European imperialism and colonialism in Africa: conceptual lessons for understanding the former Soviet Union and present day Russia

• Authors: Maksym Yakovlyev

Abstracts

EN

This article claims that the legacy of European imperialism and colonialism in Africa can be conceptually compared to the legacy of Russian and Soviet imperialism and colonialism in the former USSR republics and the nations of Central and Easter Europe that were under Soviet dominations. Despite the obvious fact that the historical conditions and paths of African nations that were colonized, repressed and ruled by the European empires differ significantly from the experience of the nations of Eastern Europe and Central Asia, that were conquered and colonized by the Russian Empire and later on were subjects to the Soviet rule, it is suggested in this article, that the conceptual lessons drawn from the vast literature dedicated to the studies of the aftermath of colonialism in Africa can enrich the scholarly efforts aimed at understanding the post-soviet spaces and different processes in it. What is meant by “conceptual lessons” is methodological opportunity for a different perspective or even a different lens through which the legacy of the Soviet rule and the current Russian neo-imperial foreign politics can be better understood. Much is written about the European imperialism and its colonial policies, however there is still some reluctance in applying the methodological framework of postcolonial studies to the former Soviet Union and present day Russia. Scholars all over the world studied the colonial legacies that African nations struggled to overcome and there are topics of particular relevance to the study of the post-soviet space: the processes of post-colonial nation building, the roles of new national elites, the ideological choices in foreign policies of newly independent nations, the aftermath of the policies of assimilation, the imperial “ideologies of superiority”, the economic consequences of colonialism, the role of churches and religious organizations in supporting colonial suppression – as conceptual topics, all of them can be studied critically, also in a comparative perspective, to have a much better understanding of the former soviet and current Russian foreign politics and policies.

Keywords

EN

African studies; postcolonial studies; Soviet imperialism; Russian foreign policy; post-soviet countries; research methodology; concepts’ studies

• Publisher: Wydawnictwo Adam Marszałek
• Journal: African Journal of Economics, Politics and Social Studies
• Year: 2022
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 31-39

Dates

published

2022

Contributors

author

Maksym Yakovlyev

• National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy (Ukraine)

