Notes on contributors

‘Postcolonial studies’ is the term given to the study of diaspora and the ideology of colonialism. Since the 1970s, when postcolonial studies was termed ‘Third World’ literature, and the 1980s, when it became ‘Commonwealth’ literature, the persistence of the framework of centre and margin, coloniser and colonised, has endured as a lens with which to view human identity and cultural expression. However, the relationship of postcolonial studies to international development is less well explored. Much of postcolonial studies is concerned with articulating patterns of gain, loss, inclusion, exclusion, identity formation and change, cultural evolution and human geographical dispersal in the wake of the after-effects of colonial rule. Postcolonial critics examine texts and images in order to make inferences about the significance of cultural identity and expression under these conditions. Often this is with a diachronic view of history. International development studies offers postcolonial critics a synchronic perspective on both the policy and materiality of political ideologies affecting cultural identity and expression. This paper looks at how the relationship between postcolonial and international development studies might be furthered in a dialectical exchange. Postcolonial critics such as Said and Pollard et al offer a critical understanding that informs policy making in international development contexts.     

‘Finishing the Job’: the UN Special Committee on Decolonization and the politics of self-governance

This article examines the modern day role and purpose of the UN Special Committee on Decolonization. Since its establishment in the 1960s the Committee has helped numerable former colonies achieve independence. Today, with very few ‘colonised’ Non-Self-Governing Territories remaining its work appears almost complete. However, serious flaws have always pervaded its decolonisation strategy; which are now more apparent than ever. The Committee retains narrow and outdated understandings of colonialism and, as a result, fails to recognise how widespread and pervasive global colonial forces remain. This makes its goal of universal decolonisation both unsatisfactory and misguided. The Committee’s problematic approach towards decolonisation stems from its participation within the ‘North–South Theatre’, in which antagonism is perpetuated between the world’s developed and less developed states. The paper argues that the Committee has not prioritised colonised peoples in the way it has always claimed, but instead worked principally in the interests of itself and its members.     

Planet of the Australians: Indigenous athletes and Australian Football’s sports diplomacy

This article examines the Australian Football League’s (AFL) diplomatic efforts to bring about recognition and reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous players, and to make a broader contribution to inter-communal relations. The AFL’s primary diplomacy has focused on classical racism, dealing with instances of on-field abuse of players by other players and with spectator education about racism and Indigenous culture in Australia. Despite successes in these areas, the AFL has notably failed to acknowledge structural, institutionalised modes of discrimination and exclusion, with the result that the sport remains deeply influenced by colonial thought and discourse concerning Indigenous Australians.     

Colonial legacies,armed revolts and state violence: the Maoist movement in India

Abstract

This article examines the connected histories of armed tribal and peasant revolts in colonial and postcolonial India with reference to the ongoing Maoist conflict in rural and tribal areas of central and eastern India. The article makes two interrelated arguments about the violent continuities that endure from colonial to postcolonial contexts: (1) the nation-state system, in its efforts to establish control and influence, creates a hierarchy of citizenship engaging in the hostile policing of marginalised subjects, thereby engendering armed revolts and political violence; (2) the postcolonial state’s response to these armed revolts by marginalised subjects who challenge its sovereignty and monopoly over violence, is equally violent and repressive. Most significantly, the state’s response is legitimised in the same colonial idioms and justifications that mark epistemic and physical violence against the third world.     

Polanyi's “Ports of Trade”: Salaga and Kano in the Nineteenth Century

This article explores the salient, often ignored, convergences between the discourses of colonizers and the colonized in Africa. Using Nigerian criticisms of British colonial handling of the Great Depression, and a similar critique of British colonial economic recovery measures penned by the British colonial statistician in Nigeria, S.M Jacob, the article contends that, in spite of stylistic and motivational differences, both sets of critics desired similar colonial reforms and were grounded in a common desire to compel British colonialism to fulfill its paternalistic promises to Nigerians during a time of economic crisis. The article argues that the two bodies of anti-colonial criticism wittingly or unwittingly sought to salvage the colonial enterprise by compelling the colonial state to avert public outrage that might threaten British rule. Although Nigerian critics recognized the imperative of eventual self-government, their critiques and those of Jacob were united in their common conviction that the best way to avert a further discrediting of British colonial rhetoric was for the state to provide relief to Nigeria's economically beleaguered peoples. Both sets of critics desired a colonial system that functioned effectively for the benefit of Nigerians, even if their motivation for desiring this outcome and their ultimate goals differed.     

