Global Patterns of Decolonization, 1500-1987

Abstract

This paper examines global patterns in the breakdown of Western overseas empires between 1500 and 1987. It counterposes the implications of world-economy, Marxist, and institutional arguments for the timing of decolonization. Nonparametric analyses indicate great variation in the rate of decolonization over historical time, and virtually no variation over dependency age. This suggests that the processes producing decolonization are primarily external rather than internal to the dependency. The presence of a hegemonic power, the rise of an anticolonial political discourse, and diffusion processes within and across empires help to explain shifts in the rate of decolonization over historical time.