Editing Decolonization (section)

=== After 1945 ===
==== Planning for decolonization ====
=====U.S. and Philippines=====
In the United States, the two major parties were divided on the acquisition of the Philippines, which became a major campaign issue in 1900. The Republicans, who favored permanent acquisition, won the election, but after a decade or so, Republicans turned their attention to the Caribbean, focusing on building the [[Panama Canal]]. President [[Woodrow Wilson]], a Democrat in office from 1913 to 1921, ignored the Philippines, and focused his attention on Mexico and Caribbean nations. By the 1920s, the peaceful efforts by the Filipino leadership to pursue independence proved convincing. When the Democrats returned to power in 1933, they worked with the Filipinos to plan a smooth transition to independence. It was scheduled for 1946 by [[Tydings–McDuffie Act]] of 1934. In 1935, the Philippines transitioned out of territorial status, controlled by an appointed governor, to the semi-independent status of the [[Commonwealth of the Philippines]]. Its constitutional convention wrote a new constitution, which was approved by Washington and went into effect, with an elected governor [[Manuel L. Quezon]] and legislature. Foreign Affairs remained under American control. The Philippines built up a new army, under general [[Douglas MacArthur]], who took leave from his U.S. Army position to take command of the new army reporting to Quezon. The Japanese occupation 1942 to 1945 disrupted but did not delay the transition. It took place on schedule in 1946 as [[Manuel Roxas]] took office as president.<ref>H. W. Brands, ''Bound to Empire: The United States and the Philippines'' (1992) pp. 138–60. [https://archive.org/details/boundtoempireuni00bran online free]</ref>

=====Portugal=====
[[File:Sempreatentos...aoperigo!.jpg|thumb|right|210px|[[Portuguese Army]] special ''[[caçadores]]'' advancing in the African jungle in the early 1960s, during the [[Angolan War of Independence]]]]
As a result of its pioneering [[Portuguese discoveries|discoveries]], [[Portugal]] had a large and particularly long-lasting colonial empire which had begun in 1415 with the [[conquest of Ceuta]] and ended only in 1999 with the handover of [[Portuguese Macau]] to China. In 1822, Portugal [[Independence of Brazil|lost control of Brazil]], its largest colony.

From 1933 to 1974, [[Estado Novo (Portugal)|Portugal was an authoritarian state]] (ruled by [[António de Oliveira Salazar]]). The regime was fiercely determined to maintain the country's colonial possessions at all costs and to aggressively suppress any insurgencies. In 1961, [[Annexation of Goa|India annexed Goa]] and by the same year nationalist forces had begun organizing in Portugal. Revolts (preceding the [[Portuguese Colonial War]]) spread to [[Portuguese Angola|Angola]], [[Portuguese Guinea|Guinea Bissau]] and [[Portuguese Mozambique|Mozambique]].<ref>John P. Cann, ''Counterinsurgency in Africa: The Portuguese Way of War 1961–74'' Solihull, UK (Helion Studies in Military History, No. 12), 2012.</ref> [[Lisbon]] escalated its effort in the war: for instance, it increased the number of natives in the colonial army and built strategic hamlets. Portugal sent another 300,000 European settlers into Angola and Mozambique before 1974. That year, [[Carnation Revolution|a left-wing revolution]] inside Portugal overthrew the existing regime and encouraged pro-Soviet elements to attempt to seize control in the colonies. The result was a very long and extremely difficult multi-party [[Angolan Civil War|Civil War in Angola]], and lesser insurrections in Mozambique.<ref>Norrie MacQueen,  ''The Decolonisation of Portuguese Africa: Metropolitan Revolution and the Dissolution of Empire''</ref>

===== Belgium =====
Belgium's empire began with the annexation of the Congo in 1908 in response to international pressure to bring an end to the [[Atrocities in the Congo Free State|terrible atrocities]] that had taken place under [[King Leopold II of Belgium|King Leopold]]'s privately run [[Congo Free State]]. It added [[Ruanda-Urundi|Rwanda and Burundi]] as League of Nations mandates from the former German Empire in 1919. The colonies remained independent during the war, while Belgium was occupied by the Germans. There was no serious planning for independence, and exceedingly little training or education provided.  The [[Belgian Congo]] was especially rich, and many Belgian businessmen lobbied hard to maintain control. Local revolts grew in power and finally, the Belgian king suddenly announced in 1959 that independence was on the agenda – and it was hurriedly arranged in 1960, for country bitterly and deeply divided on social and economic grounds.<ref>Henri Grimal, ''Decolonisation: The British, French, Dutch and Belgian Empires, 1919–63'' (1978).</ref>

