I.

Introduction

Decolonization, process whereby the non-self-governing territories (including colonies, protectorates, and condominiums) of Western imperial powers gained independence. The term’s usage is normally confined to the post-1945 period, when the British Empire, French Empire, Dutch Empire, Spanish Empire, Portuguese Empire and others either voluntarily granted independence to their former subject dominions or yielded to national liberation movements. (The forcible eviction of the colonial power by another outside power, as with Germany after 1918 or the end of Japanese control over Korea in 1945, is not usually classed as decolonization.) The administrative and judicial elements of this process were linked to the 20th-century decline in the ability of the European nation states to project economic and military power on a global basis.