Anti-colonialism and neo-liberalism (1920-

• For most of the world, the struggle to achieve independence is the

context in which political thought developed in the period after World
War II.
• Indeed historical roots of new nations and independent people,
usually part of the effort of the West trying to understand others but
also part of attempts to build new historical identities.
• One might argue that “traditional” forms of thought have been
undermined by modernity, especially science and technology.
• Resistance to Western dominance, however, has led to a search for
alternatives.
• The initial approaches of newly independent nations were forms of
socialism and what can only be called pan-regionalism (pan-Arabism,
pan Africanism, and so on).
• These were pursued in the context of anti-colonial struggles, both
violent and non-violent, with political philosophies to justify the
routes taken.
• Some of these methods might be seen as illiberal. Western thought,
in contrast, tended toward new forms of liberalism,
• though neo-liberalism is usually used as a pejorative term to
characterize recent developments in modern capitalism.
• it is being used in a broader sense because post-war political thought
that tries to fight for justice under neo-liberal economic conditions still
relies on liberal assumptions.
• Rawls is as much a post war liberal as Hayek. This does not eliminate the
important distinctions between them but it helps to put them into global
perspective.
• Initially in the immediate aftermath of World War II in 1945 struggles
against Western domination appeared to be straightforward.
• There was a general consensus outside the West on decolonization and
self determination with an emphasis on regional cooperation and
socialism.
• It was agreed that the boundaries created by the colonial powers
were often arbitrary or at least intended to serve colonial interests,
• but there was also a sense that existing borders needed to be
retained in the absence of a clear alternative.
• The preferred options were forms of regionalism, such as pan-
Africanism and pan- Arabism, in which older borders would become
obsolete.
• Socialism in the newly independent states was not Western electoral
socialism or even Soviet communism because it incorporated
indigenous ideas of community and collective action,
• and was intended to overcome the disadvantages of capitalism as
viewed by those that had suffered the most at the bottom of the
World capitalist market hierarchy.
• Often this focused on self-sufficiency, though when this failed, it was
a recipe for isolation and even dictatorship.s