Compare And Contrast Imperialism And Nationalistic Movement

Colonialism and imperialism have been clear phenomenon since the rise of the Europeans. As the European powers rose, other regions fell in their power. However, nationalistic movements all over the world eventually occurred, in order to battle imperialism. In the 20th century, East Asia and Africa had similar causes for the rise of nationalistic movements and their political outcomes, but differed in the ideologies that accompanied these movements.

Nationalistic movements arose in both East Asia and Africa because of the disillusionment of WWI, as European powers fought for democracy but maintained their imperialistic tendencies and imperialism by other nations also increased. After fighting along the allied powers in WWI, China became
China’s national movement was officially communist, with a charismatic leader called Mao Zedong that led the CCP. In addition, the Ho Chin Minh led communist nationalistic movements in Vietnam to gain independence from France. However, neither nation had a cultural tendency with the political movement; they only had socioeconomic nationalistic tendencies. African nationalistic movements, on the other hand, were largely influenced by pan Africanism. African nationalists tried to encourage Black culture and pride, promoting African music, rituals and traditions to unify African nations. Thus, East Asian nationalistic movements were largely based on socioeconomic tendencies, while African nationalistic movements had a touch of Pan Africanism, a cultural movement. This is because Africans didn’t consider themselves Africans, or as nations, such as Angolan or Algerian, they considered themselves as distinct tribal groups. Africa’s cultural and ethnic diversity created barriers and made independence harder to achieve. Therefore, pan Africanism was a necessary movement to unite Africans and decolonize them. China and Vietnam didn’t need a cultural movement because they were already more or less united and homogenous. Another reason for this cultural difference is that in order
China became a single-party state, governed by the socialist CCP, after their nationalistic movements. In addition, the nationalistic movements in Vietnam by the Ho Chin Ming resulted in a one-party system as well. The communist one-party system in East Asia is similar to the Soviet Union’s government under the Bolshevik Party. Even though the people’s social rights increased, the Soviets were under a totalitarian form of government under the Communist Party. China and Vietnam followed the Soviet Union’s model and thus their nationalistic movement ended in dictatorship. African nations also acquired a single-party system with their nationalistic movements. In Tunisia, for example, nationalistic movements, led by Habib Bourguiba and the Neo-Destour, led to a single-party system since the nation’s independence in 1956. Kenya, as well, was governed by the Kenya African National Union since its independence in 1963 in a single-party system. These nationalistic movements ended in one-party systems because their struggle for independence destroyed the old economic and political system and thus rebuilding was needed. However, it is incredibly hard to rebuild a nation from zero without the natural resources and principles of democracy. In addition, East Asia and Africa were both far behind in industrialization, compared to European powers, and needed