Some Conclusions

Abstract

All the colonial systems which functioned in this part of the Asian continent exhibited two common features. First, all followed, in greater or smaller measure, the policy of cautious conservatism, which in effect revived traditionalism and set in motion certain anti-national and anti-secular forces, which not only affected the process of independence, but also the pace of integration and modernisation in South and South-east Asia. Second, all colonial powers displayed a sense of racial superiority which caused among the subject Asians an emotive reaction against a Western rule which seemed to them alien, exclusive and hypocritical. As a result of this the national movements in South and South-east Asia acquired some special features — anti-racism, pan-Asianism, and a bias towards the Soviet Union, which seemed hostile to colonialism and racism and successful in fully assimilating its Asian colonies. Beneath these similarities, however, there were differences in the styles of the colonial regimes caused partly by differences in the systems of the metropolitan countries, and partly by the variations in the historical traditions and environments that obtained among the dependencies. British and American colonial systems were liberal in introducing into their colonies the rule of law, constitutionalism and Western education.