many national movements (and their aftermaths) together while importantly emphasizing the many factors that made each situation unique.

It’s an extremely ambitious book and has opened up a lot of new areas of interest for me, as well introducing me to many other relevant reading materials regarding this topic. Because of this I found the book to be absolutely essential to making sense of this momentous shift in the structure of human societies.

It’s truly difficult to overstate just how important this global transition has been in the grander scheme of world history. If you have any interest in this at all I’d highly recommend this book as a great start to getting into it all.

[Matsingersara · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very important book that gives a good introduction to decolonisation; however, for me, the analysis could go deeper into the systemic issues. But overall, a good book to read to understand the period of decolonisation and its impact on society and world power today.

[Shayan Tadayon]

The book is structured into seven thematic chapters, which trace the global history of decolonization across political, economic, and cultural spheres. It highlights the most significant events and key discourses in a manner that is concise without being oversimplified or one-dimensional. The book's thematic approach and comprehensive bibliography make it an invaluable resource for anyone studying the post-war era, particularly topics related to anti-colonial movements and the post-colonial order, serving as an excellent guide for further, more in-depth research.

[Serge · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book. Glad I assigned it for World Humanities summer reading. Love the questons that he authors raise
1. Was decolonization essentially about obtaining national independence from alien rule, or at least to the same degree about economic or cultural self-determination?
2. Is decolonization tied to colonialism as a system of rule, or does it also apply to noncolonial contexts?
3. When did decolonization start, and when, if ever, did it end?
4. Can decolonization best be understood through a longue durée approach going back to the beginning of the twentieth century, or is it rather the baffling rapidity of imperial collapse in the decades after 1945 that claims our primary attention?
5. Was decolonization, in hindsight, a failure or a success?
6. Is a great deal of the current problems in the world to be blamed on a botched or incomplete decolonization?
7. What was the demographic share of the colonizing population, and what was its internal composition (administrators, soldiers, merchants, missionaries)?
8. How and to what degree was the colonia economy dependent on the world market?
9. What was the class and gender structure of the indigenous population, its ethnic and religious composition, and its geographic distribution?
10. What was the legal position of the colonized (segregated law codes and special jurisdiction, explicit religious or ethnic discrimination)?
11. To what extent did the colonial power intervene in local society through cultural and educational policy? Did it contribute to the emergence if well-trained and Western educated groups among the colonized population?
12. Which were the main movements of anticolonial resistance: their activists, supporters, and social substratum; their motives and goals? How did the colonial state respond to anti-colonial challenges?
13. Did other (e.g., ethnic religious) conflicts complicate the picture of a binary confrontation of liberation movements and the colonial state?
14. Which regulations regulating citizenship were implemented in the new nation-state?
15. What kind of treatment was meted out to expatriate ex-colonizers and their property?
16. How durable were the political institutions created at independence?
17. How did the colonial past impact the cultural situation after independence (retention of European languages or promotion of national languages, promotion of nationalistic versions of history, etc.)?

[Jonathan Fryer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Decolonization was one of the most significant historical and sociological processes of the second half on the 20th Century, yet has received surprisingly little specifically-focused academic attention. This volume by two German scholars (elegantly translated into English) therefore fills a yawning lacuna. Furthermore, it is written in such a flowing narrative style that it will be as appealing to the interested general reader as to the specialist.

[Patrick Link · Rating 3 out of 5]

A reviewer said this book was rigorous and accessible and on the whole I agree with that. It did seem to be a bit too down on the postcolonial states. They gave what they called neocolonialism short shrift. The absence of any mention of the New International Economic Order seemed strange when talking about economic opportunities and when talking about postcolonial academic studies.

[Bram · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good big picture discussion

There are good summaries of the major aspects of decolonization (economy, political ideologies). The focus is mainly on African and Asian former colonies. There isn’t much mention of Caribbean or Pacific colonies. Don’t expect detailed narratives of any former colonies route to independence.

[Magnus Halsnes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ei interessant og ganske lesverdig og lettlest bok om avkolonisering, der forfattarane prøver forklare og forstå kva avkolonisering er og var og diskuterer dei mange problema som er knytt til eit svært komplisert konsept og fenomen.

