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preface
In 1959, the state of emergency ended and Kenyatta was released. Majority rule followed. White colonists were allowed to sell their land on favorable terms. Kenya's African National Union of Kenya won a landslide election in 1963 and has since established a government. Later that year, the British approved Kenyan independence. Kenyatta earned the reputation of "mediator" and became president in 1964.
In 1961, the Republic of South Africa left the Commonwealth. Previously, in 1950, South Africa, with 21% of the white population, still had apartheid, which was officially implemented in 1948. It was supported by white South Africans of Dutch origin. In 1965, Rhodesia, a self-governing colony, declared its independence from Britain. In part, this was done so that the local white minority did not have to share power with the black majority.
Do not share power with blacks
After that, the British government launched international economic sanctions against the white regime in the former colonies. In 1980, Rhodesia was divided into two independent states: Zambia and Zimbabwe. In the Belgian Congo in central West Africa, in the late 50s of the 20th century, the Belgian government first tried to appease the nationalists with concessions, and then tried to suppress them during the riots of 1959. A year later, the Belgian government abruptly withdrew from its former colony and declared Congolese independence.
A civil war began between the leaders of the two national independence movements, a bloody conflict complicated by issues of ethnic and tribal loyalty. The soldiers defected to their Belgian commanders and began attacking the Europeans who remained in the Congo. The richest province of Katanga, Congo, has many mineral resources such as cobalt, copper and uranium, and the province has since declared independence. At the request of the Congolese Prime Minister, the United Nations sent troops to restore order. A year later, the civil war ended. The independence of Katanga province lasted until 1963.
Two years later, Colonel Mobutu Sese Seko (1930-1997) imposed military rule in the Congo, known as Zaire from 1971 to 1997. After nationalizing his country's wealthy mines, Mobutu set out to amass a vast personal fortune. The Portuguese colonies were many times larger than Portugal itself, and its African colonies Angola and Mozambique, which were located in the southwestern and southeastern coastal areas, began their rebellion in 1961.
After years of bloody fighting, the new Portuguese government recognized the independence of Angola and Mozambique, a year after overthrowing the dictatorship that had ruled Portugal for decades (see Chapter XXIX). In both new countries, terrible civil wars took place between both left-wing and right-wing groups. In Angola, Cuban money and soldiers helped the left-wing Popular Liberation Movement, which was victorious.
In Mozambique, too, the right won despite the assistance of the South African government and terrorist activities. Ordinary people suffered famine and massacres. In many cases, independence has proved not to be a panacea for new African countries. Many post-colonial administrations have proved unable or unwilling to provide people with a decent quality of life. Some new countries, such as Angola and Mozambique, and more recently Sudan, have been plunged into bloody civil wars that have weakened the country.
These conflicts, compounded by the diversity of ethnic groups, tribalism and lack of political experience, remain major obstacles to the building of modern political systems in developing countries. Even after colonial governments were gone, European corporations controlled the region's precious natural resources. In addition, some African rulers abused their power to enrich themselves at the expense of their local people, while using anti-colonial rhetoric to justify their plunder. These countries continue to face the daunting challenges of alarming poverty and severely backward health care.
With the end of Europe's overseas colonial empires, the politics of the continent also changed significantly. In the late 60s of the 20th century, a wave of student protests broke out in many Western European countries, and a reform movement in communist Czechoslovakia, which threatened Soviet orthodoxy, was crushed by Russian tanks. Dictatorships then fell in Greece, Spain, and Portugal. Then, after a series of high-profile events, communism collapsed in Central and Eastern Europe and the Balkans in 1989, followed by the collapse of the Soviet Union itself in 1991. Europe has entered a new era.
The transition of democracy and the fall of communism
After nearly 20 years of growing prosperity and a period of relative political and social calm, civil political conflict broke out in Europe (first in France) and the United States in 1968. The social, political and cultural uprisings that erupted that year seemed to pitt young people, especially students, against those in power. Many of the postwar "baby boomers" saw their rebellion as an entire generation's revolt against the previous generation. They represent the vulnerable and oppressed, blaming the previous generation for making the world seem to ignore people's demands for social justice and political change.
Many people believe that they are alienated by the materialistic and industrialized bureaucratic society, as well as the universities they attend. Feminism was also an important undercurrent during the 1968 protests, but for the most part it still belonged to the movement of middle-class intellectuals and students. Demonstrations and protests brought political reactions. The turmoil in France eventually ended in government repression and flexuring by conservatives. Elsewhere in Western Europe, demonstrations subsided, but demonstrations in the United States over the Vietnam War continued.
