A concise and accessible history of decolonization in the
twentieth century
The
end of colonial rule in Asia, Africa, and the Caribbean was one of
the most important and dramatic developments of the twentieth
century. In the decades after World War II, dozens of new states
emerged as actors in global politics. Long-established imperial
regimes collapsed, some more or less peacefully, others amid mass
violence. This book takes an incisive look at decolonization and its
long-term consequences, revealing it to be a coherent yet
multidimensional process at the heart of modern history.
Jan
Jansen and J rgen Osterhammel trace the decline of European,
American, and Japanese colonial supremacy from World War I to the
1990s. Providing a comparative perspective on the decolonization
process, they shed light on its key aspects while taking into account
the unique regional and imperial contexts in which it unfolded.
Jansen and Osterhammel show how the seeds of decolonization were sown
during the interwar period and argue that the geopolitical
restructuring of the world was intrinsically connected to a sea
change in the global normative order. They examine the economic
repercussions of decolonization and its impact on international power
structures, its consequences for envisioning world order, and the
long shadow it continues to cast over new states and former colonial
powers alike.
Concise
and authoritative, Decolonization is the essential
introduction to this momentous chapter in history, the aftershocks of
which are still being felt today.