The multipolar world succeeding US hegemony in the early 21st century, the financial crisis of 2007 and the corollary decline of liberalism seem to have ushered in an era of economic nationalism. States are increasingly left to fend for themselves as multilateral mechanisms lose traction and international economic relations gain in toxicity. The sanctions, embargoes and retaliations arising from the war in Ukraine, but also an accelerating struggle for dwindling natural resources, have pushed these logics to new heights. This Dossier assesses ongoing geoeconomic transformations and their potentially devastating consequences.
© Chappatte in The International New York Times, www.chappatte.com
Today, we observe a renewed interest in the theme of decolonisation in three interrelated fields: in the academic world which opens new areas of research and teaching (e.g. decolonisation studies; decolonising the curriculum), in the practice of professionals and international actors who are revisiting their way of working, as well as in the vocabulary and activism of civil society targeting the remnants of colonial times such as street names, statues or museum objects. The renewed focus on decolonisation brings forth underlying issues such as the lingering of Eurocentrism, continued oppression of indigenous people, cultural relativism, the ongoing materiality of colonialism, the guilt of the West or, more generally, “the darker side of Western modernity”. While decolonisation has had a lasting impact on the political scene (with the decolonisation movements of the 1960s) and theoretically in the realm of academia, it lags behind in practice as processes, mentalities and epistemes are still permeated by “coloniality”. The present issue puts therefore decolonisation into historical perspective and provides fresh analytical perspectives on its epistemologies and methodologies as well as its practical application and consequences in various fields.
This issue has been coproduced by the Graduate Institute’s Department of International History and Politics and the Research Office. It also includes contributions from other research centres and departments of the Institute.
A Past That Keeps Questioning Us
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I
Decolonisation: The Many Facets of an Ongoing Struggle
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1
Varieties of Decolonisation
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2
Decolonisation: Too Simple a Term for a Complicated History
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3
Decolonisation and Regionalism
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4
Decolonising International Politics
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5
Decolonising the Global
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6
Decolonisation and International Law
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7
Gender and Decolonisation
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8
Decolonisation and Humanitarianism
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9
Decolonisation and Global Health
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10
Decolonising Education
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11
Three Decolonial Questionings of the Digital
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O
Selected Publications from the Graduate Institute about Colonisation and Decolonisation
Reading time: 4 min