In Western Europe, conservative or centrist parties dominated the governments of Britain, the Federal Republic of Germany and Italy for most of the 70s and 80s of the 20th century, while the Socialist Party held power in France between 1981 and 1995. As for southern Europe, democratic rule came to Portugal, Spain and Greece. The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 intensified the détente between the United States and the Soviet Union since the 70s. Then in 1989, there was a drastic change in Eastern Europe. Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev (1931—) implemented a series of drastic reforms in the mid-80s of the 20th century, and the economic and political life of communist countries began to be liberalized.
His bold actions encouraged further demands for reform and stimulated nationalist movements in the Soviet republics. Eastern Europe was soon affected. With the revival of liberalization movements in Poland and Hungary, it became clear that the Soviet leadership would not step in to suppress the reform movement, as Gorbachev said he considered reforms desirable in Eastern Europe. Throughout Eastern Europe, one communist government after another collapsed.
These revolutions included the "Velvet Revolution" in Czechoslovakia and the violent overthrow of Nicolae Ceausescu in Romania until there were no communist regimes at all in Eastern Europe. In general, Eastern Europe achieved the fall of communism through a very peaceful evolution. By 1989, however, Yugoslavia was divided amid ethnic hatred, caused by problems that the multilingual state established after World War I could not solve:
Ethnic question. In Bosnia, civil war rages wide. The Soviet Union itself collapsed in 1991. As early as 1947, U.S. official George Kennan predicted that the Soviet system "contained the seeds of its own decay," and he was right. Mikhail Gorbachev was praised in Stuttgart in West Germany for his reforms in the Soviet Union and his bold moves aimed at liberalization.
Politics in the changing Western world
In the late '60s, loosely linked movements for political and social change swept across university campuses in many Western countries. The growing culture of sexual freedom among young people, the emergence of birth control and, in some countries, the legalization of abortion have all contributed to this. Youth revolts are largely but not exclusively based on baby boomers born after World War II and challenge historic hierarchies, party politics, and even consumerism.
From Berkeley, California, to Paris, Berlin and Amsterdam, students protested U.S. involvement in the Vietnam Civil War, and despite the government's claim it was a noble struggle against communism, the U.S. in Vietnam appeared to be supporting a corrupt regime against staunch nationalists. The movement of the '60s was closely linked to the civil rights movement, with students protesting social injustice and racism, especially in the United States. Long hair, sexual freedom, rock 'n' roll and marijuana all seem to belong to the rebellion of idealistic youth against the state and capitalism.
The British have never had a greater influence on pop culture than in the 60s of the 20th century, when rock bands such as The Beatles, Mick Jagger, Rolling Stones and The Man became surprisingly popular in much of the world. In France, student demonstrations, riots and strikes shook the country, challenging the government of President Charles de Gaulle. The demonstrations also shook Italy, West Germany and other Western European countries. Western European countries began to break away from the domination of U.S. foreign policy.
De Gaulle believed that France had a special historical mission and never had a moment to doubt his role in it, fearing that Europe and France would be dominated by Britain and the United States. He insisted that France maintain an independent nuclear capability, and that the country's first atomic bomb was tested in 1960. Moreover, Germany and France ended decades of hostility, and their close partnership formed the cornerstone of a new Europe. However, de Gaulle refused to cooperate with other Western regimes. In 1966, France withdrew from NATO's military command, forcing NATO headquarters to move from Paris to Brussels.
U.S. Army and Air Force bases in France were closed. De Gaulle's refusal to support U.S. policy in Vietnam angered the U.S. government. He also angered many Canadians during a state visit in 1967 when he chanted, "Long live Free Quebec!" "Quebec's population is dominated by French-speaking people, who have shown quite a strong sense of independence. Although de Gaulle remained fiercely opposed to communism, he hoped that France would lead as a third force between the Soviet Union and the United States.
Resources
Nineteenth-Century Religion, Literature and Society[B]. Naomi Hetherington,Rebecca Styler,Angharad Eyre,Richa Dwor,Clare Stainthorp. 2021
Rediscovering the Religious Factor in American Politics[B]. Leege David C.,Kellstedt Lyman A.. 2016
Faith, Fallibility, and the Virtue of Anxiety[B]. Derek Malone France.