Decolonization and the Struggle for National Liberation in India (1909-1971)

Between the two World Wars, the colonial regime was confronted with the Indian nationalist movements. As a result, independence was granted by Britain in 1947, a cataclysmic event for the colonized world. The reality was that peaceful decolonization process never existed and the independence of Britain had dramatic consequences.

At the end of the First World War, the Raj remained economically or even strategically more central than ever in the general colonial architecture of the British Empire. Yet, between the two World Wars, the colonial regime hung only by a thread when confronted with the rising popularity of the nationalist movements. As a result, independence was granted in 1947 to this major component of the Empire, a truly cataclysmic event for the remainder of the world. This reality conflicts with the idea that a well-managed, peaceful decolonization process was launched by the British authorities. The independence of British India proceeded at the same speed as the Partition of British India which had both immediate and distant, but surely terrible, consequences like the 1971 war with Pakistan over Bangladesh.

Autorentext

Thierry Di Costanzo is a lecturer in English Studies at the University of Strasbourg (France). He is a specialist of British India and the idea of Pakistan and has lived and worked in Algeria, France, the UK, New Zealand and Bangladesh. He was also a JNIAS Fellow at the history department of Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi. Guillaume Ducur is a lecturer in Historical Studies at the University of Strasbourg (France). He is a specialist of Sanskrit and History of Religions and has published on Vedism and Ancient Indian Buddhism. He is a member of the editing committee of the Revue de l Histoire des Religions at the Collège de France.

Inhalt
Contents: Thierry Di Costanzo : Le debat sur l'independance de l'Inde : entre decolonisation orchestree et debacle britannique Aditya Mukherjee: Decolonization or the Last Phase of Colonialism? Agnes Maillot: Arthur Griffith's Sinn Féin and Non-Violent Resistance in India Ingrid C. **Sankey : Les princes et le Raj britannique ou les aleas du systeme d'administration indirecte dans l'Empire des Indes Julia A. B. Hegewald: Images of Empire: Re-Use in the Architecture and City Planning of British India Guillaume Ducur : Histoire comparee des religions et construction identitaire nationaliste dans le processus d'independance de l'Inde Salil Misra: Emotions in Politics and Politics of Emotions: the Making of Pakistan and the Decolonization of British India, 1937-46 Saradindu Mukherji: Unanticipated Catastrophe: Bengal in the 1940's Sucheta Mahajan: Towards Freedom: the Making of a History Marc Cluet: Punjab's New Capital City Chandigarh: Aims and Reality Sonia Cordera: The Long-Term Effects of Decolonization of the British Empire in South Asia: the 1971 Secession of Bangladesh and its International Consequences.