Colonialism


Colonialism is a system in which a state claims sovereignty over territory
and people outside its own boundaries, often to facilitate economic
domination over their resources, labor, and often markets. The term also
refers to a set of beliefs used to legitimate or promote this system,
especially the belief that the mores of the colonizer are superior to those
of the colonized.

Advocates of colonialism have also argued that colonialist rule benefits the
colonized by developing the economic and political infrastructure necessary
for modernization and democracy. They point to such former colonies as
Singapore as examples of post-colonial success.

Dependency theorists such as Andre Gundar Frank, however, have argued that
colonialism actually leads to the transfer of wealth from the colonized to
the colonizer, and inhibits successful economic development.
Post-colonialist critics such as Franz Fanon have argued that colonialism
does political, psychological, and moral damage to the colonized as well.