Political Continuities and Discontinuities in the World between the Colonial Period and the Present - Term Paper Example

of the of the Concerned History and Political Science 5 October Political Continuities and Discontinuities in the World between the Colonial Period and the Present Introduction There is no denying the fact that nothing in this world exists in isolation. This world is indeed not a time capsule. The orders of the past continue into the present and the awareness of the present remoulds and reconfigure the ways of the yore. In that context, in an academic perspective, it will be immensely interesting to have a look into the political continuities and discontinuities in the world between the colonial period and the present. In a simplistic perspective, colonialism pertained to the acquisition, perpetuation, and management of the overseas territories referred to as colonies by the people from other countries, most commonly happening to be denizens of the Western world. Colonialism was a process by which the people of a Western country established sovereignty over a foreign land and the colonizers went to a great length to alter the politics, social norms, culture and economic dynamics of that colony to strictly suit their vested interests and designs (Wesseling 1997, p. 29). Inequality was indeed the basis of colonialism and the inequality between the colonizing nation and the colony and between the colonizers and the natives was the crux of all the colonial logic. Colonialism did have a multidimensional impact on the individual rights, politics, cultural norms, economics and religion of the colonized nations and gave way to institutions and concepts like slavery, economic exploitation, religious enforcement and ethnic alienation. Though these norms and concepts have greatly ceased to exist in a strictly colonial form, they indeed tend to continue in altered forms and designs in the contemporary times. This paper intends to trace the continuities and discontinuities associated with these institutions and concepts in a current perspective. Slavery Colonialism relied for its political and economic sustenance on the subjugation and exploitation of the colonized. Slavery was an immensely unfortunate and inhuman aspect of colonialism that tended to dehumanize the people from colonized lands to run the economic machinery of the colonial nations (Walvin 1994, p. 7). The essential essence of slavery in the colonial times was that it methodically degraded the culture, traditions, social institutions and religions of the colonized races to consider them equal to being animals. The colonial forces had to somehow justify the exploitation of subjugated races as slaves, and the one plausible way of doing so was to prove and establish that the people from colonized races were inferior to the Europeans. The foundations of slavery and the slave trade were laid in the beginning of colonialism and the commensurate rise of mercantile powers (Walvin 1994, p. 56). Slavery was utterly devastating for the colonized races in a long term context as it significantly shrunk their populations, made the colonized lands and races more vulnerable to and dependant on colonial powers, decimated any chances of modernization of the enslaved races and brought far reaching political consequences, whose reverberations could even be heard in the present times. The institution of slavery devastated farming and industry in the colonized nations. There is no denying the fact that the institution of slavery in its colonial context, where the individuals from the enslaved races were owned and managed by the Western vested interests has seized to exist in the present times. However, it goes without saying that the historical momentum that accompanied colonialism and imperialism and the accompanying institutions and practices like slavery still continue to shape the present world in ways and forms that is utterly disturbing and annoying. It would not be wrong to say that there are far greater numbers of slaves serving the cause of the Western economies today than that existed during the zenith of slavery. Today the institution of slavery is much more diversified and hidden. Slavery means the state of existence in which a person is bound as a slave to an institution, organization or a mode of production in a way that extend no right to that enslaved person over the fruits of one’s labour. This very spirit of the exploitation of the fruits of labour of an individual, which constituted the quintessence of the colonial slavery, continues to survive in the present times in varied forms. The Western economies are shifting the manufacturing basis for the low tech commodities to the third world. The third world countries like India, China and Phillipines are dotted with body shops and sweat shops where the native labour is made to manufacture products for the Western markets for a pittance of what an average labourer gets in a Western country. The rampant human trafficking and illegal immigration has given way to parallel economies where the manufacturers and employers from the developed nations continue to employ the illegal immigrants on slave wages. So, even today the Western economies do rely on one from or other of slavery to sustain their growth and development. Economic Exploitation Though, the colonial nations and powers tended to justify their subjugation of and control over the weaker nations in the name of religion, moral responsibility and the ethnic superiority of the colonial races, the essential fact was that the basis of colonialism were economic and pecuniary (Pennycook 1998, p. 16). The colonial nations and races more than often resorted to a ruthless economic exploitation of the people and resources of the colonized nations. The manpower of the colonized nations was uprooted from the traditional industries and agriculture that they sustained and nurtured and was forcefully employed in serving the colonial economic ends and ways. The natural and mineral resources of the colonized lands were exported to the colonial nations at grossly unjust and insufficient prices to provide fodder for the industrial machinery of the colonial powers (Pennycook 1998, p. 36). This not only amounted to a forceful and shameless economic exploitation of the colonized races and nations, but also divested the economies of the colonized nations of their inherent vigour and sustainability, thereby plunging them into poverty and deprivation for the times to come. In that context, the economic injuries that the colonial nations wrecked on the colonized nations continue to make them bleed and groan even in the current times. The colonial nations refined and reconfigured the means of economic exploitation on a continual basis, by introducing measures like derogatory land revenue policies, indentured labour, turning the local markets into captive markets, discouraging