Out Of The Borders Social Issues
The Legacy of Colonialism
Neocolonialism in the international realm, segregation in our cities.
by Inês Ribeiro
Colonialism. The geographical, civilizational and epistemic hierarchization of societies. The
profound dichotomy between “I”, the civilized, and the “other”, barbaric and irrational. In our current times, colonialism changed its shape and its logic is reproduced in so many other ways.
International Law itself, which gave equality on
the sovereignty realm to the New States, continued to legitimize in practice the persistence of power relations dating back to the imperial era, considering that they were obligated to submit to the preexisting legal rules in the international sphere, regardless of whether or not they contributed to their creation.
“Here, most European countries, when they decolonized, from the 1950s on, replaced it with a neocolonial pact. They realized that it is easier to exploit, expropriate, through trade relations with “free countries” than to keep them as expensive colonies.”
The concept of colonialism emerged in the 18th century, representing a continuous action of domination of certain territories, predominately the Western hegemonic power over the Asian — Boaventura de Sousa Santos and African Continents. Some think that imperialism ended with the processes of decolonization, while others argue that imperial power Since the begging of their independence, we can relations are still manifesting themselves in an identify diverse ways of neocolonialism. Oftentimes, informal shape, through political domination and these practices emerge associated with economieconomic exploitation. cal exploitation by western multinationals, economical pacts or loans. However, the biggest symbol We can state that, despite the New States, of this neocolonial influence today is international those that were formed after the decolonization corporations, mainly in the oil industry and mining process, achieved independence, an informal sector, and international organizations such as the relationship of dependence remained in the fol- International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank. lowing decades. “Western” states exercised eco- This doctrine also manifests itself in the political donomic and political influence, thus continuing a main of the New States, through the interference in process of colonization, that is now manifesting their international affair by “Western” interests. itself in the form of neocolonialism.
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