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PaperclipPerfector  1yr ago (text post)   32276 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of July 17, 2023

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Eastern Germany probably yes.

Doesn't that just make Colonialism another meaningless Bad Word for geopolitics, like Fascism is for national politics or Capitalism for economics? A fighting word applied to malign whatever one dislikes? Or do we actually quantify the success or failure of a country under foreign control, and call it colonialism when it's economically worse off afterwards?

I agree that the Soviet occupation of Eastern Germany was bad, and the Allied occupation of Western Germany less bad, but what exactly makes the one colonialism but the other not?

Well, colonialism and fascism certainly have meanings, but as sure as that, you will find people using it as a general pejorative having nothing to do with the specific meaning. I don't think this can be helped - but I also don't think that automatically makes the word useless.

Also, I think it makes sense to separate colonisation - and colonial status - as an objective classification of relationship between two countries, and "colonialism" as an ideology, which may be useful in some contexts, but many colonial relationships have not been driven by the same ideology and in fact could follow from a wide variety of circumstances. I'd be much more careful in using "colonialism" versus "colony" or "colonisation".

Allied occupation of Western Germany less bad, but what exactly makes the one colonialism but the other not

Allied control over Germany was much more short-lived. I think the first election had been held in 1949. And yes, one could split hairs and claim this election was influenced etc. - and it probably was, to some measure - but if you are to seriously consider it, Germans were managing their own affairs, even though with some influence from the US, pretty soon. In fact, even in 1949 elections almost 1/3 of the votes went to the socialists, and another 5% to communists. Soviet Union created GDR in the same year, and East Germans never did independently manage their affairs, while GDR existed, and the examples of Hungary and Czechoslovakia showed what would happen if they tried. You can argue that until 1950s, West Germany was a US colony, but this period is so short it doesn't really matter.

Is the tenor of the US towards West German reconstruction significantly different from Japanese reconstruction esp post 1950?

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