The collapse of the colonial system. Developing countries and their role in
international development
• System of colonialism
• Stages of the collapse of the colonial system
• Third World countries
• Least developed countries
• Countries with an average level of development
• Oil producing countries
• Newly industrialized countries
Colonial system. The term "colonialism" is commonly understood as an
aggressive, predatory policy of the conquering powers (mother countries) in
relation to the captured peoples and territories (colonies), which become their
full property. Colonies and colonialism also existed in the days of pre-monopoly
capitalism and even long before capitalism, an example of which is, in particular,
the pronounced colonial policy of the Roman Empire. A characteristic feature of
colonialism since the end of the XIX century. was the completion of the territorial
division of the world between the major colonial powers, the leading industrial
countries of the world, representing Western civilization: Great Britain, France,
Germany, Holland, Spain, Italy, Portugal, the USA and some others. A well-known
exception may be Japan, which belongs to the countries of Eastern civilization,
the industrial development of which allowed it to make a rapid leap in military
and economic development and actively intervene in the colonial division of the
world in the South-East as early as the 19th century.
These countries captured almost all of Africa and Polynesia, consolidated
their positions in Asia and Latin America. The total territory of colonial
possessions in the last third of the XIX century. increased from 40 to 65 million sq.
m. km, and the number of colonial peoples exceeded 500 million people.Thus, it
can be stated that the colonial system has become a world phenomenon, and the
role of the colonies as a source of raw materials, cheap labor, a sales market and
a sphere for capital investment, along with the development of the world market,
has increasingly increased.
, However, it would be wrong to limit the colonial system only to colonies in
which the mother countries were the undivided masters. There were also various
forms of semi-colonial dependence (for example, Persia, China, Turkey) and
various forms of dependent countries, formally politically independent, but
entangled in such economic and military-political treaties that nullified their
independence. An example is Argentina, which the researcher Schulze-Gevernitz
(1864-1943) in his work “British Imperialism and English Free Trade in the Early
Twentieth Century”, published in 1906, called “almost an English trading colony”.
The crisis of Western civilization, so clearly manifested at the beginning of
the 20th century. as a result of the First World War and the profound socio-
political changes that followed it in the world, influenced the growth of the anti-
colonial struggle. However, the victorious countries, by joint efforts, managed to
bring down the flaring fire. Nevertheless, the countries of the West, under the
conditions of the growing crisis of civilization, were forced to gradually change
their idea of the place and future of the peoples of Asia, Africa, and Latin America
subject to them. The latter were gradually drawn into market relations (for
example, the trade policy of England in the colonies, starting from the period of
the Great Crisis of 1929-1933.), as a result of which private property was
strengthened in dependent countries, elements of a new non-traditional social
structure, Western culture, education, etc. were formed. This was manifested in
timid, inconsistent attempts to modernize the most outdated traditional relations
in a number of semi-colonial countries according to the Western model, which
ultimately ran into the paramount problem of gaining political independence,
however, the growth of totalitarian tendencies in the Western world was
accompanied in the interwar period by the strengthening of the ideology and
politics of racism, which , of course, increased the resistance of the mother
countries to the anti-colonial movement as a whole. That is why only after the
Second World War, with the victory of the forces of democracy over fascism, the
emergence of an alternative socialist system to capitalism, which traditionally
supported the anti-colonial struggle of the oppressed peoples (for ideological and
political reasons), favorable conditions appeared for the collapse and subsequent
collapse of the colonial system.
Stages of the collapse of the colonial system. The question of the system of
international trusteeship (in other words, the colonial problem), in accordance
with the agreement between the heads of government of England, the USSR and
the USA, was included in the agenda of the conference in San Francisco, which
international development
• System of colonialism
• Stages of the collapse of the colonial system
• Third World countries
• Least developed countries
• Countries with an average level of development
• Oil producing countries
• Newly industrialized countries
Colonial system. The term "colonialism" is commonly understood as an
aggressive, predatory policy of the conquering powers (mother countries) in
relation to the captured peoples and territories (colonies), which become their
full property. Colonies and colonialism also existed in the days of pre-monopoly
capitalism and even long before capitalism, an example of which is, in particular,
the pronounced colonial policy of the Roman Empire. A characteristic feature of
colonialism since the end of the XIX century. was the completion of the territorial
division of the world between the major colonial powers, the leading industrial
countries of the world, representing Western civilization: Great Britain, France,
Germany, Holland, Spain, Italy, Portugal, the USA and some others. A well-known
exception may be Japan, which belongs to the countries of Eastern civilization,
the industrial development of which allowed it to make a rapid leap in military
and economic development and actively intervene in the colonial division of the
world in the South-East as early as the 19th century.
These countries captured almost all of Africa and Polynesia, consolidated
their positions in Asia and Latin America. The total territory of colonial
possessions in the last third of the XIX century. increased from 40 to 65 million sq.
m. km, and the number of colonial peoples exceeded 500 million people.Thus, it
can be stated that the colonial system has become a world phenomenon, and the
role of the colonies as a source of raw materials, cheap labor, a sales market and
a sphere for capital investment, along with the development of the world market,
has increasingly increased.
, However, it would be wrong to limit the colonial system only to colonies in
which the mother countries were the undivided masters. There were also various
forms of semi-colonial dependence (for example, Persia, China, Turkey) and
various forms of dependent countries, formally politically independent, but
entangled in such economic and military-political treaties that nullified their
independence. An example is Argentina, which the researcher Schulze-Gevernitz
(1864-1943) in his work “British Imperialism and English Free Trade in the Early
Twentieth Century”, published in 1906, called “almost an English trading colony”.
The crisis of Western civilization, so clearly manifested at the beginning of
the 20th century. as a result of the First World War and the profound socio-
political changes that followed it in the world, influenced the growth of the anti-
colonial struggle. However, the victorious countries, by joint efforts, managed to
bring down the flaring fire. Nevertheless, the countries of the West, under the
conditions of the growing crisis of civilization, were forced to gradually change
their idea of the place and future of the peoples of Asia, Africa, and Latin America
subject to them. The latter were gradually drawn into market relations (for
example, the trade policy of England in the colonies, starting from the period of
the Great Crisis of 1929-1933.), as a result of which private property was
strengthened in dependent countries, elements of a new non-traditional social
structure, Western culture, education, etc. were formed. This was manifested in
timid, inconsistent attempts to modernize the most outdated traditional relations
in a number of semi-colonial countries according to the Western model, which
ultimately ran into the paramount problem of gaining political independence,
however, the growth of totalitarian tendencies in the Western world was
accompanied in the interwar period by the strengthening of the ideology and
politics of racism, which , of course, increased the resistance of the mother
countries to the anti-colonial movement as a whole. That is why only after the
Second World War, with the victory of the forces of democracy over fascism, the
emergence of an alternative socialist system to capitalism, which traditionally
supported the anti-colonial struggle of the oppressed peoples (for ideological and
political reasons), favorable conditions appeared for the collapse and subsequent
collapse of the colonial system.
Stages of the collapse of the colonial system. The question of the system of
international trusteeship (in other words, the colonial problem), in accordance
with the agreement between the heads of government of England, the USSR and
the USA, was included in the agenda of the conference in San Francisco, which