• https://orcid.org/0000000177743513

References

• Brito, T., Trevisan, E., & Botter, R. (2011). A conceptual comparison between discrete and continuous simulation to motivate the hybrid simulation methodology. Proceedings Of The 2011 Winter Simulation Conference (WSC). DOI: 10.1109/wsc.2011.6148082.
• Brown, H. (2009). Conceptual Comparison and Conceptual Innovation. Models Of Discovery And Creativity, pp. 29–41. DOI: 10.1007/978-90-481-3421-2_2.
• Comaroff, J., & Comaroff, J. (1986). Christianity and colonialism in South Africa. American Ethnologist, 13(1), pp. 1-22. DOI: 10.1525/ae.1986.13.1.02a00010.
• Conceptual. (n.d.). (2022a). Retrieved from https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/conceptual.
• Conceptual. (n.d.). (2022b). Retrieved from https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/conceptual.
• Conceptual. (n.d.). (2022c). Retrieved from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/conceptual.
• Cullen, P. (2017). Kenya and Britain After Independence. Beyond Neo-Colonialism. Palgrave Macmillan.
• Eppler, M. (2006). A Comparison between Concept Maps, Mind Maps, Conceptual Diagrams, and Visual Metaphors as Complementary Tools for Knowledge Construction and Sharing. Information Visualization, 5(3), pp. 202–210. DOI: 10.1057/palgrave.ivs.9500131.
• Fernández, N. (2015). Discursos coloniales y resistencias nativas. La evangelización de la isla de Bioko a principios del siglo xx (Guinea Ecuatorial). In Y. Aixelà Cabré, Tras las huellas del colonialismo español en Marruecos y Guinea Ecuatorial. pp. 21–59. Madrid: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas.
• Gathara, P. (2022). The Kenyan UN ambassador’s Ukraine speech does not deserve praise. Retrieved from https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2022/2/23/what-the-kenyan-un-ambassador-got-wrong-about-colonialism.
• Haerle, F., & Bendixen, L. (2008). Personal Epistemology in Elementary Classrooms: A Conceptual Comparison of Germany and the United States and a Guide for Future Cross-Cultural Research. Knowing, Knowledge And Beliefs, pp. 151–176. DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4020-6596-5_7.
• Hoffman, B. (2012). Cognitive efficiency: A conceptual and methodological comparison. Learning And Instruction, 22(2), pp. 133–144. DOI: 10.1016/j.learninstruc.2011.09.001.
• Kuzio, T. (2015). Ukraine: Democratization, Corruption, and the New Russian Imperialism. Santa Barbara, Calif.: Praeger.
• Lara, R., Roman, D., Polleres, A., & Fensel, D. (2004). A Conceptual Comparison of WSMO and OWL-S. Web Services, pp. 254–269. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-540-30209-4_19.
• Maloba, W. (2017). The Anatomy of Neo-Colonialism in Kenya. British Imperialism and Kenyatta, 1963–1978 (1st ed.). Palgrave Macmillan.
• March, L. (2007). Is Nationalism Rising in Russian Foreign Policy? The Case of Georgia. In M. Laruelle, Russian Nationalism, Foreign Policy, and Identity Debates in Putin’s Russia. New Ideological Patterns after the Orange Revolution (pp. 11–40). Stuttgart: ibidem-Verlag.
• Martin, T. (2001). The Affirmative Action Empire: Nations and Nationalism in the Soviet Union, 1923–1939. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
• Motyl, A. (2001). Imperial ends: The Decay, Collapse and Revival of Empires. New York: Columbia University Press.
• Nikolova, E., & Polansky, J. (2020). Conversionary Protestants Do Not Cause Democracy. British Journal of Political Science, 51(4), pp. 1723–1733. DOI:10.1017/S00071234200001.
• Opinion. (n.d.). The speech you need to hear about Russia’s colonial mindset. (2022). Retrieved from https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/kenya-s-united-nations-speech-ukraine-called-out-russia-n1289548.
• Payne, D. P. (2010). Spiritual Security, the Russian Orthodox Church, and the Russian Foreign Ministry: Collaboration or Cooptation? Journal of Church and State, 52(4), pp. 712–727. DOI:10.1093/jcs/csq102.
• Rey, P. (1971). Colonialisme, néo-colonialisme et transition au capitalisme exemple de la «Comilog» au Congo-Brazzaville. Paris: FRANÇOIS MASPERO.
• Roiatti, F. (2010). Il nuovo colonialismo. Caccia alle terre coltivabili. Milano: Università Bocconi EGEA.
• Said, E. (1994). Secular Interpretation, the Geographical Element, and the Methodology of Imperialism. In P. Gyan, After colonialism: imperial histories and postcolonial displacements (pp. 21–39). Princeton: Princeton University Press.
• Schaninger, C., & Danko, W. (1993). A Conceptual and Empirical Comparison of Alternative Household Life Cycle Models. Journal Of Consumer Research, 19(4), pp. 580–594. DOI: 10.1086/209324.
• Schoenfeld, H. (1948). Soviet Imperialism in Hungary. Foreign Affairs, 26(3), p. 554. DOI: 10.2307/20030134.
• Sidorov, D. (2006). Post-Imperial Third Romes: Resurrections of a Russian Orthodox Geopolitical Metaphor. Geopolitics, 11(2), pp. 317–347. DOI: 10.1080/14650040600598585.
• Tricoire, D. (2017). Enlightened Colonialism? French Assimilationism, Silencing, and Colonial Fantasy on Madagascar. In D. Tricoire, Enlightened Colonialism Civilization Narratives and Imperial Politics in the Age of Reason (pp. 47–70). Cambridge Imperial and Post-Colonial Studies Series.
• Warren, C., & Laslett, B. (1977). Privacy and Secrecy: A Conceptual Comparison. Journal Of Social Issues, 33(3), pp. 43–51. DOI: 10.1111/j.1540-4560.1977.tb01881.x.
• Wendt, C., Frisina, L., & Rothgang, H. (2009). Healthcare System Types: A Conceptual Framework for Comparison. Social Policy & Administration, 43(1), pp. 70–90. DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9515.2008.00647.x.
• Woodberry, R. (2012). The Missionary Roots of Liberal Democracy. American Political Science Review, 106(2), pp. 244–274. DOI: 10.1017/s0003055412000093.
• Yakovlyev, M. (2013). Postcolonial Methodological Framework for Comparing Postsocialist Nostalgias (Cases of East Germany And Ukraine). Naukovi zapysky Na-UKMA. V.147. Politychni nauky, pp. 56–60.
• Zamparoni, V. (2012). De escravo a cozinheiro. Colonialismo & racismo em Moçambique (2nd ed.). Salvador: EDUFBA/ CEAO.
• Zouhar, M., Bielik, L., & Kosterec, M. (2017). Metóda: metodologické a formálne aspekty. Bratislava: Univerzita Komenského v Bratislave.

Identifiers

DOI

10.15804/ajepss.2022.1.02

Biblioteka Nauki

2206296