Eclipse of Empire [Paperback]

This account of the twentieth century British decolonization process in India and Africa assesses its many broader sociopolitical consequences, including the vast political changes occurring in Asia as well as the political debacles in post-independence Africa.This account of the twentieth century British decolonization process in India and Africa assesses its many broader sociopolitical consequences, including the vast political changes occurring in Asia as well as the political debacles in post-independence Africa.Eclipse of Empire brings together the work of one of the foremost historians of the recent colonial experience to provide comprehensive outline accounts of the end of the British Empire in India and in Africa, and to assess the many sociopolitical ramifications of this process. No other study has approached the whole twentieth century decolonization process so comprehensively.1. The contraction of England: an inaugural lecture 1984; 2. The twentieth century revolution in Monson Asia; 3. India and Britain: the climactic years 19171947; 4. The forgotten Bania: merchant communities and the Indian National Congress; 5. Counterpart experiences: India/Indonesia 1920s1950s; 6. Emergencies and elections in India; 7. East Africa: towards the new order 19451963 with John Lonsdale; 8. Africa Year 1960; 9. The end of the British Empire in Africa; 10. History and independent Africa's political trauma; 11. Political superstructures in post-colonial states (i) A register of constructs; (ii) A dislocated polity: Uganda 196086; 12. Little Britain and large Commonwealth (i) The post-imperial Commonwealth; (ii) Commonwealth studies and Commonwealth countries; 13. Australia in the eastern hemisphere. Eclipse of Empire is a real historical tour de force. Comprehensive, informed, well-balanced and erudite, it will herald the take-off point for future analyses of the transformations brought about by the formal end-of-European-empire in Asia and Africa. International JolC&