Overcoming the division bloc and its limitations: a Gramscian approach to South Korean social formation

Abstract

Colonialism affects post-colonial social formations in a variety of ways. Japanese colonial rule had a far-reaching influence on South Korean post-colonial social formation. Most legacies of colonialism diminished as time went by, but one legacy of colonialism continued or even increased its effects on the South Korean political economy from the 1960s – namely, the division of Korea. This article provides an alternative Gramscian approach to the analysis of the social formation of South Korea, with due consideration of the division of the peninsula. For that purpose, it introduces the concept of a division bloc, adapting Gramsci’s concept of a historical bloc to develop an analysis of a social formation that is unique to South Korea. Then, I explicate the two events that have been most damaging for the division bloc – the 1997 economic crisis and the 1998–2007 inter-Korean reconciliation – describing them as an organic crisis and a hegemonic project, respectively. Following this, I present reasons why the counter-hegemonic efforts of liberal nationalists to overcome the division bloc failed.     

The Taliban's 'other' crimes

This paper explores possible legal responses to the Taliban's 'other' crimes--those inflicted against Afghans during Taliban rule. This criminality largely has been rendered invisible by virtue of the international community's focus on punishing the Taliban's support of transnational terrorists, in particular al-Qaeda. This invisibility is problematic given that carefully constructed prosecutions of these 'other' crimes could play an important role in post-conflict reconciliation and national reconstruction in Afghanistan. Such reconciliation and reconstruction can legitimise a representative post-conflict state and curb terrorist recidivism.     

Negotiating History for Reconciliation: A Comparative Evaluation of the Baltic Presidential Commissions

This article discusses the presidential historical commissions of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania that were established in 1998 to research the crimes of the Nazi and Soviet totalitarian regimes and to overcome interpretive disputes that had begun to overshadow the new democracies' politics. Conceptually framed as a state tool of historical conflict resolution and reconciliation, the Baltic commissions' structure, operative work and results all reveal many of the pitfalls, but also the opportunities of such official bodies of historical truth-seeking. The article concludes that even though all three commissions had a clear reconciliatory aim, their operative processes and final output differed remarkably. Their contribution to actual reconciliation was also very limited.     

National identity-building and the “Ustaša-nostalgia” in Croatia: the past that will not pass

Most scholarship on post-Communist Croatia claims that the first Croatian president, Franjo Tu?man, intentionally rehabilitated the legacy of the World War II (WWII) Croatian Usta?a and its Nazi-puppet state. The rehabilitation of the Usta?a has been linked to Tu?man’s national reconciliation politics that tended toward a particular “forgetting of the past.” The national reconciliation was conceptualized as a joint struggle of both the Croatian anti-fascist Partisan and the Croatian WWII fascist Usta?a successors to achieve Croatian independence. However, the existing scholarship does not offer a comprehensive explanation of the nexus between national reconciliation and the rehabilitation of the Usta?a. Hence, this article will present how “Usta?a-nostalgia” does not stem from Tu?man’s intentions, but rather from the morphological gap occurring in Tu?man’s nation-building idea. Namely, Tu?man’s condemnation of the entire idea of Yugoslavism and Yugoslavia eventually brought about the perception that any historical agent advocating the idea of an independent Croatia is better than any form of Croatian Yugoslavism. Finally, the article will present how contemporary Croatian society is still seeped in “Usta?a-nostalgia” due to the hesitation of the post-Tu?man Croatian politics to come to terms with the legacy of his national reconciliation politics.     

“C’est comme ça que cela pourrait recommencer” : L’épineuse question foncière au Burundi

In recent years, research on land conflicts in war-affected countries has seen a significant increase in the literature on conflict resolution. Land grabbing coupled with the return and repatriation of thousands of refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) after the end of civil wars constitute major challenges for peace and reconciliation in many African countries. Drawing on a case study of Burundi, one of Africa’s most densely populated countries, this article analyses the complex issues related to land conflicts. Burundi is currently facing thousands of land disputes following the return of refugees and IDPs stemming from the different politico-ethnic crises that this Great Lakes country has endured since independence. The current instrumentalization of the land issue by political entrepreneurs highlights the risks for the fragile peace and reconciliation process that Burundi has known in recent years if the land conflicts are not addressed in a sensitive and equitable manner.     

