Editing Decolonization (section)

==== 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.