Daily Times

During the 18th century, and even before, it was quite easy to devour a nation’s very independence and to enslave it through direct colonial rule. However, the post-World War II period brought with it moves towards self-determination by those who no longer wished to live under subjugation. Thus the era of decolonisation began.

Yet this is not to say that nations were suddenly free. Far from it. Rather, the old system had to be dressed up in a new coat. Thus today we have neo-colonialism as the prevailing system of servitude. This is something that the revolutionary Kwame Nkrumah (who held the post of both prime minister and president in his native Ghana) talks about in his book, Neo-Colonialism: The Last Stage of Imperialism. Here, the veteran politician contends that this latest structure is aimed at economic subjugation. Meaning that for all outward intents and purposes a nation may appear sovereign — yet, in reality, behind-the-scenes, someone else is calling the shots. This could be other states or certain global financial institutions. Either way, these entities enjoy immeasurable control over the neo-colonised state; which finds that policymaking in terms of economic and political direction is determined from beyond national borders.

There are several ways to govern a neo-colonised state, including the presence of the imperial ruler’s armed forces on the ground or through rendering the former economically dependent on it; or both. This article intends to focus on the patterns that define a sovereign state as being a neo-colonial one as well as outlining how such nations are treated by those governing them.

Within the neo-colonial context, the imperial state rules over its subject by financing the running of the government as well as by providing skilled personnel that will take the top managerial or supervisory posts; thereby leaving only menial jobs for the local citizenry. But it does not stop there. The imperial state imposes upon its neo-colonial client a banking system, which it firmly controls. At times, the financial institutions that are at the helm belong to neither side. Though, in reality, the latter are tied in one way or another to the imperial state.

These financial institutions offer either monetary credit or loans. Yet conditions for both are naturally stringent. These may involve: securing control of the neo-colonial state’s economic policy; undertaking supervisory roles when it comes to what these loans may be used for; maintaining the right to sign off on any independently concluded trade-related treaties; as well as the right to interfere in internal finances when it comes to setting the value of the neo-colonial state’s currency, lowering barriers to trade or acquiring raw materials from these states at static rates. Bluntly put, any funds available to the neo-colonial state are thereby used to further exploit it — instead of developing it. And the latter is shamelessly sold the dream of progress when, in actuality, their future has been mortgaged to the point of liquidation.

Thus a neo-colonial state can control neither its destiny nor its direction. As such, these nations find themselves a veritable viper’s nest for proxy wars, foreign spies; and testing grounds for non-conventional weapons (including psychological experiments and relentless propaganda). The imperial state therefore follows the tried-and-tested strategy of never letting its subject truly know freedom. And to be sure, neo-colonialism is the worst form of imperialism — if only because, in this case, the rulers don’t bear any responsibility towards those whom they enslave. Indeed, the imperialists are only too happy to ensure the breaking-up of the neo-colonial state into smaller and, thus, easy to control units or states. Meaning that in the absence of opportunities to develop independently — the neo-colonial state becomes wholly reliant upon the imperialist state for its defence and internal security; in other word, for its very survival.

In addition, the neo-colonial state also doubles up as the primary market for those goods produced by the imperial state. Naturally, these are of high quality. Yet the neo-colonial state is not free to compete with foreign goods on the open market; given that it is literally bound to purchase products from its imperial masters, who, of course, are responsible for determining market prices. But not only that, the imperialist state also moves to bar the setting up of local competitive industries. The fallout of this is that there is no demand for goods manufactured by the neo-colonial state. Thus all innovation and development come to a grinding halt. And if, indeed, the imperial state buys products from the latter — these are purchased at (continuously) below market price.

Those states with weak institutions — due to rampant corruption or being deliberately kept in a state of perpetual underdevelopment — eventually fall prey to the next stage of the neo-colonial project: annexation. This happened to Palestinian lands in the West Bank and East Jerusalem

In order to sustain neo-colonialism, the imperialist state is forever evolving strategies whereby its already iron grip only becomes firmer. Meaning that at one time it will fulfil local demands to give the illusion of affording independence to its virtual subjects. But the reality is that the neo-colonial regime is an unstable one. This may have something to do with the fact that its leaders are not elected by popular vote — but by behind-the-scenes manoeuvring from the imperialist state. Thus whenever uprisings occur, the latter is quick to sacrifice the local government. And then in almost a blink of an eye, the imperialist state moves to usher in yet another subservient regime. Or else it orchestrates such rebellions to do away with ones that are showing signs of insubordination (namely by attempting to establish the writ of local government). And so it is that such ‘insurrections’ are used as weapons against the neo-colonial state.

Neo-colonialism produces weak institutions and client states. And the imperialist masters have absolutely no interest in uplifting the status of local citizenries. Just as they remain averse to generating employment for the neo-colonial state’s skilled workforce, given that the strengthening of commercial and industrial sectors is not on their agenda. Similarly, the monetary credits that the imperialist state doles out are nothing more than scams. This is because the latter simply engages in cosmetic ‘advances’ that ever so slightly improve living standards of local citizenries. Thus so-called aid injections or grants are directed to such superficialities. None of which are gifts — but, rather, ‘loans’ to be repaid at exorbitant profit margins.

This prevailing system of neo-colonialism not only impacts the religious and political structures of the target nation but the cultural realm, too. For the imperial state chooses not to trust either the local education system or the religious beliefs of the people due to the ever present fear of untimely uprisings from either students or the faithful. These two groups typically resent neo-colonialism given how they see it as an attack on their future or else their very value system. The imperial state also demands various kinds of privileges, such as setting up military bases or stationing troops inside national borders; as well as numerous concessions in terms of rights regarding the extraction of natural resources, tax collecting in the name of investment recovery and custom duty and tax exemptions.

In order to effectively resist the neo-colonial trap — countries like Pakistan must take informed action. Meaning we must first understand that the various loans that this country has accumulated over the years has made all of us virtual prisoners in our own land; to be dictated to by foreign lords. Thus the first step towards resistance must come by way of fixing our national industries to make them productive once more. As a first step towards this end, the government should look at reviving Pakistan Steel Mills, Pakistan International Airlines. At the same time, we should also be focused on overhauling our public education and healthcare systems. To be clear, this is a matter of the utmost gravity. For those states that are home to weak institutions — due to rampant corruption or that are deliberately kept in a state of perpetual underdevelopment — eventually fall prey to the next stage of the neo-colonial project: annexation. This happened to Palestinian lands in the West Bank and East Jerusalem because the world stood idly by and watched as an apartheid regime robbed the Palestinians of the right to develop strong local institutions.

Neighbouring Afghanistan, too, has fallen foul of neo-colonialism. This so-called free and sovereign state has been living under American military occupation for more than a decade-and-a-half. Though the Soviets also must share their burden of the blame for destabilising that country following their invasion of Kabul. Any nation that has been systematically weakened to the point whereby it faces a multitude of internal crises becomes easily susceptible to the neo-colonial project. Pakistan had better take note. There is no time to lose.

The writer is an Assistant Professor. His twitter handle is @Prof_MKShaikh

Published in Daily Times, December 21^st 2017.