Imperialism and colonialism are issues that affected the division of powers many centuries ago. However, it is just a myth because some superpowers try to ‘take care’ of all the problems that take place in the world becoming the peace-maker on the international level.
At the same time, it is necessary to turn back and discuss the invasions, their reasons, and consequences with regard to the traditions and laws of the time when those invasions occurred.
The historic perspective enables us to see that contemporary society is affected by the consequences of those invasions without being aware of the actions of the governments that led to such consequences.
The rise of imperialism and colonialism was really obvious and rather active in the time of exploration of new land. As such, both Americas were opened and settled by the newcomers in the rise of imperialism and colonialism whereas it is necessary to make clear distinction between these two concepts.
Imperialism refers to the actions of the main power towards the land and people that inhabited it as to the dominion or any other subordinate territory with regard to the invasion and spreading of culture, language, religious beliefs, and other integral parts that distinguish the culture of the newcomers from the one of indigenous people.
This happened to the North and South Americas where the invaders occupied the territories and used them without even trying to adopt the cultural peculiarities of indigenous people of that land. It is necessary to emphasize the way the invaders occupied the territory of the Americas and treated the indigenous people.
Some of them became slaves while others were either killed by the weapon or by diseases brought from another continent. In this respect, the imperialism and colonialism can be considered as genocide on the territory of the Americas towards the indigenous people of that land.
This fact can be supported by the current position and status of the Native Americans who inhabited this land long before the exploration of this land by the first Europeans leading to the reservations and various social benefits paid to indigenous people because they cannot find work. On the other hand, these people were not given a chance to become full-fledged members of contemporary society because they have always been treated as the minority group that cannot exist without governmental support.
The indigenous people of the Americas reacted to imperialism and colonialism differently with regard to the tribe they belong to. Besides, the reaction of the indigenous people also differed for imperialism and colonialism. For instance, the political actions of the Portuguese were aimed at making the Native Americans their companions in order to live in peace and trade safely.
At the same time, the Spanish way of making friends was aimed at delivering as much gold as possible to the Royal Treasury without making distinctions between the enemies and those who occupied this territory long before their invasion.
As reported by Page (2003), “most familiar may be the military adventures of Hernan Cortes and Francisco Pizarro and their conquistadores against the Aztecs and Incas in the Americas” (p. 621); at the same time, “in north America, the Indian wars, such as King Philip’s War, were classical examples of organized military resistance to colonial occupation” (Page, 2003, p. 621).
In other words, most indigenous people were ready to die rather than to live under the occupation of the Europeans that turned them into slaves and even promulgated laws under which every newcomer had a right to have slaves though they named this as paying back for the chance to learn the language and adopt faith.
The border between power and power-abuse is extremely thin which leads to various conflicts that arise from passive behavior of the world community.
As suggested by Barnett and Duvall (2004), “most visible and destructive dimensions of power” became obvious right after the events that were used as a ticket for the United States to invade any country they want by claiming that they hide terrorists or have nuclear weapon.
The revolutions that took place in many countries of the world were partially initiated and invested by the US government directly or through the numerous agencies that do all the dirty work in those conflicts.
As such, every time some political power obtains a leading position in a country, the USA finds it necessary and appropriate to say its word because it does not like the power that came and has a better alternative for this country in terms of an ‘agent’ that would do everything they command to.
The same situation can be seen in Ukraine where the so-called Orange Revolution made people blind to the extent that they elected the President that became a puppet in the hands of the US agencies. In other words, the tactics used for the Orange Revolution in Ukraine included mainly manipulation of people’s opinion and actions.
As such, people were led by charismatic leaders that claimed to make the country rich and prosperous whereas all their claims were told simply in order to reach their goal which concerned the position of the President for the one who was supposed to perform all orders of the US agencies.
The slogans of the opposition included calls for democratic approach to the situation and a free way to all international organization for Ukraine whereas this was not reached in any way by the power that obtained presidential position. At the same time, this revolution is referred to as nonviolent because it took no victims and the problem was solved without bloodshed.
The example of the violent revolution is the American Revolution that was aimed at making the thirteen states independents from the power of the British Empire. The ideas of this revolution were based on concepts of liberalism, equality, tolerance, and other freedoms and rights that were dreamt of by the people of these colonies.
At the same time, it is necessary to emphasize the role of the allies in this violent revolution that brought democracy to this land though this land later became the source of anti-democracy.
People wanted to reach some goals; the British Empire would not let the land become sovereign and independent because it belonged to it with all the turnoffs and products received from the land by farming and from production by manufacturing. The roles of allies were obvious because people in those thirteen states were not able to reflect the attacks of the Empire for such a long time starting in 1763 and ending in 1783 though with breaks.
The tactics of this American Revolution included military actions, treaties with allies, and everything that a real war is based on though some acts and treaties were also signed in order to consolidate some results reach by the parties. In other words, if we compare the tactics of the Orange Revolution in Ukraine and the American
Revolution, it is possible to see the main difference that concerns the violence as it was not used in the first case and was actively used in the latter. At the same time, the main instrument in the nonviolent revolution was the information and its use in terms of the propaganda, agitation, and manipulation because people were not willing to analyze but rather believed in what they were told without making attempts to change the situation and the outcomes of the revolution.
The goals were accomplished in both cases because the thirteen states became the United States of America whereas the pro-American party won the elections though this result was rather based on the manipulation of the information and facts rather than free will of the people. At the same time, the goals were reached in two different ways by using and not using weapons and bloodsheds that were escaped for the Orange Revolution but were obligatory for the thirteen states to win their liberty.
References
Barnett, M., & Duvall, R. (2004). Power in global governance. Cambridge Studies in International Relations, 98. Minneapolis, MN: Cambridge Press.
Page, M. E. (2003). Colonialism: An international social, cultural, and political encyclopedia. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO.