Editing Decolonization (section)

== Consequences of decolonization ==
A 2019 study found that "[[democracy]] levels increased sharply as colonies gained internal autonomy in the period immediately before their independence. However, conflict, revenue growth, and economic growth did not systematically differ before and after independence."<ref>{{Cite journal|date=2019|title=What Were the Consequences of Decolonization? |journal=International Studies Quarterly|doi=10.1093/isq/sqy064|last1=Lee|first1=Alexander|last2=Paine|first2=Jack|volume=63|issue=2|pages=406–416}}</ref>

According to political theorist Kevin Duong, decolonization "may have been the century's greatest act of disenfranchisement", as numerous anti-colonial activists primarily pursued universal suffrage within empires rather than independence: "As dependent territories became nation-states, they lost their voice in metropolitan assemblies whose affairs affected them long after independence."<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Duong |first1=Kevin |title=Universal Suffrage as Decolonization |journal=American Political Science Review |date=May 2021 |volume=115 |issue=2 |pages=412–428 |doi=10.1017/S0003055420000994 |s2cid=232422414 }}</ref>

David Strang writes that the loss of their empires turned France and Britain into "second-rate powers".<ref>{{cite book |doi=10.1017/CBO9781139174053.012 |chapter=British and French political institutions and the patterning of decolonization |title=The Comparative Political Economy of the Welfare State |date=1994 |last1=Strang |first1=David |pages=278–296 |isbn=978-0-521-43473-7 }}</ref>