Examines how colonial powers disrupted African and Middle Eastern civilisations, creating lasting development challenges and argues that understanding the specific environmental and historical contexts in which civilisations developed can guide decolonised approaches to aid, governance, multiculturalism and global solidarity.
Numerous authors have wondered why, in so many countries, the 'colonial freight train' of schools, roads, mines, plantations and legal systems stalled or even derailed after Independence. Many answers have been offered to this question. However, most of those fail to give sufficient weight to the crucial differences in the physical realities in which the civilisations of both coloniser and colonised had evolved, as well as to the profound culture shock which independence brought to the populations that had been conquered, ruled and re-moulded by another civilisation, for so long.
Decolonising International Solidarity explains how colonisers profoundly uprooted the civilisations they encountered across Africa and the Middle East. These civilisations had evolved in the face of serious soil constraints, a high degree of climatic unpredictability and frequent natural disasters. The colonising powers attempted to replace them with their own civilisation that had evolved in much more favourable environmental conditions, a stable climate and infrequent natural disaster. The impact of this transformation created a legacy that seriously constrained the development of the new states that arose when the colonisers left.
The persistence of this colonialist civilisational project still affects us today, in overseas development assistance, and in migration and community relations in the colonisers' home countries. Decolonising International Solidarity argues that a better understanding of the different conditions in which civilisations evolved prior to, during and after the colonial era offers opportunities for improved development outcomes and an appreciation of the historical pathways of the communities involved.
This better understanding translates into a counter-narrative about core civilisational values that respects and builds on diversity rather than on an assumed superior, universal Western model. This suggests innovative approaches to multi-culturalism and migration in Europe, economic development and governance in formerly colonised countries, aid and colonial reparations. The book concludes with a call for a new era of Global Solidarity based on global compacts and equality among partners, as are being piloted under the climate negotiations. Thus, the book concludes, genuine decolonisation can finally begin.
Paul C.Vossen, PhD, is a tropical agronomist and also holds a MSc in Conflict and Development. He lived and worked for over 30 years in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Niger, Botswana and Burundi. The driving force behind authoring this book is trying to understand why "decolonisation" remains relevant to this day.
Yvan J. Biot, PhD (tropical soil science), supports communities in Scotland on place making, green energy and nature friendly land use. He lived and worked for over 30 years overseas in development cooperation, research and policy.