===== Netherlands =====
[[File:Een groep gevangenen zit op de grond, bewaakt door soldaten voorbeeld van goe…, Bestanddeelnr 15865.jpg|thumb|210px|Dutch soldiers in the East Indies during the [[Indonesian National Revolution]], 1946]]
The Netherlands had spent centuries building up its empire. By 1940 it consisted mostly of the [[Dutch East Indies]], corresponding to what is now Indonesia. Its massive oil reserves provided about 14 percent of the Dutch national product and supported a large population of ethnic Dutch government officials and businessmen in [[Batavia, Dutch East Indies|Batavia]] (now Jakarta) and other major cities. The Netherlands was overrun and almost starved to death [[Reichskommissariat Niederlande|by the Nazis]] during the war, and Japan sank the Dutch fleet in seizing the East Indies. In 1945 the Netherlands could not regain these islands on its own; [[Battle of Surabaya|it did so by depending on British military help]] and [[Marshall Plan|American financial grants]]. By the time Dutch soldiers returned, an independent government under [[Sukarno]] was in power, originally set up by the [[Empire of Japan]]. The Dutch both abroad and at home generally agreed that Dutch power depended on an expensive war to regain the islands. Compromises were negotiated, but were trusted by neither side. When the [[Madiun Affair|Indonesian Republic successfully suppressed]] a large-scale communist revolt, the United States realized that it needed the nationalist government as an ally in the Cold War. Dutch possession was an obstacle to American Cold War goals, so Washington forced the Dutch to grant full independence. A few years later, Sukarno nationalized all [[Dutch East Indies]] properties and expelled all [[Indo people|ethnic Dutch]]—over 300,000—as well as several hundred thousand ethnic Indonesians who supported the Dutch cause. In the aftermath, the Netherlands prospered greatly in the 1950s and 1960s but nevertheless public opinion was bitterly hostile to the United States for betrayal. The Dutch government eventually gave up on claims to Indonesian sovereignty in 1949, after American pressure.<ref>{{cite book|author=Frances Gouda|title=American Visions of the Netherlands East Indies/Indonesia: US Foreign Policy and Indonesian Nationalism, 1920–1949|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Zh1VtsxRlRAC&pg=PA36|year=2002|publisher=Amsterdam UP|page=36|isbn=978-90-5356-479-0}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |jstor = 259796|title = The Netherlands after the Loss of Empire|journal = Journal of Contemporary History|volume = 4|issue = 1|pages = 127–139|last1 = Baudet|first1 = Henri|year = 1969|doi = 10.1177/002200946900400109|s2cid = 159531822}}</ref> The Netherlands also had one other major colony, Dutch Guiana in [[South America]], which became independent as [[Suriname]] in 1975.

==== United Nations trust territories ====
{{Main|United Nations trust territories}}

When the United Nations was formed in 1945, it established trust territories. These territories included the [[League of Nations mandate]] territories which had not achieved independence by 1945, along with the former [[Italian Somaliland]]. The [[Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands]] was transferred from Japanese to US administration. By 1990 all but one of the trust territories had achieved independence, either as independent states or by merger with another independent state; the [[Northern Mariana Islands]] elected to become a commonwealth of the United States.

