The Cold War and Decolonisation in the Middle East in the mid-1950s

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 26380224
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: International relations
• Research Institution: Tohoku University (2016-2017); Kansai Gaidai University (2014-2015)
• Principal Investigator: IKEDA Ryo 東北大学, 国際文化研究科, 准教授 (60447589)
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: 冷戦 / 脱植民地化 / 北アフリカ / 中東 / 西側同盟 / フランス / イギリス

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This research argues that the decolonisation from the mid-1950s was not aimed at achieving the peoples' political rights, as advocated in Wilson's 14 points, but at promoting economic growth through state machinery. This goal was not, however, accomplished when
newly-born countries accepted independence recognised by the colonial powers, i.e. one subject to the Western economies' dominance. Moreover it was in the cases where the colonial powers failed in transferring political power smoothly to local collaborators that the US and the Soviet Union directly intervened in the third world. In other words, the US aim was to prevent the Russians from penetrating influence by taking advantage of the colonial powers' failure. This was in tune with the Imperialism of Decolonization, coined by Louis and Robinson. The cold war era was the one in which the sovereign-state system was transplanted in the dependent areas while the colonial powers, assisted by the US, retaining political influence.

Free Research Field

国際政治史