ABSTRACT
Differing interpretations of the history of the United Nations on the one hand conceive of it as an instrument to promote colonial interests while on the other emphasize its influence in facilitating self-determination for dependent territories. The authors in this book explore this dynamic in order to expand our understanding of both the achievements and the limits of international support for the independence of colonized peoples. This book will prove foundational for scholars and students of modern history, international history, and postcolonial history.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
part I|59 pages
The politics of oversight
chapter 1|17 pages
National prerogatives versus international supervision
Britain’s evolving policy toward the campaign for equivalency of United Nations’ handling of dependent territories, 1945–1963
1
chapter 2|21 pages
A challenge to the system
The South West Africa question and the United Nations Trusteeship Council
chapter 3|19 pages
The United Nations, Italian decolonization, and the 1949 Bevin-Sforza plan
A victory for neocolonialism?
part II|67 pages
Decolonizing global governance?
chapter 4|22 pages
The United Nations between “old boys’ club” and a changing world order
The South African-Indian dispute at the United Nations, 1945–1955
chapter 5|22 pages
“A crisis of confidence”
The postcolonial moment and the diplomacy of decolonization at the United Nations, ca. 1961
1
part III|85 pages
Unraveling empire
chapter 8|35 pages
The United Nations and Portuguese colonies, 1961–1962 1
Information gathering and the evolving interpretation of Article 73(e)
chapter 9|28 pages
The United Nations and West Papuan self-determination
Lingering conceptions of “civilization” in the decolonization process
