1. The Post-Colonial State: A disrupted political system
Introduction

2. The Spanish & Port. Empires
Background
Continental
Empire
Many of today’s independent nations went through a period during which they belonged to, and were ruled by, other cultures and states.
This was particularly true during the great period of European Colonial Expansion starting with the Portuguese and Spaniards at the end of the c15.
Formal Empire
Informal
Empire
Mainly centuries

3. Geography
Most of the states that became colonial territories are (a) in the Tropics, (b) most of the Less-Developed Countries
Did Colonialism make them poor? Or, were they poor to start with?
Is the Tropics intrinsically poor holding back state formation? “Environmental Determinism.”

4. The Relationship.
It was Unidirectional. The Europeans went there to extract wealth, and later, to change the places to their needs.
Center-Periphery relationship of dependency.
They became part of the Colonial Economy, which was a one-sided bargain.
The state-formation was frozen, terminated or distorted.

5. The Timing.
This went in phases (a) the search for gold, (b) trade and slaves, (c) colonial and imperial rule.
It kept many parts of the world out of fair participation in the Industrial Revolution, and extracted value-added.
It plunged these places into independence in a Divided World created by European Colonialism.

6. The Process
The instruments of state were replaced by the instruments of administration.
There was a total absence of local politics or involvements, except under Indirect Rule.
The arrival of colonialism was a Quantum Break with the culture and history of these regions, and their partition into artificial “states”.

7. Briefly…
In Latin America the indigenous state structure was destroyed by conquest and replaced by rich immigrant landowners.
In Africa the state structure was totally destroyed by slavery and colonial competition drew the boundaries.
In Asia the states were better established and survived (for a while) or still exist.