Week Thirteen: Chapter 22

The End of Empire in World History:

• In the Americas, many of the colonized people were of European descent
• In the 20th century we saw the demise of many empires
• Ottoman empire collapsed after WW1: this gave a rise to the number of of new states in Europe as well as in the Middle East
• WW2 ended the German and Japanese empires
• Intrusive U.S. presence was a big factor stimulating the Mexican American Revolution in 1910
• Much of Mexico's oil industry was owned by American and British investors

Explaining African and Asian Independence:

• The increasing democratic values of European states ran counter to the essential dictatorship of colonial rule
• The enormously powerful force of nationalism now played a major role in its disintegration
• Both the U.S. and Soviet Union, the new global super powers generally opposed the older European colonial empires. 
• World wars weakened Europe while discrediting any sense of European moral superiority
• Colonial rules began to plan for a new political relationship with their Asian & African subjects
• Planning for decolonization include gradual political reforms, investments in railroads, ports, and telegraph lines: the holding elections and the writing of circumstances 
• "Fathers" of their new countries were
• Gandhi and Nehru in India
• Sukarno in Indonesia
• Ho Chi Ninh in Vietnam 
• Nkrumah in Ghana 
• Mandela in South Africa
• Beneath the common goal of independence they struggled with one another over questions of leadership, power, strategy, ideology, and the distribution or material benefits

Comparing Freedom Struggles:

• Nationalism surfaced in Vietnam in the early 1900's, but the country didn't achieve full political independence until the mid 1970's
• In West Africa, nationalist relied on peaceful political pressure to achieve indep. (strikes, mass)
• 8 yrs of warfare preceded Algerian independence from France in 1962
• India was among the first colonies to achieve independence & provide a model and inspiration 
• South Africa was among the last to throw off political domination by whites

The Case of India: Ending British Rule

• British differed from earlier invaders in ways that promoted a growing sense of India identity
• The most important political expression of an all-Indian identify took shape in the Indian National Congress (INC) often called Congress Party, established in 1885
• INC was largely an urban phenomenon and quite moderate in its demands
• INC had difficulty gaining  a mass following among India's vast peasant population
• British attacks on the Islamic Ottoman Empire antagonized India's muslims
• Colonial India became independent in 1947 as two countries 
• A muslim Pakistan itself divided into two wings 1000 miles apart

The Case of South Africa: Ending Apartheid:

• South Africa's freedom struggle was very different from that of India's
• County's black African majority had no political rights whatsoever within the central state
• Term "Afrikaner" reflected their image of themselves as "white africans"
• Had a developed mature industrial economy by the early 20th century
• By the 1960's the economy had benefited from extensive foreign investment and loans
• Native Reserves served as ethic homelands that kept Africans divided along tribal lines
• Established in 1912 the African National Congress (ANC), liked its Indian predecessor was led by male, educated, professional, and middle-class Africans who were "Civilized Men"
• Women were denied full membership in the ANC until 1943
• Soweto rebellion persisted, and by the 1980's spreading urban violence 
• The 1994 elections brought the ANC to power
• Unlike India these divisions did not occur along religious lines, rather it was race, ethnicity, and ideology that generated dissension and sometimes violence
• South Africa, unlike India, acquired its political freedom as an intact and unified state

Experiments in Political Order: Party, Army, and the Fate of Democracy:

• Many developing countries were culturally very diverse with little loyal to a central state
• The British began to hand over power in a gradual way well before complete independence was granted in 1947
• Africans sometimes suggested that their traditional cultures based on communal rather than individualistic values
• African economic performance since independence has been the poorest in developing world
• Economic disappointments, class resentment, and ethnic conflicts provided the context for numerous military takeovers
• Meanwhile military rule was something new and unexpected in Africa, Latin American armed forces had long intervened in political life
• Cuba revolution of 1959 brought Fidel Castro to power, establishing in Latin American a communist outpost intent on spreading its revolutionary message 
• in 1970 Chileans elected a Marxist politician, Salvador Allende, whose Popular United Party brought together the countries socialist and communists
• Allende warmly welcomed Fidel Castro for a month long visit in 1971in efforts to achieve genuine revolutionary change by legal and peaceful and legal means. It failed
• Despite the democratic setbacks if tea 1960s and 70's, beginning the 1980s a remarkable political reversal brought popular movements, multiparty elections, and new constitutions to a number of developing countries
• Some elected leaders turned authoritarian once in office

Experiments in Economic Development: Changing Priorities, Varying Outcomes:

• At the top of the agenda for the Global South was economic development, a process that meant growth or increasing production as well as distributing the fruits of that growth to raise living standards 
• Economic development took place in societies sharply divided by class, religion, ethnic groups and gender in a face of explosive population growth 
• Colonial rule had provided only the most slender foundations for modern development 
• Often new nations came to independence with low literacy rates and a weak private economy
• In China and India, the new approach generated rapid economic growth, but also growing inequalities and social conflicts
• The classic contrast to Latin American approaches the industrial development lay East Asia where South Korea chose a different strategy 
• An emphasis on city based industrial development, stirred by vision of a rapid transition to modernity, led to a neglect or exploitation of rural areas and agriculture 
• Women also were central to many governments increased interest in curtailing pop growth
• The benefits and drawbacks of foreign aid, investment, and trade have likewise been contentious issues 
• Between 1980s and 2000 the average income in forty-three of Africa's poorest countries dropped by 25%, pushing living standards for many 

Experimenting with Culture: The Role of Islam in Turkey and Iran:

• In the aftermath of WW1 modern Turkey emerged from the ashes of the Ottoman Empire
• Although women were not forbidden to wear the veil, many elite women abandoned it and set the tone for feminine fashion in Turkey
• Married women could no longer file for divorce or attend school
• By the end of the 21st century, almost 60 percent of university students were women
• Women right to vote remained in tact