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Name: Erica Kniseley Country: Bahamas Committee: SPECPOL High School: Arundel High School Date: January 2012

Decolonization of Africa

During The Cold War the process of decolonizing Africa from the imperialistic governments controlled by the European powers. Although there was much debate about how this should be done and the competition between the Soviet and Capitalist blocks created strain on the people trying to form new countries. The economic and social problems that arised out of the hastily divided land caused tension between not only the newly forming countries but also the ones who had previously had control over them.

Africa was colonized as a way to supply the Western European powerhouses with natural resources. Because the United States was against keeping the colonies after World War II and the Soviet Union was completely against it the European powers had to come up with a way to decolonize in a way that would benefit them. The British and especially the French were adamant about giving up the land they acquired in Africa made treaties or paid them off in order to get them to keep the culture or use of certain establishments. While the governments found the colonies useful for supply the cost of running the colony and not getting anything out of it anymore made many European citizens against the idea of keeping them. The race then began to get the newly forming countries to join either the communist bloc or the capitalist bloc. Having these influences played a major role in the political development, but because of the way that the land was divided it caused racial problems between divided tribe lands and families. Because the emerging governments requiered money to form most of them would rise through corrupt means and then be brought down by civilian coups.

My country feels very strongly about the matter of decolonization as the Bahamas is not completely autonomous. The British still have a hold over the Bahamas and we feel that with the decolonization of Africa this would allow us to become an autonomous country recognized by the world. However our country can use the problems that the African continent and learn from them to help the Bahamas not face the same social, political, and economic problems as the newly forming African countries. Because of the way land was divided their are racial tensions, the Bahamas can relate to this because there is a mix of whites, blacks and Asian people living there. We believe that the decolonization of Africa, if done in an effective manor, would be useful to help decolonize the other imperialistic territories that the European powers hold.

A solution to the constant fall and rise of the African governments affects not just the countries government status but also the legitimacy of that country. Because the lines of these countries are causing many tribal feuds if we were to look at the lands that people lived on and divide them into smaller governments with tribes that they can agree to get along with the tensions and constant coups would also become less frequent. Democracy in this case would be highly recommended of course because while the tribes might not be hostile they wont always agree, so the soviet one party system wont work. If they can openly share the opinions and compromise instead of having one group of people being in charge it would calm the country, limit the corruption, stabilize legitimacy and help them to focus on other problems. My country looks forward to hearing other countries opinions on the matter, especially those of countries that are not autonomous, their views would be especially valuable because of the views they have on the oppressive feelings from their people. It is also important for us to understand though that the people representing the countries might be their to only benefit a small part of the population.

1956 Hungarian revolution

During the Cold War the increasing social unrest in countries that had signed the Warsaw pact. The Soviet Union had control over other countries with the communist restrictions and the leaders they sent to watch over the governments. The fact that Soviet troops were in Hungry made many Hungarians unhappy.

Hungry originally had a few political parties but as elections went on the communist party was gaining more supporters. As a counter to NATO, the USSR had proposed the Warsaw Pact, which Hungry accepted. However the government began to limit the rights of the people causing social unrest, and state security police, AVH, working for the government imprisoned people who voiced views against this. This led to the eventual hate of Russia by the Hungarians, it caused widespread poverty, the ban of religion greatly upset them, and the belief that aid would come to them from the UN and U.S. and death of Joseph Stalin gave them hope that the soviet grip would loosen. The origins of the revolution began in 1956 when Rákosi announced that the government had fabricated lies to convict former foreign minister László Rajk. Hungarians began to gather outside parliament in protest. When the AVH came and started to attack the protesters after they had entered the parliament building and impersonated ambulance workers. The police and the Hungarian military assisted the civilians against the AVH and the soviet army. While their was some aid from the Western counties it was in the form of the Red Cross and allowing refugees into their countries. The small victories from the revolution lasted only for a little while before the Soviets claimed total victory.

My country feels that while the Soviet Union was wrong in not allowing Hungry more freedom and allowing Russia the bulk of power in the Soviet Union, the indecisiveness of the UN did not help the Hungarians because of the false hope it gave them. It was also unwise for the capitalists to waver so much because the use of H ungry if it were to join the capitalist bloc would help to break up the Soviet Union. While the Bahamas would not be able to help much in this situation if the decision were made to fully support and help Hungry the Bahamas would provide a little bit of arms and would be more likely to be able to contribute resources.

To avoid war between the capitalist and Communist bloc, if the UN were to support negotiations between the Soviet Union and Hungry in which Hungry would be allowed more freedoms and less political control from the soviets they would remain in the Warsaw pact. While the Soviets would not like this the strategic value of keeping them in the communist bloc and not allowing them to be persuaded into joining the Capitalist bloc where they would indeed be able to receive military help and begin to break up the USSR. My country looks forward to hearing the opinions on how this matter should be handled, if this problem should be the cause of the war that would end all wars or if there is indeed a way that peaceful negotiations would be at all possible with the communist bloc.