What is Decolonization?

Decolonization is a series of acts that means getting rid of the colonial status of the society or the country from the clutches or rule of some other powerful nation or group. After World War II, many European countries freed themselves from the reigns of the powerful countries and headed towards an Independent state. 

Types of Decolonization

Basically, there are four types of decolonization:-

• Building self-government and creating white settler colonies. Eg- Canada and Australia.
• Putting an end to the empirical rule of the British, leading to independence. eg- India
• Replacing a formal rule with an informal one, which is also called neo-colonialism. Eg.- Latin America
• A change in the rule as one master is replaced by another one. Eg. Indo- China

The Timeline of Decolonization

• In the early stages of the Twentieth century, Europe had emerged as the most powerful ruler as it was a hub of power, wealth, and culture. Towards the end of the 20th century, Europe had started losing all its power and reign.
• The first decade of the 20th century created problems for Russia which was the leader till then. There were ongoing nationalistic movements in different parts of the world such as China, Egypt, and India.
• Also, the nations were heading towards massive discontent among their people as the war imposed serious exploitations of the people, money, resources and created a need for some change. As a new international order was occupying its place in Europe, simultaneously many changes were going around in the other parts of the world. For eg. India was undergoing a transformation under Mahatma Gandhi, in turkey, Kemal Ataturk got the power, China observed 4th May, in Indonesia, around 2.5 million people joined the nationalist movement. 
• By the early 20th century, the British power had declined to a much greater extent, but the empires had to be run and the power had to exist. So, the British did not hesitate to do anything brutal to keep continuing their existence.
• After World War II, around 1945, the United States and Russia became the two leading powers. Britain’s economic condition drained drastically and it needed the help of the US to keep its funds flowing.

Stages of Decolonization 

There are five stages of Decolonization:-

1. Rediscovery and Recovery

This stage is characterized by growing desperation or discontent among the Individuals or society towards the colonial rule. The colonial power is constantly reminding the colonized society of their cultural and exponential drawbacks and this creates a threat to the society.

1. Mourning

This stage is an acceleration of the previous stage and signifies mourning over any losses or victimization that occurred to them as a part of colonization. Society grieves over the losses and the anger of the people is often expressed in the form of frustration build-up and protests.

1. Dreaming 

Dreaming is a very crucial stage of decolonization as it involves dreaming over future possibilities and preparing a framework for a new social order. The stage is often expressed by debates and discussions where the society is trying to lay the foundations of the new society which is completely free and very vulnerable to threats.

1. Commitment 

This stage marks the success of the third stage where people expressed their opinions and raised their voices. But in this stage, the voices are gathered together, all in tone with each other, with a single goal and ready to jump-start the process of decolonization and creating a joint frame of people, their voices, and their desires to get themselves freed.

1. Action

The last and final stage is the Action taking stage, which is the culmination stage and where the desire for independence is associated with action in the forms of violence or movements. This stage has a set goal and the society as a whole is working towards the fulfillment of this goal. However, the Thai stage has changed its shape over the past many years. Now, the action stage is discovered through various information sources such as newspapers, TV, the internet, etc. and this has quite a far-reaching impact on the mind of the society.

Scope of Decolonization 

The primary scope of decolonization is the right of a nation or a society to set itself free and emerge as a more stable form of government prior to colonization. When the society or the nation is self-determined to carry forward the decolonization process, the action starts to unfold in several ways. 

There are numerous ways to proceed with the decolonization process and it involves national movements, violent or nonviolent protests. Also, the changes can be made within the country with the intervention of the people or it can be brought about by intervention from some other foreign bodies. 

Examples of Decolonization

There have been various examples of decolonization in the history of the world. Some are listed below:-

• The breakup of the Spanish empire in the 19th century.
• Freedom of Korea from Japan after the second world war
• The Philippines was freed by the U.S. in 1946.
• India gained freedom in 1947 from Britain
• Palestine gained independence in 1948 and Egypt became decolonized in 1956. 
• Hong Kong was freed in 1997.
• France freed Vietnam in 1954 
• Macau came back to China in 1999

Conclusion 

Post Decolonization, the independent nation is burdened with a whole new responsibility to serve its people in the right manner.  However, just before gaining freedom, the colonies started gaining autonomy on the inside but all that led to growth in conflicts of interests, and economic diversities. Decolonization has a much wider impact on the whole system and it takes years to come back to the original rich taste of the society.