africa, the middle east and asia in the era of independence

Chapter

AP* Sixth Edition

World CivilizationsThe Global Experience

World CivilizationsThe Global Experience

Copyright ©2011, ©2007, ©2004 by Pearson Education, Inc.All rights reserved.

World Civilizations: The Global Experience, AP* Sixth EditionStearns • Adas • Schwartz • Gilbert

Africa, The Middle East Africa, The Middle East and Asia in the Era of and Asia in the Era of IndependenceIndependence

33



The Big Picture

• Following World War II, waves of independence movements swept Asia and Africa. Independence and liberation are two distinct processes and the later continues to be a struggle through much of the post-colonial world

• Profound demographic shifts (population growth and urbanization) continue to challenge the post-colonial world

• Emerging cultural identities and stress between western liberal and indigenous cultural aspects challenge these emerging nations



Key Questions• How and why did nations in Asia and Africa

achieve independence?• What was the role of charismatic leaders and

political parties in this movement?• How did cultural identities unite and divide

emerging nations?• What was the lingering role of western

cultures on these new nations?• What was the cause and effect of

demographic shifts in emerging nations?.



A graphic view Africa

• Some nations declared independence from Europeans, others seceded from existing nations

• The world’s newest nation, South Sudan, is not depicted on this map



A graphic view Asia

• While the 1940’s were an active time for independence, the break up of the Soviet Union in 1991 established a new wave of indpependence



Independence vs. Liberalization

• Independence can be considered the process of turning over governance and sovereignty to local authorities

– Borders drawn by colonial authorities without considerations of culture- artificial borders

– Independence is relative rather than absolute- What is the new relationship between the former colony and emerging nation?

• Liberation is the process by which a majority of the new nation’s inhabitants have a meaningful voice in the political and economic life of the nation

– This process is ongoing and less clear than independence

– Ethnic and religious forces continue to battle western notions of democratic liberalism- e.g Boko Haram in Nigeria



The Emerging World Order after WWII

• Political geographers organized the emerging political map as divided into three separate worlds. – The first world- developed nations- liberal democracies-

higher standard of living– The second world- communist oligarchies- considerable

variance in wealth– The third world- developing nations- include many newly

independent nations as well as Latin America and non-colonized Asia Little or no industry- extractive wealth (oil) made some of these

nations very wealthy by the 1970’s

• End of the Cold War would make this map less relevant



The Three Worlds



What were some common issues in the third world?

• Third world nations faced demographic instability (more later)

• Third world nations have economies that depend on monoculture and extractive wealth

• Third world nations became the battleground between the forces of the first and second world– Communist and non-communist forces arm groups

supporting their models of political development Vietnam, Angola, Nicaragua etc…



The Demographic Challenges

• Dramatic population rises experienced in Europe in the 19th century hit newly independent states– Traditionally high birthrates were balanced by lower

life expectancies and high infant mortality– Columbian exchange (16th-19th century) and improved

health and sanitation systems (20th century) lower mortality in emerging states

• Population rates would double in less than 30 years stressing resources of developing nations

• Gapminder statistical analysis Population Growth



Population Growth and Development

• Lower infant mortality would immediately burden educational systems of emerging nations

• The intermediate effect was the need to employ large numbers of young men and women– Improved agricultural efficiency and lack of land would

drive many to the cities (more later)

– Marriage and high fertility of these people would further increase population



Population growth: Egypt



Population Growth: Ghana



Population Pyramid: India 1991 and 2020

• What changes do you note in India’s population characteristics? How can we explain them?



Thomas Malthus on population

• 18th Century English cleric made some pessimistic predications about the future of population growth– Food production grows arithmetically while

population unchecked by disease or starvation grows exponentially Arithmetically- 0, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12 ... Exponentially

• A phenomenon known as a demographic transition where growing populations reduce fertility rates has partially offset this– Various cultural values have affected this



• What might be the relationship between population growth and per capita income in a nation?



Populations, Independence and National Liberation

• Emerging nations were experiencing the population growth that Europe did in the Industrial Revolution– Emerging nations lacked the industrial

development to employ excess rural populations moving to cities

– Emerging nations lacked the colonial territories to send excess populations

• Growing populations and agricultural efficiency would draw larger numbers to growing “parasitic cities”



Parasitic Cites

• Sterns noted that cities lacked the wealth generating industries that would absorb rural migrants– Rural migration would help to fuel Europe’s industrial

revolution– Cities become dead ends for migrants

Begging, hucksters, street vendors– Encourage development of volatile mobs organizing

to challenge elites and other perceived blocking their life-chances

• Cities become increasingly dependent on rural areas as governments buy off crowds with subsidized food



Urbanization in a View

• In 1950, 12 of the 20 largest cities were in Japan, Europe or America

• By 1975, it was 7 out of 20• By 2000, it was 5 of 20• In 2015, it is only 3 of 20 (and none are in

Europe)• Managing population growth and

urbanization in the developing world may be its greatest challenge



General Challenges in Independence

• How can a western style nationalism be styled to incorporate the ethno-religious identities of emerging states?

