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Topic: The causes that lead Western European countries to favour Imperialism as
a foreign policy and the effects this had on Sub-Saharan Africa and/or Asian co
untries Nationalist movements. (pick either a region or regions as well as a cou
ntry or countries).
NATIONALIST MOVEMENTS AGAINST WESTERN IMPERIALISM
Imperialism is the policy of a state defending to take economic and political co
ntrol of an area for the access to hard resources and market advantage. (imperia
lism, globalisation, no date, p.1) Beside the economic point of view, the proces
s of imperialism can not be defined without the cultural concepts such as imposi
ng a religion, traditions or a language of a nation. With these two main perspec
tives, Europe always had the policy to exploit the underdeveloped regions of the
world. In contrast to European desires, the imperialistic policies was refused
by the nationalist movements of the public of exploited regions. The imperialist
ic policies of West to gain economic benefits and cultural expansion resulted wi
th nationalistic counter policies created by the elite that were supported by th
e public of exploited regions in terms of liberation struggles and rebellions.
Western European countries favored imperialism as a foreign policy to reach the
raw materials of underdeveloped regions and increase their market. By the indust
rial revolution, the production in Europe had accelerated immensely resulting wi
th increasing importance and necessity of raw materials. Due to limited sources
in Europe, contrary to the variety in Central Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, Euro
pean countries favored imperialism. Moreover, not only the necessity of sources,
but also the need of market because of the increased production led them to per
form imperialism. In this sense, South Africa is a good example to emphasize the
causes of imperialism. In the 18th century, there was no colonial settlement in
South Africa but after the discovery of diamonds, the situation was replaced wi
th British settlement aiming to use those mine resources.(South Africa: History,
1995, p.1)
In addition to the economic causes of imperialism, the desire of cultural expan
sion in terms of language, tradition and religion was another cause of European
imperialism. The reason for Europeans to have the desire to impose their culture
was the idea of being superior than the other civilizations. Moreover they acce
pt neither any African civilization nor Africans as humans. Therefore the Euro c
entric idea based on creating an African civilization which did not exist forced
them to use their language and be accustomed to their traditions and religion.
For instance Cecile Rhodes was advocating British superiority and claiming that
British invasion was essential for a better civilized world. (Zartman W., 2000,
p. 92)
Somehow, imperialistic policies crash with counter policies of the exploited re
gions that imperialism is not an easy continued process. The elite of exploited
areas created nationalism to prevent the imperialistic countries' policies which
is known as the "elite manipulation". Elite, being aware of economic damage of
imperialism on their own prosperity, tried to protest imperialism by nationalist
policies. In fact these policies aimed to recover the economic prosperity of th
e country. However they seemed to be quite nationalist with the goal of gaining
public's self determination. There appeared some institutions advocating these p
olicies. One of these institutions was established in 1885 in India named "Hindu
Indian National Congress" aiming the self determination of the public.(The Begi
nnings of Indian Nationalism, no date, p.1) That was showing the significance of
the policies of the elite through the process of self determination.
By the ideology of these institutions, the public accepted policies of the elit
ation"
aPolicies of the elite aiming to recover the economic prosperity of the e
xploited regions
bGoal of gaining public's self determination
cAppearance of some institutions advocating the policies
"Hindu Indian National Congress", established in 1885
5-) Public's acceptance the policies of the elite and beginning their own selfdetermination struggle in terms of nationalist and cultural rebellions.
"Bailundo" example about the protest against the European tax collectors
and traders.
6-) Conclusion of the whole essay by re-stating the ideas that have been mention
ed
Category : History
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