==== The emergence of the Third World (1945–present) ====
[[File:Africa cs poster.jpg|thumb|upright=.8|Czechoslovak anti-colonialist propaganda poster: "Africa – in fight for freedom"]]
Newly independent states organised themselves in order to oppose continued economic colonialism by former imperial powers. The [[Non-Aligned Movement]] constituted itself around the main figures of [[Jawaharlal Nehru]], the first Prime Minister of India, [[Sukarno]], the Indonesian president, [[Josip Broz Tito]] the Communist leader of [[Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia|Yugoslavia]], and [[Gamal Abdel Nasser]], head of Egypt.<ref>{{Cite book |author=Nehru, Jawaharlal |title=Jawaharlal Nehru.: an autobiography. |date=2004 |publisher=Penguin Books |isbn=9780143031048 |oclc=909343858}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Non-Aligned Movement {{!}} Definition, Mission, & Facts |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Non-Aligned-Movement |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210227123949/https://www.britannica.com/topic/Non-Aligned-Movement |archive-date=27 February 2021 |access-date=10 July 2020 |website=Encyclopedia Britannica |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Mukherjee |first=Mithi |year=2010 |title='A World of Illusion': The Legacy of Empire in India's Foreign Relations, 1947-62. |journal=The International History Review |volume=32: 2 |issue=2 |pages=253–271 |doi=10.1080/07075332.2010.489753 |jstor=25703954 |s2cid=155062058}}</ref> In 1955 these leaders gathered at the [[Bandung Conference]] along with [[Sukarno]], the leader of Indonesia, and [[Zhou Enlai]], Premier of the People's Republic of China.<ref name="maounknown">Jung Chang and John Halliday, ''Mao: The Unknown Story'', pp. 603–604, 2007 edition, Vintage Books</ref><ref name="Bogetić">{{cite journal |last=Bogetić |first=Dragan |date=2017 |title=Sukob Titovog koncepta univerzalizma i Sukarnovog koncepta regionalizma na Samitu nesvrstanih u Kairu 1964. |trans-title=The Conflict Between Tito’s Concept of Universalism and Sukarno’s Concept of Regionalism in the 1964 Summit of Non-Aligned Countries in Cairo |journal=Istorija 20. Veka |publisher=Institute for Contemporary History, [[Belgrade]] |volume=35 |issue=2 |pages=101–118 |doi=10.29362/IST20VEKA.2017.2.BOG.101-118 |s2cid=189123378 |doi-access=free}}</ref> In 1960, the [[UN General Assembly]] voted on the [[Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples]]. The next year, the first Non-Aligned Movement conference was held in [[Belgrade]] (1961),<ref>{{cite web |date=6 September 1961 |title=Belgrade declaration of non-aligned countries |url=http://www.namegypt.org/Relevant%20Documents/01st%20Summit%20of%20the%20Non-Aligned%20Movement%20-%20Final%20Document%20(Belgrade_Declaration).pdf |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111008014412/http://www.namegypt.org/Relevant%20Documents/01st%20Summit%20of%20the%20Non-Aligned%20Movement%20-%20Final%20Document%20(Belgrade_Declaration).pdf |archive-date=8 October 2011 |access-date=23 April 2011 |publisher=Egyptian presidency website}}</ref> and was followed in 1964 by the creation of the [[United Nations Conference on Trade and Development]] (UNCTAD) which tried to promote a [[New International Economic Order]] (NIEO).<ref name="auto4">{{cite book |last1=Laszlo |first1=Ervin |title=The Objectives of the New International Economic Order |last2=Baker |first2=Robert Jr. |last3=Eisenberg |first3=Elliott |last4=Raman |first4=Venkata |date=1978 |publisher=Pergamon Press |location=New York, NY}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Mazower |first1=Mark |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L7xvDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA310 |title=Governing the World: The History of an Idea |date=2012 |publisher=Penguin Press |isbn=9780143123941 |location=New York City |page=310}}</ref> The NIEO was opposed to the 1944 [[Bretton Woods system]], which had benefited the leading states which had created it, and remained in force until 1971 after the United States' suspension of convertibility from dollars to gold. The main principles of the NIEO are:

# The sovereign equality of all States, with non-interference in their internal affairs, their effective participation in solving world problems and the right to adopt their own economic and social systems;
# Full sovereignty of each State over its natural resources and other economic activities necessary for development, as well as regulation of transnational corporations;
# Just and equitable relationship between the price of raw materials and other goods exported by developing countries, and the prices of raw materials and other goods exported by the developed countries;
# Strengthening of bilateral and multilateral international assistance to promote industrialization in the developing countries through, in particular, the provisioning of sufficient financial resources and opportunities for transfer of appropriate techniques and technologies.<ref name="auto1">{{cite web |last1=Mahiou |first1=Ahmed |date=1 May 1974 |title=Introductory Note, Declaration of the Establishment of a New International Economic Order |url=http://legal.un.org/avl/ha/ga_3201/ga_3201.html |access-date=17 December 2020 |website=UN Audiovisual Library of International Law |ref=p. 3}}</ref>

