By 1921, what proportion of the Earth had been colonized?
84% of the Earth; there were as many as 168 colonies.
By the 1960s, what was the status of most colonies?
Most were at least nominally independent.
How does colonial background influence contemporary perceptions of developing countries?
It associates them with a pre-modern, traditional, backward past.
What discourse is still common in the West regarding migration and development?
A racialized discourse.
According to Mayall and Payne, what are the durable legacies of the British Empire?
Its military and statist characteristics, rather than ideologies like liberalism or nationalism.
Why might former British colonies have fared better, according to some arguments?
The role of Christian Protestant missions and their autonomy relative to the colonial state.
What is path dependence?
An idea borrowed from economics emphasizing the importance of choices made and the difficulty of changing course once set.
What predicts the resilience of post-colonial states?
Whether societies had a significant pre-colonial experience of statehood.
Which African regions experienced significant European settlement?
French Algeria, white ‘highlands’ of Kenya, and South Africa (apartheid state displaced in 1994).
What does Mahmood Mamdani say about pre- and post-colonial state continuity in Africa?
Colonial powers generalized the conquest state and administrative chieftainship as templates for indirect rule, causing discontinuity with pre-colonial political structures.
How did colonial rulers treat societal differences?
They disregarded differences and any traditional restraints on rulers.
How do post-colonial institution descriptions typically start?
They often begin with the colonial past, ignoring pre-colonial history.
What common feature existed across colonial states regarding power distribution?
Power was ‘arterial’ — strong near colonial centers, weak in the periphery.
Why was power distributed in the “arterial” way described by Mamdani?
Colonial intent was to “rule on the cheap.”
What was the colonial state’s character?
Coercive, extractive, thin, and reliant on local collaborators, especially traditional rulers
How did colonial regimes use symbolic and punitive power?
As an essential part of maintaining control.
How did colonial powers treat pre-colonial differences?
They adapted and emphasized existing differences rather than creating new ones.
What paradox did colonialism create regarding the “civilizing colonizer”?
Nostalgia for the “real native” as opposed to educated, hybridized subjects.
How did European colonial states in Africa rely on labor?
Through various forms of forced and tributary labor.
How did colonialism shape anti-colonial nationalism?
By globalizing the European Westphalian template, making nation-state independence the primary goal.
How effective was the reintroduction of multiparty systems in post-colonial Africa?
Conservative decentralized despotisms were largely not transformed by multiparty systems in the 1990s.
What were three ingredients in post-colonial India’s political mix?
(1) Deep vein of the non-modern in cultural politics, (2) caste system as a resource for adapting colonial institutions, (3) political agency of the Congress Party.
How was political consciousness shaped regarding colonial impact?
Assumed colonialism’s impact was mainly economic, making political economy the main analytical tool.
What was the contribution of underdevelopment theorists?
They historicized the construction of colonial markets and market-based identities.