Outside the den of dragons: The Philippines and the NICs of Asia

The Phillippines is compared with Taiwan and South Korea on six factors, deemed in the literature to account for the economic success of the “little dragons” of Asia: colonial history, ties to the United States, class structures, state autonomy and efficacy, timing of industrialization, and culture. The theoretical implications of the comparative analysis in the study of development and underdevelopment in the Third World are considered, and the Marcos regime and the Aquino administration are evaluated in the light of the comparative analysis M.D. Litonjua is an assistant professor of sociology at the College of Mount St. Joseph in Cincinnati, Ohio. He is originally from the Philippines where he taught at the Ateneo de Manila University. He holds a Ph.D. in sociology from Brown University. His current interests include religion and social change, capitalism and democracy in Third World countries.     

Painting between the lines: the Cape Verdean community of Colonial Dakar, 1920–1945

From the late nineteenth century through the mid-twentieth century, Cape Verdean immigrants to Dakar, colonial capital of French West Africa, became a small but important community in terms of significance in both the urban economy and the colonial framework of race and identity. They occupied important labor niches valuable to the colonizer such as painting and domestic work and attached those fields to a unique identity to which only they belonged. Able to capitalize on the ambiguity inherent to colonial race and identity policies, Cape Verdeans bridged categories common to state policies – particularly “foreign” and “native” – in ways not adequately captured by the concept of intermediaries often employed in examinations of immigrant populations to West Africa. Their insertion in Dakar reveals the permeability of such colonial concepts as well as the opportunities immigrants made in town.     

“Elusive natives”: escaping colonial control in the Leverville oil palm concession,Belgian Congo, 1923–1941

Throughout the inter-war period, in the Belgian Congo's largest oil palm concession, thousands of colonised workers and their families managed to escape administrative surveillance and authority through schemes of dissimulation and elusiveness. The shared nature of sovereignty imposed on this territory, distributed between private and public agents, along with a sparse territorial occupation, left extended areas unsupervised by Western actors and indirect rulers. In these remote places, palm-fruit cutters, with the blessing of their employers, could settle without having to answer to authority. After exposing the specific policies enforced in the concession, this paper highlights how natives were able to maximise their autonomy regarding both the production imperatives imposed upon them and their obligations to the public authorities. The last part details the administration's consecutive failures in its endeavours to tackle workers’ elusiveness. The conclusion challenges the notion of “resistance” as an appropriate concept to recover the fruit cutters’ adaptation to the imperatives of colonial rule and large-scale manual labour within the rainforest.     

The ‘shared workplace’ agenda in Northern Ireland: lessons from local government

The study considers the ‘Shared’ Workplace agenda in Northern Ireland, which is a significant aspect of the reconciliation process. Our emphasis is on the capacity of a wide group of work-based social identifications to affect, limit, and frustrate this policy. Specifically, we address the impact of spatial and functional factors as well as occupational and professional characteristics through fieldwork in three local authorities. Interviews were held with a cross section of 65 subjects, each of whom had either been employed by or worked in partnership with one of these authorities. Our study thus contrasts with much of the literature on Northern Ireland, which is concerned with the impact of Protestant/Catholic or Unionist/Nationalist identities on such reconciliation processes in the workplace and more widely. This approach enables us to develop insights about implementation of such agendas, specifically concerning Northern Ireland and other deeply divided societies. In the conclusion, connections are also made between our findings and consociational forms of governance.     

The case of the ‘other India’ and Indian ir scholarship

ir scholarship in India has focused on the borders, territory and sovereignty of the Indian state, overlooking the rich complexity of interior border formation between colonial and independent India. The paper argues that the study of the princely states under the British paramountcy (1858–1947), neglected so far, is valuable to ir scholarship on three grounds. First, in mapping colonial India’s engagement with the outside world, the focus has been solely on British India. The princes were equally participative and perceptive of the outside world. Second, the princely states represent yet another challenge to the Westphalian notion of sovereignty, demonstrating the limited capacity of European categories to understand the ‘non-West’. Third, incorporating the paramountcy system in the genealogy of sovereignty of the Indian subcontinent offers a fresh account of border construction inside the state.     