[[File:Countries by Human Development Index (2020).png|thumb|upright=1.6|The [[UN Human Development Index]] (HDI) is a quantitative index of development, an alternative to the classic [[Gross Domestic Product]] (GDP), which some use as a proxy to define the [[Third World]]. While the GDP only calculates economic wealth, the HDI includes [[life expectancy]], [[public health]] and [[literacy]] as fundamental factors of a good [[quality of life]]. Countries in [[North America]], the [[Southern Cone]], [[Europe]], [[East Asia]], and [[Oceania]] generally have better standards of living than countries in [[Central Africa]], [[East Africa]], parts of the [[Caribbean]], and [[South Asia]].]]
The UNCTAD however was not very effective in implementing the NIEO, and social and economic inequalities between industrialized countries and the Third World grew throughout the 1960s until the 21st century. The [[1973 oil crisis]] which followed the [[Yom Kippur War]] (October 1973) was triggered by the OPEC which decided an embargo against the US and Western countries, causing a fourfold increase in the price of oil, which lasted five months, starting on 17 October 1973, and ending on 18 March 1974. OPEC nations then agreed, on 7 January 1975, to raise crude oil prices by 10%. At that time, OPEC nations – including many who had recently nationalized their oil industries – joined the call for a New International Economic Order to be initiated by coalitions of primary producers. Concluding the First OPEC Summit in Algiers they called for stable and just commodity prices, an international food and agriculture program, technology transfer from North to South, and the democratization of the economic system. But industrialized countries quickly began to look for substitutes to OPEC petroleum, with the oil companies investing the majority of their research capital in the US and European countries or others, politically sure countries. The OPEC lost more and more influence on the world prices of oil.

The [[1979 energy crisis|second oil crisis]] occurred in the wake of the 1979 [[Iranian Revolution]]. Then, the 1982 [[Latin American debt crisis]] exploded in Mexico first, then Argentina and Brazil, which proved unable to pay back their debts, jeopardizing the existence of the international economic system.

The 1990s were characterized by the prevalence of the [[Washington consensus]] on [[neoliberalism|neoliberal]] policies, "[[structural adjustment]]" and "[[shock therapy (economics)|shock therapies]]" for the former Communist states.

====Decolonization of Africa====
{{Main|Decolonisation of Africa}}

[[File:British Decolonisation in Africa.png|thumb|right|British decolonisation in Africa]]
The decolonization of North Africa and sub-Saharan Africa took place in the mid-to-late 1950s, very suddenly, with little preparation. There was widespread unrest and organized revolts, especially in French Algeria, Portuguese Angola, the Belgian Congo and British Kenya.<ref>John Hatch, ''Africa: The Rebirth of Self-Rule'' (1967)</ref><ref>William Roger Louis, ''The transfer of power in Africa: decolonisation, 1940–1960'' (Yale UP, 1982).</ref><ref>John D. Hargreaves, ''Decolonisation in Africa'' (2014).</ref><ref>for the viewpoint from London and Paris see Rudolf von Albertini, ''Decolonisation: the Administration and Future of the Colonies, 1919–1960'' (Doubleday, 1971).</ref>

In 1945, Africa had four independent countries – Egypt, Ethiopia, Liberia, and South Africa.

After Italy's defeat in World War II, France and the UK occupied the former Italian colonies. [[Libya]] became an independent kingdom in 1951. [[Eritrea]] was merged with Ethiopia in 1952. Italian Somaliland was governed by the UK, and by Italy after 1954, until its independence in 1960.
[[File:Gungu la mcezo contre la France à Mayotte.jpg|thumb|Comorians protest against [[2009 Mahoran status referendum|Mayotte referendum]] on becoming an overseas department of France, 2009]]
By 1977, European colonial rule in mainland Africa had ended. Most of Africa's island countries had also become independent, although [[Réunion]] and [[Mayotte]] remain part of France. However the black majorities in [[Rhodesia]] and South Africa were disenfranchised until 1979 in [[Rhodesia]], which became [[Zimbabwe-Rhodesia]] that year and Zimbabwe the next, and until 1994 in South Africa. [[Namibia]], Africa's last UN Trust Territory, became independent of South Africa in 1990.

Most independent African countries exist within prior colonial borders. However [[Morocco]] merged [[French Morocco]] with [[Spanish Morocco]], and [[Somalia]] formed from the merger of [[British Somaliland]] and [[Italian Somaliland]]. [[Eritrea]] merged with Ethiopia in 1952, but became an independent country in 1993.

