Imperialism By Nationalist Policies example essay topic

Topic: The causes that lead Western European countries to favour Imperialism as a foreign policy and the effects this had on Sub-Saharan Africa and / or Asian countries Nationalist movements. (pick either a region or regions as well as a country or countries). NATIONALIST MOVEMENTS AGAINST WESTERN IMPERIALISM Imperialism is the policy of a state defending to take economic and political control of an area for the access to hard resources and market advantage. (imperialism, globalisation, no date, p. 1) Beside the economic point of view, the process of imperialism can not be defined without the cultural concepts such as imposing a religion, traditions or a language of a nation. With these two main perspectives, Europe always had the policy to exploit the underdeveloped regions of the world. In contrast to European desires, the imperialistic policies was refused by the nationalist movements of the public of exploited regions. The imperialistic policies of West to gain economic benefits and cultural expansion resulted with nationalistic counter policies created by the elite that were supported by the public of exploited regions in terms of liberation struggles and rebellions. Western European countries favored imperialism as a foreign policy to reach the raw materials of underdeveloped regions and increase their market.

By the industrial revolution, the production in Europe had accelerated immensely resulting with increasing importance and necessity of raw materials. Due to limited sources in Europe, contrary to the variety in Central Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, European countries favored imperialism. Moreover, not only the necessity of sources, but also the need of market because of the increased production led them to perform imperialism. In this sense, South Africa is a good example to emphasize the causes of imperialism.

In the 18th century, there was no colonial settlement in South Africa but after the discovery of diamonds, the situation was replaced with British settlement aiming to use those mine resources. (South Africa: History, 1995, p. 1) In addition to the economic causes of imperialism, the desire of cultural expansion in terms of language, tradition and religion was another cause of European imperialism. The reason for Europeans to have the desire to impose their culture was the idea of being superior than the other civilizations. Moreover they accept neither any African civilization nor Africans as humans. Therefore the Euro centric idea based on creating an African civilization which did not exist forced them to use their language and be accustomed to their traditions and religion. For instance Cecile Rhodes was advocating British superiority and claiming that British invasion was essential for a better civilized world.

(Zartman W., 2000, p. 92) Somehow, imperialistic policies crash with counter policies of the exploited regions that imperialism is not an easy continued process. The elite of exploited areas created nationalism to prevent the imperialistic countries' policies which is known as the "elite manipulation". Elite, being aware of economic damage of imperialism on their own prosperity, tried to protest imperialism by nationalist policies. In fact these policies aimed to recover the economic prosperity of the country. However they seemed to be quite nationalist with the goal of gaining public's self determination. There appeared some institutions advocating these policies.

One of these institutions was established in 1885 in India named "Hindu Indian National Congress" aiming the self determination of the public. (The Beginnings of Indian Nationalism, no date, p. 1) That was showing the significance of the policies of the elite through the process of self determination. By the ideology of these institutions, the public accepted policies of the elite and started their own self-determination struggle in terms of nationalist and cultural rebellions. Through the time passed while imperialism was taking place, the public got tired of these imperialistic policies' dominance and as a result some protests appeared. One of these protests was against the Portuguese tax collectors and traders in Bailundo.

(BBC WORLD SERVICE, no date, p. 1) In time, such kinds of rebellions led them to go to liberation struggles which was the highest level of nationalism. In these struggles, their aim was to gain their freedom to live their own culture on their own territories. To sum up, the cause of imperialism was economic on the bases of necessity of raw materials and marketing. What made raw materials so important was the rapid increase of production by the industrial revolution. In addition to these, the other main cause of imperialism was cultural in terms of imposing religion, language and tradition to underdeveloped countries to show the dominance of the Europe. To cope with imperialism, elite of the exploited regions such as Sub Saharan Africa and Central Asia created nationalistic policies and the public supported them by the rebellions and liberation struggles against the Western Imperialism.

REFERENCES: BBC WORLD SERVICE. (No date). Tax Wars. ANGOLA'S FIRST REBELLION, from web Daniels, A. Imperialism, (no date) Globalization and the Rule of the Few, Retrieved November 28, 2002, from web Lincoln, D. (1995) The Beginnings of Indian Nationalism, from http: //165.29. 91.7/classes / humanities /world stud/97-98/imper / india /national. htm TRH Davenport, (No date). Facts on File World News CD-ROM.

South Africa: History, from web Zartman W. (2000). Traditional Cures for Modern Conflicts. United States of America: Lyne e Renner Publishers OUTLINE: 1-) Brief summary about what the imperialism concept comes from. a- Two main perspectives of Western Imperialism. b- Nationalistic movements of exploited regions. c- Thesis: The imperialistic policies of West to gain economic benefits and cultural expansion resulted with nationalistic counter policies created by the elite that were supported by the public of exploited regions in terms of liberation struggles and rebellions. 2-) Western Imperialism as a foreign policy to reach the raw materials and increase the market a- Increasing acceleration of production with industrial revolution. b- Limited sources in Europe, contrary to the variety in Central Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. c- Use of resources of underdeveloped regions by "west". - "South Africa" example 3-) West's desire of cultural expansion in terms of language, tradition and religion a- The idea of being superior than the other civilizations. b- British superiority - "Cecile Rhodes" example 4-) Nationalism to prevent the imperialistic countries' policies: "elite manipulation" a- Policies of the elite aiming to recover the economic prosperity of the exploited regions b- Goal of gaining public's self determination c- Appearance of some institutions advocating the policies - "Hindu Indian National Congress", established in 1885 5-) Public's acceptance the policies of the elite and beginning their own self-determination struggle in terms of nationalist and cultural rebellions.

- "Bailundo" example about the protest against the European tax collectors and traders. 6-) Conclusion of the whole essay by re-stating the ideas that have been mentioned.