Reconciliation through Sports? The case of South Africa

Abstract

Can sports—and if so how—serve as a vehicle for reconciliation and increased social cohesion in countries wrecked by civil conflict? This article analyses the case of South Africa and its experiences in the sports sector since the fall of apartheid, in an effort to explore the processes necessary to understand the potential sports may hold for peace building. By identifying initiatives in South Africa employed at the national, community and individual level of analysis, the article outlines the possible effects of sports on reconciliation in divided states. Through linking experiences from state policies, ngo activities and donor projects with social identity and reconciliation theory, the article outlines the possible positive and negative aspects of sports. Finally, important avenues for further research to uncover how to turn sports into effective political tools for post-conflict peace building are suggested.     

Issues of justice and reconciliation in complex political emergencies: Conceptualising reconciliation,justice and peace

This paper focuses on what can be done during emergency and transition periods to promote sustainable peace, in the aftermath of complex political emergencies in Africa, with particular reference to issues of reconciliation and justice. There is no common understanding of the political conditions under which efforts at reconciliation should be minimal in relation to a focus on justice in order to achieve the 'best' peace, or of those where the pursuit of justice should become paramount. There is also not even a common language of what justice and reconciliation mean in the context of post-conflict peace-building. The paper concludes that there is a much greater potential role for outsiders with regard to justice, while reconciliation is considered to be more of an internal affair in which international actors can only be present as supporters of domestic initiatives, and even then with great caution.     

Evangelical violence: Western Christianity and the use of force against the Third World

Abstract

Recognising the impact of religion on state action, this article identifies two variables that interact to affect the type and level of violence employed by Western states against Third World targets. First, variation in the degree to which the prominent Christian denominations and organisations within these states view evangelisation as either an individual-level or national-level process – Christian individualism vs Christian nationalism – has determined church support for using violence as a tactic. Second, the level of influence that churches and missionary organisations have over their home states affects the ability of Christian actors to directly impact state actions. Western violence against Third World peoples is expected to be lowest when churches and Christian organisations view evangelisation in primarily individualistic terms and have significant influence over the state. The article examines the relationships between concepts of evangelisation, Christian influence over state policies, and levels of violence against the Third World by examining British, French and German colonialism during the late colonial period of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.     

Factor markets and resource allocation in colonial Punjab

It is often argued that agricultural factor markets in colonial India were underdeveloped, leading to inefficient resource use and slow agricultural development. However, there is little econometric evidence on these issues. This article outlines a model which incorporates the factor market imperfections discussed in the literature and tests the model against data from the Punjab. There is, in the statistical sense, evidence of resource misallocation; however, these effects are too small to be of much economic significance.     

Fiftieth Anniversary of Decolonisation in Africa: a moment of celebration or critical reflection?

This article deploys the concept of coloniality of power to critically reflect on the decolonisation process, using a ‘colonial difference’ perspective which enables a critical reflection on the limits of decolonisation from the side of the ex-colonised ordinary citizens of Africa. Three principal arguments are advanced. First, celebration of the decolonisation process as the proudest moment in African history obscures the continuing operation of the colonial matrices of power in maintaining Africa's subaltern position in global politics. Second, decolonisation resulted only in politico-juridical freedom, which is often conflated with freedom for the ordinary peoples of Africa. Third, celebrations of decolonisation are belied by the fact that ordinary African citizens engaged in new struggles for freedom soon after decolonisation aimed at liberating themselves from oppression by the inherited and imposed postcolonial African state. The article delves into the genealogical, ideological and ethical elements of decolonisation, alongside its political assumptions and implications. This facilitates the decoupling of ideas of liberation from notions of emancipation, which are often considered the same thing. It also enables critical engagement with the character of the postcolonial African state imposed on Africans without being fully reconstituted and decolonized institutionally. The article provides a fresh appreciation of ordinary citizens' ongoing struggles for liberation from the postcolonial state exemplified by the current North African popular uprisings against dictatorial regimes.