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Politics readingPost-colonialism
Relatively new approach to IR
Main contributions of postcolonial analysis have been bringing historical relations of
colonial powers with colonies into the study of IR; to provide views and theories of
those relations from the perspectives of colonized people rather than from the
perspectives of great powers alone; and to encourage the use of novels, poetry,
diaries and testimonials as sources of valuable information on the nature of
colonialism and post-colonialism. The fourth contribution is when the hyphen is
removed, the changed from indicates that global ear is postcolonial.
‘postcolonial’ signifies lingering colonial hierarchies of race, gender and class despite
the winding down of the formal colonial period and the tendency of IR to pay more
attention to the foreign policies of the USA and European countries than to those of
most the formal colonies.
Formal colonies face International Relations – history/background
Colonies, by definition, were not independent and sovereign and many had to struggle
violently or non-violently to cut the colonial powers and gain sovereign independence. They
then had the challenge of fulfilling the responsibilities of duly constituted states to protect
national populations, to oversee economic development and to provide social services such
as education. The later the colonization and independence occurred, the greater the
challenges of post-colonial governance. The poorest countries of the world today were
recent colonies and wars and conditions of civil unrest and underdevelopment shadow
many of them. As IR has a main focus on great powers; it did not broaden its interests into
the groups, cultures, movements and knowledge of former colonies. Therefore, to include
relations in race, culture, inequality, exploitation and colonization as international relations,
the field had to develop an interest in historical relations of states and groups, instead of
hiding it under the premise of its history.
From WW2 onwards, IR was more focused on decolonization and the timing of the
independence of many colonies was during the Cold War and much of the focus was on the
two superpowers: ideological, economic and technological dominance. The order of
priorities was symptomatic of the hierarchies of power and knowledge in the world and it
was entirely unacceptable to radical leaders in Cuba, China and Indonesia, who believed
that former colonies should carve out their own destinies.
Frantz Fanon
One of the early analysts who advocated the violent overthrow of colonialism and
dominance-subordination relations in new states. Fanon’s work stresses the power of
colonial discourses to colonize the minds of all involved. This meant that European
colonizers would see their exercise of dominating power as justified and colonized societies
would come to accept and to internalize the diminished and subordinate statuses imposed
on them. The vehicle of such status differentiation is the force of language – words, racial
epithets and daily insults thrown at people. Fanon drew on works of anti-colonial poets and
writers to discuss the importance of building a national consciousness that does not mimic
European ways. Fanon details in The Wretched of the Earth that violence emerges as the
only action that can drive out insulting messages and free the colonized to achieve self-
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