World History

Unit 7: The World Since 1945

Chapter 29: Asia Since 1945

Mon, Apr 21, 2014

60. Tue, Apr 22, 2014

This chapter offers the broad outlines of quite a few countries that we don't often hear about, and seems to touch on all the countries between Australia and Mongolia, which is an impressive scope. But naturally a few things are left out. At points the independence movements seemed glossed over, to me (Mr. C) — India's was described in some detail, but failed to make the crucial connection that Britain was simply too exhausted from World War II to subdue a Gandhi-inspired population. Note that France and the Netherlands, equally battered by the world war, fought hard for their colonies and were eventually driven out.

Toward the end, this chapter does something rather impressive and tries to get at some of the whys of dictatorship in Asia. But it leaves out the single biggest factor: the Cold War, and the United States in particular. Dreading another "loss" like China, the US influenced virtually every country in here, and outright hand-picked dictators for quite a few. Here's a list of dictatorships established by US help or approval, support which the book usually ignores:

• Syngman Rhee, South Korea
• Chiang Kai-Shek, Taiwan
• Ferdinand Marcos, the Philippines
• Suharto, Indonesia
• Ngo Dinh Dien, South Vietnam (the picture caption on pg. 802 is particularly bad; the fourth Geneva Accord did indeed call for elections, but Diem became president because that provision was ignored, at American insistence; Ho Chi Minh would have won, hands down, had the elections actually been held)

At every point the US acted to forestall communism, or what it branded communism, preferring dictatorships to democracy if there was any danger that the democracy would elect someone leftist: as a satirical American song put it, "They've got to be protected, all their rights respected/Until someone we like can get elected."

The Philippines are a particularly interesting case. Granted their freedom on July 4, 1946 (note the date), the islands remain highly influenced by the United States to this day. One president in the 60s was essentially nominated by the CIA. Marcos held to power for a long time because of American support, in particular his friendship with Ronald Reagan — and in many a way, Corazon Aquino was not fully recognized as the new president until she was greeted with applause in the US House of Representatives. The Philippines remain closely tied economically to the US as well, with "Made in USA" carrying rather more status there than here, even.

Fair is fair, though: Mao, Ho Chi Minh, and Pol Pot were all established as dictators by the communist powers — Mao and Ho by the Soviets, and Pol Pot by the Chinese. And Mao and Pol Pot in particular were disastrously bloody.

• What's necessary for decolonization? What leads an empire to retreat, and what leads a population to rise up and resist?
• Does decolonization have inherent dangers of instability? What effect does decolonization appear to have on the countries and people left behind?
• Considering the heavy foreign influence in many of these countries (with both the USA and USSR setting up dictatorships), and considering the close ties of trade, were any of these countries truly decolonized? We can even include Thailand and Taiwan in that, though China and Japan are probably a different case.

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