The Consequences of Imperialism

The Consequences of Imperialism Imperialism, the forceful extension of a nation’s authority by establishing political and economic domination of other nations, inherently implies the advancement of a certain state at the expense of its subordinated territories. It is for this reason why imperialism essentially benefited the few expansionist states while exerting long-term damages on the majority colonized territories. During the 19th century and early 20th century, imperialism arose as a necessity for industrializing states to secure their own economic prosperity. Increasing protectionist policies in many states limited the markets, and consequently the demand, for an increasing supply of manufactured products from the growing industrial output. The industrial powers of the time thus looked towards imperialism as a means to secure foreign markets and guarantee consumption for their products by forcefully monopolizing trade with their colonies. Additionally, the wave of rapid industrialization led imperial states to seek a cheap source of raw materials to supply their thriving businesses at home, and imperialism provided a means to ensure that. These economic interests, tied with ultra-nationalistic sentiment, pushed towards the building of huge worldwide empires, where imperial powers established their control over vast territories, including most of Asia, Africa, the Polynesia, and parts of the Americas, where imperial powers controlled most of the world. Imperialist ambitions pushed for the economic exploitation of colonized nations to benefit the mother country. As imperial states began controlling the economy of the colonized territory, interests for the welfare of the colonized peoples had little influence in defining their economic policies. Instead, imperial states seeked to maximize their profits and gains, regardless of the consequences such attitudes entailed for the colonized areas. Most notably, the long-term well-being of the colonized nation was of no interest for the imperial state, and so any form of sustainable development seemed unnecessary for any imperial government. This is the reason why deforestation is a massive problem Imperial powers, in their quest for economic prosperity, disregarded the need for the sustainable management of forest areas and established minimally-regulated lumber industries which seeked only short-term profits for themselves and their mother country. Thus, unsustainable overexploitation of natural resources followed. The effects are clearly in modern times, as the environmental degradation caused because of self-interested imperialist endeavors is difficult to reverse, and is undoubtedly connected with the rampant poverty and hunger present in many former colonies. While some industrial development did occur, imperial interests in colonized territories were aimed at creating an economy based on agriculture and the exploitation of other finite natural resources such as gold, silver, or diamonds. Thus, the industrial development that did occur in colonized territories was relevant to the desire of imperial powers to turn colonized states into sources of cheap raw products to be later used in their industries back home. The economy of colonized territories was not diversified or turned into an industrial one, and instead a select number of goods were targeted, and their production/extraction hugely increased. Imperial investment and construction focused on the development and construction of communications, railways, plantations and mines, investments which did not by themselves help in the economic transformation of the country from agricultural to industrial. Rather, these investments were intended to accelerate the exploitation of the colonies’ natural resources and agricultural capacities. Once the nation attained political independence from the mother country, the legacy left behind from imperialism established an economy which depended on the export of a few select natural resources and agricultural, leaving the country’s economy extremely vulnerable to market price fluctuations. Most importantly, the unwillingness of imperial powers to reinvest the profits gained from their colonies in their industrial development forcefully kept colonies under a fragile agricultural economy 9 while still depriving them of their finite natural resources. Thus, imperialism had a highly negative effect on the economic growth of colonized nations. The partitioning of colonies worldwide into the spheres of influence of imperial powers created colonies that encompassed numerous ethnic, linguistic, and religious groups into a single political entity. This recurrent aspect of imperialism was most notable in Africa, where its partitioning did not correspond to the historical, cultural, or ethnic boundaries of pre-colonial African societies. Thus, states were created which shared widely diverse ethnic populations which felt no identity or connection to the political entity which they had been forcefully drawn into. The political legacy left behind by imperialism left a cluster of artificially-formed states which had no historic or cultural similarities on which to legitimatize its existence. This situation, along with the economic difficulties suffered because of the previously discussed issues, led to an environment of political turmoil based on ethnic, religious, and linguistic. Countries deeply divided among ethnic lines, a result of imperialism, not only led to the political instability of the former colonies, but also, in some cases, led to serious violence. Modern-day Kenya exemplifies this, as the competition of two different ethnic groups for the control of the government has led to a situation comparable to that of an early civil war. It is thus clear that imperialism has resulted in a permanent liability in the geo-political situation of a great number of countries worldwide. Regardless of the possible economic or technological benefits of imperialism, it is difficult to even begin to justify those ends by the tremendous loss of life that occurred because of it. The initial act of conquest needed to begin to exercise control over a given territory was, in the overwhelming majority of cases, not peaceful, and entailed in the unjust death of many natives at the hands of the military and technological superiority of imperial powers. However, the effects of imperialism go much farther beyond conquest: forceful slavery-like conditions in the colonized territories imposed great sufferings among the native population, and in many cases, unjust repression by the colonizing power led to the mass killings of a great number of people. In the Congo Free State, a Belgian colony, an estimated 10 million people died as a consequence of the imperialist policies of the time. Additionally, retaliatory attacks on indigenous populations in many other instances resulted in the extermination of huge numbers of people. The unjust and unnecessary death of such a great number of people because of imperialism is, again, difficult to justify. However, one must also admit that imperialism allowed colonized territories to technologically advance thanks to the connection with other imperial powers. One can also argue that the introduction of western values through imperialism helped rid colonized territories of certain obsolete and morally condemnable practices and traditions. However, these benefits do not even begin to outweigh the negative impacts which imperialism brought. Imperialism was thus a largely negative aspect of the 19th and 20th centuries, as it achieved, through unjustifiable, repressive unjust means, an end which favored the few powerful imperial states and greatly hindered the great majority of colonized and subjugated territories. http://www.scribd.com/