the local industries, resorting to discriminatory policies against local entrepreneurs and merchants, domination of the local capital and money markets, draining the wealth of the colonial nations to support and sustain the economies of the colonial nations, diverting the scarce resources of the colonized nations into the war efforts being undertaken by the colonial nations, etc. There is no denying the fact that though the economically superior Western powers today do not resort to establishing a direct sovereignty over the developing world, the varied instruments of economic dominion resorted to be colonial powers continue to exist even now. Due to the economic frailties and weaknesses that the third world nations inherited from their colonial past, they lack the technology to add value to their natural resources and thus have to export most of their raw materials to the developed nations by necessity. The world capital and money markets are more in favour of the developed economies and the international trade and financial institutions like WTO, World Bank, IMF, etc are largely dominated by the ex colonial powers. The economic edge that colonialism imparted to the Western powers in the start still continues to hold its sway and influence in the current times. Ethnic Alienation Colonialism led to a large scale migration and transportation of native people from one country to the other. This gave way to the concept of ethnic alienation. Not to mention that the notion of ethnic alienation tended to work at varied levels and in varied dimensions. The term ethnic alienation corresponds to a strong feeling of isolation and loneliness experienced by the natives displaced from their homeland by force or by necessity, either voluntarily or involuntarily. These individuals displaced from their homeland were marred by an intense feeling of being separated from society that was dominated by a different race and ascribed to very different social, cultural and religious norms and practices (Geyer 1996, p. 66). To a great extent, the different societies in which the natives were placed impinged on them varied expectations, which tended to be contrary to their intrinsic beliefs, goals, feelings and desires. This feeling of ethnic alienation was manifold enhanced by the impersonal and cold attitude of the local institutions and governments towards the displaced people. The displaced natives strongly felt that the opportunities and chances extended by the foreign lands in which they were placed were beyond their approach and means. The advantages inherent in the mainstream culture simply seemed to be beyond their scope. This feeling was accompanied by a strong yearning for the native land from which the individuals were displaced. The ethnic alienation that impacted the displaced natives used to give way to many psychological problems, and different people resorted to different ways to cope with such alienation (Geyer 1996, p. 66). Some used to get withdrawn from the society and turn introspective and lethargic, while others reacted by getting violent and engaging in crime and hostilities. Many natives preferred to succumb to a sort of disorientation, adopting appearances and behaviour that negated their adopted society and made them appear different and erratic. It goes without saying that this notion and feeling of ethnic alienation has found its way from the colonial era to the present times. Many from the future generations of the natives displaced during the colonial times do come across this feeling of alienation in one form or other. Many ex colonies do have immigration friendly policies which help them acquire the requisite man power for sustaining their economy. However, the irony is that the society and institutions of these nations are not commensurately prepared to adjust to the needs and requirements of these immigrants, thereby coming out as cold and irresponsive. Thus, many refugees and immigrants to the developed nations, both legal and illegal, have to contend with a strong feeling of alienation. Religious Enforcement Religious enforcement and religious conversion by force or incentives was an integral part of the colonialism that extended its tentacles from 15th to late 20th century. The usurping of the weaker nations by the colonial powers witnessed an accompanying thrust of the targeted missionary activity. The colonial powers were well aware that they simply cannot rule over the subjugated races and cultures simply by force. So, a dire need was felt for devising means to influence and brainwash the hearts and minds of the natives. Religious enforcement and religious conversion were considered to be the most effective and potent tools, with which to influence the basic beliefs and values of the colonized races (Ling 1999, p. 26). The missionaries not only resorted to raw force to enforce conversion, but also used soft tactics like extending opportunities for free education, employment and health facilities as a compensation or reward for converting to Christianity. This strategy of the colonial powers had a far reaching impact on the colonized cultures. The missionaries did their best to alter and change the beliefs and values of those they targeted for conversion, and further these beliefs got transferred from the parents to the future generations. In the present times though missionaries are still active in varied parts of the world, the tendency to use religion as a political strategy has veined over time. However, the beliefs transferred by the missionaries to the colonized nations did drastically impact their indigenous cultures in more than one way, and its impact could still be felt. Conclusion Colonization at its core was a brutal and repressive trend. Though, the motives behind the tendency for colonization were essentially economic, the way and means devised by the colonizing nations to achieve these motives did much to alter the socio-economic and cultural fabric of the colonized nations, whose impact could still be felt in the current times. The strategies resorted to by the colonized nations and the institutions and the tendencies they gave way to like, slavery and economic exploitation have ceased to exist in the earlier raw formats. Yet, the essential beliefs behind these strategies and designs have percolated to the present times in more evasive and hidden forms. Reference List Geyer, Fleix 1996, Alienation, Ethnicity and Post Modernism, Greenwood Press, London. Ling, Oi Ki 1999, The Changing Role of British Protestant Missionaries in China, 1945-1952 , Associated University Press, London. Pennycook, Alastair 1998, English and the Discourses of Colonialism, Routledge, London. Walvin, James 1994, Black Ivory: A History of British Slavery, Howard University Press, London. Wesseling, HL 1997, Imperialism and Colonialism: Essays on the History of European Expansion, Greenwood Press, London. Read More