GS Paper 1
Syllabus: World History (Rise of Colonialism)
Source: TH
Context: Colonialism remains a relevant factor in understanding the problems and dangers of the world in which we live.
Messy legacies of colonialism:
- Jammu and Kashmir, Palestine, etc.
- Civil conflict along ethnic or regional lines:
- Boundaries drawn in colonial times still create enormous problems of national unity, especially in Africa. For example, between Ethiopia and Eritrea.
- The administrative habit of “divide and rule” → British policy in the subcontinent after 1857 → unequal distribution of the resources → political divisions between Hindus and Muslims → tragedy of Partition.
Implications of these colonial legacies:
- Crisis of governance: For example, the collapse of effective central governments in Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Liberia and Somalia.
- Underdevelopment in post-colonial societies (“weak states” – vulnerable to collapsing) is itself a cause of conflict.
- The uneven development in a poor country – creates fissures between those from “neglected regions” and those who are better served.
What has made the situation worse? Capitalism has furthered poverty and ecological collapse – portrayed by Robert Kaplan in his book The Coming Anarchy → suggesting the real danger of perpetual violence on the peripheries of our global village.
Way ahead: The need of the hour is not only to protect fundamental human rights and democratic governance but an international order principled upon the notions of sovereignty and the equality of states.
Insta Links:
Colonialism and Decolonization
Mains Links:
Examine critically the various facets of economic policies of the British in India from the mid-eighteenth century till independence. (UPSC 2014)
