How a country won independence shaped the government it built. Negotiated transfers left colonial institutions in place, while revolutionary wars gave armies and revolutionary leaders a claim to rule.
Where Britain or the USA agreed to independence through talks, they left democratic institutions behind. Malaya (1957) and Singapore got a British-style parliament. The Philippines (1946) got an American-style president and Congress.
Power also passed to the elites who had worked with the colonial rulers. In Malaya, the Alliance of Malay, Chinese and Indian parties led the talks for independence. In the Philippines, landowning families dominated Congress.
Where independence came through armed struggle, armies gained political power. Indonesia fought the Dutch from 1945 to 1949, and its army saw itself as a guardian of the nation. Vietnam's communist forces fought the French, and the Communist Party ruled the North after 1954.
Burma won independence through talks in 1948. But its army had grown out of the independence movement. Ethnic rebellions divided the country, and the army took power in 1962.
Thailand was never colonised. Its 1932 revolution ended the king's absolute power. But power passed to army officers and senior officials, not to elected politicians.
- Negotiated
- Philippines 1946, Burma 1948, Malaya 1957.
- Revolutionary
- Indonesia 1945-1949, Vietnam 1945-1954.
- Never colonised
- Thailand; 1932 revolution.
Worked example: Comparing three countries
How did decolonisation shape government?
- Malaya: negotiated; a Westminster system and an elite coalition.
- Indonesia: revolution; the army claimed a political role.
- Vietnam: revolutionary war; a communist one-party state.
- Judgement: the path to independence shaped the starting point, not the end point.
Watch out for this
Colonial democratic institutions guaranteed lasting democracy.
The Philippines inherited US-style democracy but came under martial law in 1972. Institutions mattered less than how elites and the military used them.
Check your understanding
Why did Indonesia's army claim a role in politics?
- It had fought for independence against the Dutch and saw itself as the nation's guardian.
- Britain had trained it to govern.
- The UN appointed it.