• How can the colonial elites who will lead the independence movements be seen as authentic in spite of their European veneers?

• How can emerging governments deliver on the promises of economic gains and civil liberties?

• How can new leaders negotiate through ethnic and religious divisions that Europeans exploited during colonization?

• Reading 815 Artificial nations…



Rallying Behind Charismatic Leaders and One Party/Military Rule

• Independence movements coalesced under charismatic figures who had to use anti-imperialism as a rallying point.

• These leaders became a personification of these emerging states that had no unique national history

• Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana– Created the name Ghana from African History

His nation was never part of the historical kingdom of Ghana Stages events to create national tradition and pride- Drawn

from Fascist models One party rule taken down in a military coup



Egypt and Arab Nationalism

• Egypt’s move to independence was more gradual than most of Africa

• The Wafd Political Party would challenge British rule after World War I, but be co-opted by Britain during World War II– Wafd modeled on western liberal democratic model

• This movement challenged by Islamic identity model of Hasan al-Banna- Islamic Brotherhood– Railed at the affluence of a European-styled Egyptian middle

class among the poverty of Egypt- popular in rural areas– Rejected nationalism , liberalism, western materialism and

democracy– Repressed movement at odds with secular-military establishment

• Won election in 2011- defeated in military coup in 2013



Nasser and Arab Nationalism

• Like in many emerging nations, the military would dominate this nation in post-independence

• General Gamal Abdul Nasser earns hero status in Arab world for his opposition of Zionism (seen as an extension of European Imperialism)

• Suez Crisis 1956- Drives the French and British out of Suez

• A military directed nationalism would repress religious identity movements for most of the 20th century

• Nasser’s successor Anwar al Sadat assassinated in 1981 by a member of the Brotherhood



Religious Revivalism in Post Colonial Societies

• Examples in Iran Egypt and Afghanistan• The jarring impact of liberal (and often secular) westernization

on rural and urban poor was increasingly alienated• Autocratic leaders of the post independence period would

impose aspects of western social and economic programs and facilitate neocolonialism

• This would spawn a religious revival as a countervailing force where strong religious values remained a force

• Contemporary examples in Islamic world include Boko Haram, The Taliban, The Islamic Brotherhood, Islamic Republic of Iran– Each of these groups has vastly different interpretations – All draw in interpretations of Islam as a counter to western liberal

model that has alienated growing numbers of people who feel left out



Negotiating Post Colonial Economic Development

• Colonialism initiated African (and to a lesser degree) Asian colonies into the world economy as sources of agricultural and mineral products

• Little industrial base and competitive open markets and scarcity of capital challenged economic development

• Price of primary products fluctuated and could spark economic crisis

• Oil producers were the best off as their product was fundamental in the industrial economy– Oil rich sparsely populated lands awash in money- idle rich

populations often as restive as urban poor• Neocolonialism- economic imperialism “cocacolonization” • Economic development as a challenge to native institutions

and identity



Racism and the Settler Society of South Africa: Independence vs. Liberation

• In most freed colonies, independence made little or know difference for many if not most residents of freed colony– E.g. What did independence in 1776 mean to

African slaves in America?

• While South Africa’s colonial rule ended early in the 20th century, liberation did not come for a majority until 1994



White Settler Colonies and the Struggle between Liberty and Independence

• South Africa had two major settler colonies in the 20th Century– Rhodesia (Now Zimbabwe)– South Africa

• In both states, whites organized minority rule– This was particularly tricky in

Rhodesia where whites were a tiny minority Unilaterally declared independence

from Britain in 1965

• South Africa built an elaborate system to maintain white rule



The Apart in Apartheid

• All south Africans were racially identified at birth– Black Asians and colored (non-whites) could

not vote in national elections- Like Jim Crow– Non-whites had to carry a pass when in white

areas– Creation of African ethno-linguistic homelands

(Bantustans) Similar to partition of Palestine

• Blacks economically and politically dependent on white populations



Taking Apart Apartheid

• System kept in place by state- sponsored terror- spies and police

• Opposition divided among ethnic lines– Black identity divided between ethno-linguistic lines

• African National Congress organized to challenge South African police state– Nelson Mandela among others placed in off-shore prisons

• Growing international boycott isolates South Africa• Moderate white leader F.W de Klerk negotiates with ANC-

released Mandela in 1990• 1994 election brings majority rule with white participation• South Africa is working to build a new nationalism that is

interracial and inter-ethnic



The Developing World of Africa, South Asia and the Middle East• The emerging states in this region have a great

variety of challenges and tools to meet those challenges

• The legacy of imperialism and the tightening web is generating identity backlashes among those who are increasingly aware of their marginalization

• Globalization has made “their problems” into “our problems”

• The issue of independence is done, but liberation will involve unique blends of models taken from emerging global models

africa, the middle east and asia in the era of independence

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