The Cycle of Colonialism

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In the opening book of Plato’s “The Republic” Thrasymachus remarks that justice is simply the advantage of the stronger, while there are multiple ways to interpret this statement, many - myself included - take it to mean that justice is defined by those who are stronger and is used to promote their interests. This view is backed when you consider Nietzsche’s discussion in “The Genealogy of Morals” where he states that the word ‘Good’ derives from aristocracy and ‘Bad’ derives from poor. The age of imperialism that we are all familiar with is an example of strength being used to define the norm and dictate policy. European powers, at their peak relative strength, were taking and craving up territories that were filled with nations that would not be able to defend themselves.

These European nations with their practices of colonialism and imperialism left an unremovable stain on the world. Historians today look back on the era as a period of ruin and often point to it as a source of issues in the modern world. The mid-20th century is seen as a time of remarkable change as many new countries were born as the European powers were thrown out of the region. The mistakes the Europeans made, however, left the door open for new entities to enter to take advantage of the chaos that would ensue in many of these new countries. These new entities would then begin to offer these regions some aid and in the eyes of many this is simply the start of a repetition within history.

From this, it is important to establish what this repetition is defined as, which means to answer the namesake of this work, “What is the cycle of colonialism?”. It is best to show this cycle through an older example that many are familiar with and then find an example in the contemporary world that seems to fit the same description. When Europe first reached Africa to enact the horrendous slave trade, they began by deeming the civilization they encountered as ‘chaotic’ and so they began by offering some good to help them tame the chaos in one way or another, in our case this would the Europeans offering some of the Africans weapons that they had on them. Once this ‘chaos’ was tamed the Europeans would ask for something in exchange for further assistance and as a result a dependency forms that is then exploited by the stronger power. So in a nutshell we have the following:

1. See a ‘chaotic’ situation (whether it be social, political, economic, etc..)
2. Offer ‘generous’ aid
3. Demand something in return to form/strengthen dependency
4. Repeat 2 and 3

This dependency can last a varied amount of time before the weaker power decides to oust the stronger power in one way or another. From the Berlin Conference in 1884 to the final ‘decolonization’ of an African country in 1975 that is almost 100 years. For India, the British Raj were occupying the country from 1858 to 1947. Removing the stronger power from your midst does not offer any benefit unless you are ready for the challenges that lie ahead. In the case of India that centered around how Muslims and Hindus would work together in society, eventually at the time of independence resulting in India, Pakistan, and East Pakistan (eventually East Pakistan would become Bangladesh) In many African nations today there are still civil wars and/or other forms of unrest that can trace their origins back to European colonial efforts.

Skipping forward to today, a top contender for a country that is participating in what has been deemed ‘neocolonialism’ would be China. China’s efforts in Africa have been labeled a form of colonization because China is offering these African nations infrastructure upgrades in exchange for natural resources and allowing Chinese nationals to live in their countries. For these countries to receive more infrastructure upgrades they have to provide more raw materials and even more space for Chinese nationals, and you can begin to see how this cycle is manifesting itself. China is even exercising its strength over these African countries by taking possession of land when these countries are unable to pay their debt to China, this process has even been coined as ‘debt-trap diplomacy’. We can even see how this maps to our cycle outline from above as well:

1. See a ‘chaotic’ situation (poor infrastructure/economic development)
2. Offer ‘generous’ aid (in the form of infrastructure improvements)
3. Demand something in return to form/strengthen dependency (raw materials, privilege for nationals)
4. Repeat 2 and 3

In the case of China specifically, there is:
5. If 3 falls through use debt as a means to strong-arm the country into giving up resources

Neocolonialism as it is called isn’t limited to just China either, countries like Russia and Iran are also participating. Russian involvement in the Middle East can be boiled down to a similar cycle but in addition to any economic perks they receive they also gain a strategic advantage in a region that is growing in importance to their enemies with each passing day. Iran has sponsored ventures that could be seen as similar in other Middle Eastern countries to expand their influence and eventually move past the region to the broader world.

The main idea behind this has nothing to do with colonialism at all but rather just an aspect of human nature. It is commonly agreed upon at this point that humans are social creatures who do not do well in isolation and depend on one another for survival. This quest for survival is often viewed from an individual perspective or at most a clique perspective i.e. how can I make sure myself or my group survive? This leads to social hierarchies which naturally impose that the stronger take advantage of the weak for the stronger to survive. Of course the weak also get to ‘survive’ but only in the lowest of terms possible. In the eyes of the strong, they are only surviving if they are living lavious lives while in the eyes of the weak, surviving is defined as managing to find their next meal or shelter just to repeat the process on another day.

Colonialism and Imperialism, are some of the most brutal applications of abstract principles of human nature and should be wholly condemned. That being said, the efforts of countries participating in neocolonialism often go under the radar under the guise of Western nations feeling as if they are judging too harshly due to their past actions. The reality is that those past actions, as abhorrent as they were, serve to remind them of current events. The common but often childish phrase “it takes one to know one” very much is applicable here. If the countries that have participated in the past do not step forward in an attempt to stop it today then we are doomed for the cycle to repeat but it doesn’t have to be this way at all.