Choosing an Identity by Sun-Ki Chai

Author:Sun-Ki Chai
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780472023950
Publisher: The University of Michigan Press

Alternative Explanations for Economic Ideology

At this point, it would be useful to discuss some alternative explanations that might be made for the general phenomenon in which nationalist elites espouse economic ideologies that oppose those of their colonial power.

First of all, it might be argued that such an oppositional ideology was held all along by nationalist elites and that in fact it may have been the cause rather than the effect of political conflict. It is difficult, of course, to trace the path of intellectual causation in each set of state elites, not the least because members of such elites, being politicians, are hesitant to admit that they have ever failed to hold the ideas that they hold currently.

However, it can be noted that, within pro-independence movements in Western colonies, socialism came to be a dominant ideological force rather late in the game.126 As mentioned earlier, all prominent anticolonial parties had their beginnings in bourgeoise nationalism, i.e., in the grievances of highly-educated and relatively assimilated members of the indigenous middle class. Hence, anticapitalism, even if was mentioned, was certainly not stated as the major justification for opposing Western colonialism. In some cases, prosocialist factions were actually relatively weak to begin with and only gradually built up their power and prominence within the nationalist movement, eventually becoming dominant.127

Another alternative explanation would accept the endogeneity of ideology formation but ascribe it to different causes, doing so by separating espoused ideology from internalized beliefs. It would argue that nationalist elite groups had an incentive to espouse oppositional economic ideologies because this was a useful device for attracting mass support for political independence. This view of ideology, however requires that the “masses”be viewed as passive vessels who are uncritically accepting of arguments put forward by elites. Furthermore, as noted earlier, the problem with purely instrumental explanations of ideology is that political actors in a world where ideology is purely instrumental will not take seriously any of the ideological statements of other actors, hence making it unclear why ideology would ever be espoused in the first place. Finally, a key argument of the theory is that oppositional economic ideologies, because they were internalized, significantly affected policies that were followed in the postcolonial era, a proposition that will be tested in the following sections.

A somewhat different explanation based on the instrumental use of ideology would argue that elite groups had an incentive to espouse socialism in order to gain financial support from international sponsors such as the Soviet Union and China. There are a number of problems with this explanation, not the least of which is the fact that little sustained support was actually forthcoming, even for the most dedicated of professed socialist ex-colonies. In fact, the overall amount of resources flowing from the socialist superpowers to ex-colonies has been much lower than the resources flowing from Western countries.128 Furthermore, a purely instrumental explanation would not explain why ex-colonies would not seek aid from their even wealthier ex-colonial powers, nor why the socialist powers would care about the domestic political arrangements of their potential allies.

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