ABSTRACT
This chapter considers in more detail the impact of colonialism on what came to be developing countries. The key distinctions between them were those capitalist, sometimes democratic states which tended to align, strategically, with the West; and single-party states which usually aligned with what was then the Soviet Union or, less commonly, China. The political systems employed by these newly independent developing countries were those bequeathed to them or, more commonly, were in response to pre-existing colonial arrangements. In contrast to a self-perception of superiority, the West has its own history of irrationality, reflected in hugely destructive wars of religion, combative nationalism and destructive international competition, and its arguably intentional ignorance of the complexities and developments of such ‘othered’ countries. The western lesson for colonial peoples was that their future lay in ‘westernisation’ and ‘modernisation’, by adopting the values, habits and prejudices of their erstwhile colonial masters.
