CHAPTER 35 - THE EMERGING NATIONS OF AFRICA, ASIA, AND LATIN AMERICA SINCE 1945

Transcription

1 CHAPTER 35 - THE EMERGING NATIONS OF AFRICA, ASIA, AND LATIN AMERICA SINCE 1945 CHAPTER SUMMARY This chapter stresses two major themes of the past half century: decolonialization and global interdependence. What we shall likely be experiencing in the future is the forging of new political alignments and economic relationships as nations emerge from direct control of colonial powers and set about establishing and consolidating their own societies. In addition, if we seek to understand the larger global scene, we must recognize the persistent influence of the great religious and moral traditions of humankind. The chapter focuses particularly on the regions of Africa, the Middle East, Southwest and Central Asia, South and Southeast Asia, and Latin America. Throughout these areas, the dominant trends of post-war history have been those of independence and self-determination. The postwar period has seen more than forty new states created in Africa alone, and numerous others throughout the less developed areas of Asia. Economically, few of the new nations have had the educational, technological, commercial, and political bases for self-sufficiency, and yet they have experienced the highest population growth rates in the world; this trend may well contribute to extreme social dislocation in the future. In spite of severe problems, however, progress is evident in eliminating mass illiteracy, poverty and disease. The rise of African nationalism can be dated generally to the period between the two world wars. Much of the instability in Africa is a legacy of the colonial era with its haphazard border divisions and minimal effort to prepare the population for self-government. The text then concentrates on two representative states: Nigeria and South Africa. The postwar history of the Middle East has been dominated by four developments: 1) the emergence of new national states and international alignments, 2) the intrusion of the Zionist state of Israel in Palestine, 3) the increased importance of Middle Eastern oil production, and 4) the resurgence of religious, political, and social reform movements in the name of a purified Muslim society. Some of these reform movements have been extreme and violent, employing terror as a vehicle for focusing the cause. Usama Bin Laden founded his own violent organization in the 1990s called al-qa idah and stunned the world by destroying the World Trade Center in New York City using hijacked civilian airliners as missiles. In retaliation, the U.S. launched a global war against terrorism with broad international backing, starting with the destruction of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. This war has created new alignments in post-cold War international relations. The text goes on to detail the Arab-Israeli conflicts and then discusses the Islamic revolution of the Ayatollah Khomeini against the Shah of Iran in 1979.

2 India and Pakistan were created as separate countries by the British in Much of their subsequent history has been dominated by the rivalry and mutual antagonism born of Hindu-Muslim communal violence. Pakistan must stabilize a faltering economy and India must solve the overwhelming problems of overpopulation, poverty and disruptive separatist movements such as that of the Sikhs. Latin America, since 1945, has attempted to break from the dependence of the United States and Europe with mixed results. The presence of the Soviet Union in the region has created direct conflicts between the superpowers to the detriment of the local population. In spite of some efforts at industrialization, the region remains dependent on the exportation of agricultural and mining products. The single most dominant social characteristic of the region has been poverty. In many countries the standard of health and nutrition has fallen. The middle class and other elites have supported military governments pledged to the status quo in the area. The two most important institutions in Latin America are the military and the Roman Catholic Church with both having a direct role in governing the various nations since Revolutionary challenges in Latin America to the status quo have developed in three areas: Cuba (1959), Chile (1970) and Nicaragua (1979). Each challenge involved some form of Marxist political organization and relationship with the Soviet Union. These events provoked active resistance and intervention by the United States and encouraged opposition to social and political change in the remainder of Latin America. The chapter goes on to detail events in Argentina, Brazil and Mexico. The most striking feature of the past four decades of Latin American history is the tragic continuity of its previous history. Revolution has brought moderate social change, but at the price of authoritarian government, economic stagnation, and dependence on different foreign powers. Real independence has not been achieved. The recent trends toward democratization and market economics may, however, mark a break in that pattern. KEY POINTS AND VITAL CONCEPTS 1. Postwar Developments in Nigeria and South Africa: Nowhere was the aftermath of postwar independence bloodier than in Nigeria. A 1966 coup d'etat brought a military government into power that was eventually led by Lt. Colonel Yakubo Gawon. After brutally suppressing the Biafran independence movement in 1970, Gowan set upon a policy of reconstruction and reintegration, but was himself overthrown in In the ensuing twenty years, Nigeria has been plagued by political instability and brutal repression. In South Africa, one of the most tragic chapters in the history of modern Africa was closed in The white minority rule in South Africa, with its policy of apartheid, or racial separation of whites from black and colored peoples,