Most African countries became independent as [[republic]]s. [[Morocco]], [[Lesotho]], and [[Eswatini]] remain monarchies under dynasties that predate colonial rule. [[Burundi]], [[Egypt]], [[Libya]], and [[Tunisia]] gained independence as monarchies, but all four countries' monarchs were later deposed, and they became republics.

African countries cooperate in various multi-state associations. The [[African Union]] includes all 55 African states. There are several regional associations of states, including the [[East African Community]], [[Southern African Development Community]], and [[Economic Community of West African States]], some of which have overlapping membership.
* {{flagcountry|United Kingdom}}: [[Sudan]] (1956); [[Ghana]] (1957); [[Nigeria]] (1960); [[Sierra Leone]] and [[Tanganyika (1961–1964)|Tanganyika]] (1961); [[Uganda]] (1962); [[Kenya]] and [[Sultanate of Zanzibar]] (1963); [[Malawi]] and [[Zambia]] (1964); [[The Gambia|Gambia]] and [[Rhodesia]] (1965); [[Botswana]] and [[Lesotho]] (1966); [[Mauritius]] and [[Swaziland]] (1968); [[Seychelles]] (1976)
* {{flagcountry|France}}: [[Morocco]] and [[Tunisia]] (1956); [[Guinea]] (1958); [[Cameroon]], [[Togo]], [[Mali]], [[Senegal]], [[Madagascar]], [[Benin]], [[Niger]], [[Burkina Faso]], [[Ivory Coast]], [[Chad]], [[Central African Republic]], [[Republic of the Congo]], [[Gabon]] and [[Mauritania]] (1960); [[Algeria]] (1962); [[Comoros]] (1975); [[Djibouti]] (1977)
* {{flagcountry|Spain}}: [[Equatorial Guinea]] (1968)
* {{flagcountry|Portugal}}: [[Guinea-Bissau]] (1974); [[Mozambique]], [[Cape Verde]], [[São Tomé and Príncipe]] and [[Angola]] (1975)
* {{flagcountry|Belgium}}: [[Democratic Republic of the Congo]] (1960); [[Burundi]] and [[Rwanda]] (1962)

==== Decolonization in the Americas after 1945 ====
{{Main|Decolonization of the Americas}}
* {{flagcountry|United Kingdom}}: [[Dominion of Newfoundland|Newfoundland]] (formerly an independent dominion but under direct British rule since 1934) (1949, union with Canada); [[Jamaica]] and [[Trinidad and Tobago]] (1962); [[Barbados]] and [[Guyana]] (1966); [[Bahamas]] (1973); [[Grenada]] (1974); [[Trinidad and Tobago]] (1976, removal of Queen [[Elizabeth II]] as head of state, transition to republic); [[Dominica]] (1978); [[Saint Lucia]] and [[St. Vincent and the Grenadines]] (1979); [[Antigua and Barbuda]] and [[Belize]] (1981); [[Saint Kitts and Nevis]] (1983); [[Barbados]] (2021, removal of Queen [[Elizabeth II]] as head of state, transition to republic).<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.reuters.com/world/prince-charles-travels-barbados-celebrate-creation-republic-2021-11-29/|title = Barbados ditches Britain's Queen Elizabeth to become a republic|newspaper = Reuters|date = 30 November 2021|last1 = Faulconbridge|first1 = Guy|last2 = Ellsworth|first2 = Brian}}</ref>
* {{flagcountry|Netherlands}}: [[Netherlands Antilles]], [[Suriname]] (1954, both becoming constituent countries of the [[Kingdom of the Netherlands]]), 1975 (independence of Suriname)
* {{flagcountry|Kingdom of Denmark}}: [[Greenland]] (1979, became an autonomous territory of the [[Kingdom of Denmark]]).

==== Decolonization of Asia ====
{{Main|Decolonisation of Asia}}
[[File:Colonization 1945.png|thumb|right|upright=1.5|Western European colonial empires in Asia and Africa all collapsed in the years after 1945]]
[[File:Partition of India.PNG|thumb|Four nations ([[India]], [[Pakistan]], [[Dominion of Ceylon]], and [[Union of Burma]]) that gained independence in 1947 and 1948]]
Japan expanded its occupation of Chinese territory during the 1930s, and occupied [[Southeast Asia]] during World War II. After the war, the [[Japanese colonial empire]] was dissolved, and national independence movements resisted the re-imposition of colonial control by European countries and the United States.