[Kasia1312 . . · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ein guter Überblick über die Dekolonisation, vorallem in Asien und Afrika. Das Buch ist eher ein Starteinblick, Literaturempfehlungen sind dabei. Es ist sehr theoretisch, manchmal bisschen sehr trocken, aber zeigt jedoch, wie komplizierz und verschiedenen Dekolonisationsprozesse sind

[Marvin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gute Verknüpfung von Theorie und Praxis und Aufzeigen der Gemeinsamkeiten aber auch vielfältigen Unterschiede im Dekolonisationsprozess. Teilweise nur etwas unnötig verwissenschaftlichte Sprache.

[Vorik · Rating 4 out of 5]

interessanter Kurzabriss über ein Welt veränderndes Ereignis des 20. Jahrhunderts

[sbs transit · Rating 4 out of 5]

#nsreads 29

Indeed a short and brief history but the list of suggested readings is decent

[Russell Chee · Rating 3 out of 5]

What's there to say? Decolonisation is certainly an important topic to grapple with, and where the book proves itself worthwhile is in going beyond a mere historical survey of decolonisation and related processes to consider political theory, ideas and even the fundamental considerations behind the term. We get models explaining the political developments of decolonisation - the transfer of power, national liberation, neocolonialism, unburdening and world politics model - and analytical perspectives - local, imperial and international - that altogether provide us with an incredibly wide view of various postcolonial happenings. One chapter is spent pinpointing the potential starting point of decolonisation, exploring fascinating qualifiers like the applicability of the decolonisation framework to the collapse of the Japanese Empire (certainly fits the bill) and the USSR (does not, because of the uniquely indigenised elite of these countries). Examining the importance of the interwar period, the chapter draws a direct link from the multifaceted impact of WW1 on what the authors term "late colonial" policy that, in turn, directly engineered the conditions necessary for decolonisation. The chapter that follows is the most explicitly narrative, though the authors attempt to view the process itself through an analytical lens of sovereignty and constitutionalism. Fascinatingly, we get a pair of brief chapters on the economy and world politics, and while these areas both merit entire texts, the authors do a good job of covering the bases. We get the sense that true economic decolonisation and decoupling is much more a spectrum than the irreversible process of political independence, while it emerges that the international political context surrounding decolonisation is in fact all-too-often overlooked or simplified - that though the impact of the former on the latter has been often expounded upon (for instance, in the devastation faced by Angola and Mozambique), the reverse process has gone under-noticed. An important point the authors make is the distinction between this particular wave of decolonisation and previous instances of independence from empires - where the latter merely represented the replacement of one hegemonic power by another, the former "[changed] the conceptual underpinnings of the world order"; it rendered colonisation, once taken for granted, "unthinkable or at least unspeakable", and it brought human rights to the genuine forefront of international discussion. What sets the book apart from other decolonisation histories, however, is its genuine attempt to discuss and engage with the competing ideas, ideologies and programmes swirling around the theoretical space of decolonisation. While admittedly short, it covers the naturalisation of decolonisation as a political inevitability, explores the triumph of the sovereign nation-state as the ideal post-independence model (though without overlooking the short-lived burst of federative enthusiasm), the emergence of colonialism as a historical condition, rather than a collection of events, in turn giving rise to considerations of power dynamics and structures, and the rise of the "Third World". There is also a brief section devoted to postcolonial theory, and while the length of the book may have been a limiting factor, this was one weakness - there was simply insufficient engagement with the debates within, and not just arising out of, postcolonial theory (to name but one example, the contention between 'postcolonial' and 'decolonial' as terms of description), simplifying postcolonial theory and caricaturing it as merely a pathetic attempt to contest the completeness of decolonisation, when it seeks far more nuance than that.

The other weakness of the book is perhaps unavoidable, though it is a failing nonetheless - it is simply too value-neutral; there is no judgment at all, no predictive paradigm, no evaluative conclusion nor any incisive, analytical synthesis. The conclusion, while an enticing and suitably enlightening meditation on legacies and memories of decolonisation in both colonies and metropoles, makes no attempt to synthesize the information and analysis the authors make to provide a perhaps more memorable snapshot of one of the most important processes of the 20th century.

[Mills College Library]

325.309 J351 2017

[Susan Collinsworth]

recommended in MOAA