Britain and Decolonisation

Abstract

This series oj specially commissioned titles jocuses attention on significant and often controversial events and themes oj world history in the present century. Each book provides sufficient narrative and explanation" jor the newcomer to the subject while oiJering, jor more advanced study, detailed source-references and bibliographies, together with interpretation and reassessment in the light oj recent scholarship. In the choice oj subjects there is a balance between breadth in some spheres and detail in others; between the essentially political and matters economic or social. The series cannot be a comprehensive account oj everything that has happened in the twentieth century, but it provides a guide to recent research and explains something oj the times oj extraordinary change and complexity in which we live. It is directed in the main to students oj contemporary history and international relations, but includes titles which are oj direct relevance to courses in economics, sociology, politics and geography.

Recognising and Responding to Relative Decline: The Case of Post-War Britain

“…Wilson's rhetoric extended to a speech in New Delhi in 1965 in which he proclaimed that Britain's frontiers were on the Himalayas. 55 The second assumption was that good relations with the United States were essential to Britain's prosperity and security. The Americans, who were engaged in the Vietnam War, were strongly opposed to British withdrawal from South-East Asia.…”

Post-colonial Antarctica: an emerging engagement

“…Unlike the so-called 'dots on the map' such as the Falkland Islands and Gibraltar (Dodds 2002;Lambert 2005), the colonial imprint on Antarctica is frequently overlooked. The continent and surrounding ocean constitute an immense geographical space, but many accounts of the British Empire and associated decolonisation nonetheless neglect to mention -let alone engage with -the resistant colonial condition of Antarctica (for example, Darwin 1988;Butler 2002).…”

“…Frank Furedi has claimed that this period also witnessed growing evidence of uncertainty about what has been called 'white prestige' (Furedi 1994: 4 and 25). Post-war governments in Britain were deeply concerned about the country's standing in the world and the manner in which the imperial portfolio was carefully managed (Darwin 1988). Losses of territory and influence inevitably had implications for prestige and standing, something that was recognised in the so-called 'profit and loss' review of the British Empire in 1957.…”

Attlee governments: The end of empire 1945–51

“…On taking power in 1945, the Labour leadership saw little reason to question the 'old equation of world power, independence and prosperity'. 9 Of course, Labour was committed to reform: to the gradual liquidation of those aspects of prewar imperialism which implied political subjugation and economic exploitation. But this still left plenty of room for manoeuvre.…”