The [[Republic of China (1912–1949)|Republic of China]] regained control of Japanese-occupied territories in Manchuria and eastern China, as well as Taiwan. Only Hong Kong and Macau remained in outside control until both places were transferred to the [[People's Republic of China]] by the [[UK]] and [[Portugal]] in 1997 and 1999.

The Allied powers divided Korea into two occupation zones, which became the states of [[North Korea]] and [[South Korea]]. The [[Philippines]] became independent of the U.S. in 1946.

The Netherlands recognized [[Indonesia]]'s independence in 1949, after a four-year [[Indonesian National Revolution|independence struggle]]. Indonesia annexed [[Netherlands New Guinea]] in 1963, and [[Portuguese Timor]] in 1975. In 2002, former Portuguese Timor became independent as [[East Timor]].

The following list shows the colonial powers following the end of hostilities in 1945, and their colonial or administrative possessions. The year of decolonization is given chronologically in parentheses.<ref>Baylis, J. & Smith S. (2001). The Globalisation of World Politics: An introduction to international relations.</ref>
* {{flagcountry|United Kingdom}}: [[Emirate of Transjordan|Transjordan]] (1946), [[Presidencies and provinces of British India|British India]] and [[Pakistan]] (1947); [[Mandatory Palestine|British Mandate of Palestine]], [[Myanmar|Burma]] and [[Sri Lanka|Ceylon]] (1948); [[British Malaya]] (1957); [[Kuwait]] (1961); [[Kingdom of Sarawak]], [[North Borneo]] and [[Singapore]] (1963); [[Maldives]] (1965); [[Southern Movement|Aden]] (1967); [[Bahrain]], [[Qatar]] and [[United Arab Emirates]] (1971); [[Brunei]] (1984); [[Hong Kong]] (1997)
* {{flagcountry|France}}: [[French India]] (1954) and [[Indochina]] comprising [[Vietnam]] (1954), [[Cambodia]] (1953) and [[Laos]] (1953)
* {{flagcountry|Portugal}}: [[Portuguese India]] (1961); [[East Timor]] (1975); [[Macau]] (1999)
* {{flagcountry|United States}}: [[Philippines]] (1946)
* {{flagcountry|Netherlands}}: [[Indonesia]] (1949)

==== Decolonization in Europe ====
[[File:Nyet, nyet, Soviet (11).jpg|thumb|A protest sign from the second half of the 20th century calling on the U.N. to abolish [[Soviet colonialism]] in the [[Baltic states]]]]

Italy had occupied the [[Dodecanese]] islands in 1912, but Italian occupation ended after World War II, and the islands were integrated into Greece. British rule ended in [[British Cyprus (1878–1960)|Cyprus]] in 1960, and [[History of Malta#Malta in the British Empire (1800–1964)|Malta]] in 1964, and both islands became independent republics.

Soviet control of its non-Russian member republics weakened as movements for democratization and self-government gained strength during the late 1980s, and four republics declared independence in 1990 and 1991. The [[1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt|Soviet coup d'état attempt]] in August 1991 accelerated the breakup of the USSR, which formally ended on 26 December 1991. The [[Republics of the Soviet Union]] became sovereign states—[[Armenia]], [[Azerbaijan]], [[Belarus]] (formerly called Byelorussia,) [[Estonia]], [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]], [[Kazakhstan]], [[Kyrgyzstan]], [[Latvia]], [[Lithuania]], [[Moldova]], [[Russia]], [[Tajikistan]], [[Turkmenistan]], [[Ukraine]] and [[Uzbekistan]]. Historian Robert Daniels says, "A special dimension that the anti-Communist revolutions shared with some of their predecessors was decolonization."<ref>{{cite book|editor=David Parker|title=Revolutions and the Revolutionary Tradition: In the West 1560–1991|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cMGEAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA203|year=2002|publisher=Routledge|pages=202–3|isbn=978-1-134-69058-9}}</ref> Moscow's policy had long been to settle ethnic Russians in the non-Russian republics. After independence, minority rights have been an issue for Russian-speakers in some republics and for [[Languages of Russia|non-Russian-speakers]] in Russia; see [[Russians in the Baltic states]].<ref>{{Cite journal |jstor = 43211802|title = Russians in the Baltic States: To be or Not to Be?|journal = Journal of Baltic Studies|volume = 24|issue = 2|pages = 173–188|last1 = Kirch|first1 = Aksel|last2 = Kirch|first2 = Marika|last3 = Tuisk|first3 = Tarmo|year = 1993|doi = 10.1080/01629779300000051}}</ref> Meanwhile, the Russian Federation continues to apply political, economic, and military pressure on former Soviet colonies. In 2014, it [[Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation|annexed Ukraine's Crimean peninsula]], the first such action in Europe since the end of the Second World War. In March 2023, following the [[2022 Russian invasion]] and subsequent Russian occupation of parts of Ukraine, Ukraine passed [[On the Condemnation and Prohibition of Propaganda of Russian Imperial Policy in Ukraine and the Decolonization of Toponymy|a law]] that did forbid to have toponymy with names associated with Russian ("the occupying state").<ref>{{cite web|date=22 March 2023|access-date=22 March 2023|title=Geographical names associated with Russia have been banned in Ukraine|url=https://lb.ua/news/2023/03/21/549538_ukraini_zaboronili_geografichni.html|website={{ill|Lb.ua|uk|Lb.ua}}|lang=Ukrainian}}</ref> This law in particular has been described by Ukrainian media as providing "a legitimate framework and effective mechanisms" for the [[decolonization of Ukraine]].<ref>{{Cite news |date=2023-03-22 |title=Що таке деколонізація, чому вона важлива і як буде здійснюватися згідно з законом? |url=https://lb.ua/news/2023/03/22/549649_shcho_take_dekolonizatsiya_chomu_vona.html |access-date=2024-01-23|language=uk}}</ref>