3 succumbed to internal resistance and outside pressure. Under the government leadership of F.W. de Klerk and the insistence of humanitarian leaders such as Archbishop Desmond Tutu, as well as the political pressure of the African National Congress led by Nelson Mandela, apartheid was dismantled beginning in The new state faces huge problems: education, economic infrastructure, rampant black poverty, militant extremist groups, woefully inadequate public services in much of the country, and difficulties in attracting enough foreign investment fast enough to fulfill Mandela's promises of a new era of economic and social progress. The daunting obstacles to be surmounted will, however, no longer include a state system that holds the majority of the population in social, economic, and political bondage. 2. Middle Eastern Oil: The oil wealth of the Arab and Iranian world has been a significant factor in the recent history of the region. In the past two decades, oil has become a major bargaining chip in international diplomacy that the Arab and other oil-rich Third World states (such as Venezuela, Nigeria, Iran and Indonesia) have used to their advantage. Oil has brought wealth and political status to formerly peripheral countries of the Sahara or the Arabian deserts and has contributed to the self-confidence of the Arab world after a century and a half of Western domination. A testimony to the global importance of Middle Eastern oil was the willingness of the United States and European nations to form a coalition with some Arab countries and to commit massive forces to the region to expel Iraq from Kuwait after its invasion by the military forces of Saddam Hussein. 3. Hindu-Muslim Antagonism: Upon the partition of the Indian subcontinent by the British in 1947, disputes over Kashmir and other border areas fueled antagonisms between the largely Hindu Indian state and the largely Muslim Pakistani state. Pakistan's efforts to create a fully Islamic society and to solve its massive economic problems have been hampered by periodic lapses into dictatorship. Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was the first female leader of a major Islamic state in this century. She had some success in working with Indira Gandhi's successor, Rajiv Gandhi, to resolve some of the old India-Pakistan hostility, but his assassination and her own political instability in Pakistan hindered progress between the countries. The dispute over Kashmir grew more intense in Since both countries possess nuclear weapons, the quarrel threatens regional stability and has world-wide implications. 4. Democritization, Globalization, and Political Terrorism in World Perspective: In the years following World War II, the processes of decolonization, which saw the withdrawal of European

4 powers from their colonial empires, and democratization were considered by many to be noble, if not successful goals. The early democratic vision of a politically independent and economically prosperous postwar world was tainted by success of authoritarian Communist rule in parts of sub- Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia. But eventually the political pessimists were proved wrong not in a single case, but around the globe. In Latin America, the tide of democracy rose slowly as dictatorships and one-party governments, including the Sandinista government in Nicaragua, have generally given way to democratic rule. The rapid collapse of the Soviet Union in the late 1980's and early 1990's gave a new democratic face to Eastern Europe, but one which will take much patience to cultivate and remains incomplete and uncertain. In fact, Communist dictatorships remain in power in Cuba, North Korea, Vietnam and China. In Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and other parts of the Middle East, repressive governments still prevail. Yet more opportunities now exist for the emergence of democratic governments around the globe than at any time in world history. SUGGESTED FILMS Afghan Nomads: The Maldar. American University Field Staff. 21 min. An Afghan Village -- AQ Kuprik, Northern Afghanistan. American University Field Staff. 45 min. Afghan Women. Film Library Holder. 17 min. Africa Awakens: Modern Nigeria. Atlantis Productions. 23 min. Africa: Change and Challenge. Cahill, Charles & Assoc., Inc. 19 min. Africa Changes: A Young Leader in A Young Nation. Business Ed. Films. 14 min. Africa: East African Aristocrats - Masai. Wayne State U. 28 min. Africa in Search of Itself. National Nine Network. 53 min. Africa: West Africa. National Educational Television. 29 min.

5 An African City: Contrasting Cultures. BFA Ed. Media. 11 min. An African Community: The Masai. BFA Ed. Media. 16 min. African Drought. Film Library Holder. 29 min. African Odyssey: The Two Worlds of Musembe. Albert Walker. 15 min. Africans All. Bryan, Julian. 23 min. Africa's Defiant White Tribe. Films, Inc. 52 min. Afrikaaner. BBC. 40 min. The Afrikaaner Experience: Politics of Exclusion. Learning Corporation of America. 36 min. Algeria. National Film Board of Canada. 28 min. Brazil. Coronet. 13 min. Brazil: The Gathering Millions. National Educational TV. 60 min. Brazil: The Rude Awakening. CBS. 54 min. Brazil: The Troubled Land. ABC. 25 min. Brazil: The Take-Off Point. National Educational TV. 59 min. Brazil: The Vanishing Negro. National Educational TV. 30 min. Cuba: Art and Revolution. BBC. 46 min. Cuba: Bay of Pigs. NBC. 29 min.

6 Cuba: The Castro Generation. ABC. 49 min. Cuba: The Missile Crisis. NBC. 54 min. Argentina. National Educational TV. 29 min. Chile "Agrarian Reforms" Counter Point. U. of Wisconsin Bureau of Audio Visual Instruction. 41 min. Chile and Argentina. Claiborne, William, Inc. 19 min. Chile and Costa Rica. Universal Ed. and Visual Arts. 17 min. Iran. Pyramid Films. 18 min. Gandhi's India. Time-Life. 20 min. The Story of Modern Egypt. Time-Life. 20 min. Problems of the Middle East. Atlantis Productions. 22 min. Let My People Go. Films, Inc. 54 min. India: The Struggle for Food. Films, Inc. 19 min. India: Writings on the Sand. National Educational TV. 30 min. Palestinians and the P.L.O. Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith. 28 min. Mexico: Giant of Latin America. Lemont Films. 23 min. Mexico the Frozen Revolution. Tricontinental Film Center. 60 min. The Arab Identity: Who Are the Arabs? Yorkshire TV. 30 min.

7 The Arab-Israeli Conflict. Atlantis Productions. 20 min. Egypt: The Struggle for Stability. Learning Corporation of America. 28 min. Israel. Films, Inc. 13 min. Israel -- 20th Century Miracle. G.B. Media. 55 min.

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