POLI 227 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Neocolonialism, Cultural Determinism, Scapegoating
19 Mar 2016
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Document Summary
The importance of colonialism for the politics of the developing world: 1921: 84% of the world was colonized (textbook, post-wwii decolonization movement. Latin america: independent for almost 200 years. Danger or scapegoating: variation (nature of pre-colonial society, patterns of colonization, including different colonizers ) The destructive impact of colonialism: latin america: the conquest largely complete within 30 to 70 years. Aztecs: 95% decline in population by 1605 (24 million people) Incas: at least a 50 percent decline in population within 40 years. Slave trade compensates- so bad, labor had to be imported. Disruption of social networks and destruction of symbols of: africa religion. Sketchier data, one conservative estimate is that 16,255,000 africans died as the result of colonial conquest. Millions who suffered consequences of slave trade. Redefining traditional (madani: not easy to forget! Is democracy fragile because of an authoritarian culture: significance of argument: disguised ethnocentricity. Are former colonies different, backward diverting attention from real problems.