After the 2022 Russian invasion, scholars of Eastern Europe and Central Asia Studies ("[[Russian studies]]") have renewed awareness of Russian colonialism and interest in decolonizing scholarship in their field,<ref>{{Cite news |last=Prince |first=Todd |date=2023-01-01 |title=Moscow's Invasion Of Ukraine Triggers 'Soul-Searching' At Western Universities As Scholars Rethink Russian Studies |language=en |work=Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty |url=https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-war-ukraine-western-academia/32201630.html |access-date=2023-04-24}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Smith-Peter |first=Susan |date=2022-12-14 |title=How the Field was Colonized: Russian History's Ukrainian Blind Spot |url=https://networks.h-net.org/node/10000/blog/decolonizing-russian-studies/12015665/how-field-was-colonized-russian-history%E2%80%99s |access-date=2023-04-24 |website=H-Net}}</ref> with academic conferences organized on the theme by the Centre for Baltic and East European Studies (CBEES) in Stockholm in December 2022,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Administration |date=2012-11-02 |title=PhD |url=https://ccrs.ku.dk/phd/?pure=en/activities/cbees-annual-conference-2022-where-are-we-now-perspectives-on-east-european-area-studies-today(f555db0d-383f-429d-a8eb-bf4e73784324).html |access-date=2023-04-24 |website=ccrs.ku.dk |language=en}}</ref> the British Association for Slavonic and Eastern European Studies (BASEES) in April 2023,<ref>{{Cite web |title=BASEES Annual Conference 2022 |url=https://www.myeventflo.com/event.asp?m=4&evID=2387 |access-date=2023-04-24 |website=www.myeventflo.com}}</ref> the Aleksanteri Institute in October,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Aleksanteri Conference takes a stand for Ukraine {{!}} Aleksanteri Institute {{!}} University of Helsinki |url=https://www.helsinki.fi/en/news/economics/aleksanteri-conference-takes-stand-ukraine |access-date=2023-04-24 |website=www.helsinki.fi |date=6 October 2022 |language=en}}</ref> and the [[Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies]] (ASEEES) in Philadelphia in November–December.

==== Decolonization of Oceania ====
{{Main|Decolonisation of Oceania}}
The decolonization of Oceania occurred after World War II when nations in Oceania achieved independence by transitioning from European colonial rule to full independence.
* {{flagcountry|United Kingdom}}: [[Tonga]] and [[Fiji]] (1970); [[Solomon Islands]] and [[Tuvalu]] (1978); [[Kiribati]] (1979)
* {{flagcountry|United Kingdom}} and {{flagcountry|France}}: [[Vanuatu]] (1980)
* {{flagcountry|Australia}}: [[Nauru]] (1968); [[Papua New Guinea]] (1975)
* {{flagcountry|New Zealand}}: [[Samoa]] (1962)
* {{flagcountry|United States}}: [[Marshall Islands]] and [[Federated States of Micronesia]] (1986); [[Palau]] (1994)