Colonial Internationalism and the Governmentality of Empire, 1893–1982 (Global and International History)

In 1893, a group of colonial officials from thirteen countries abandoned their imperial rivalry and established the International Colonial Institute (ICI), which became the world's most important colonial think tank of the twentieth century. Through the lens of the ICI, Florian Wagner argues that this international cooperation reshaped colonialism as a transimperial and governmental policy. The book demonstrates that the ICI's strategy of using indigenous institutions and customary laws to encourage colonial development served to maintain colonial rule even beyond the official end of empires. By selectively choosing loyalists among the colonized to participate in the ICI, it increased their autonomy while equally delegitimizing more radical claims for independence. The book presents a detailed study of the ICI's creation, the transcolonial activities of its prominent members, its interactions with the League of Nations and fascist governments, and its role in laying the groundwork for the structural and discursive dependence of the Global South after 1945. "In 1893, a group of colonial officials from thirteen colonies abandoned their imperial rivalry and established the International Colonial Institute (ICI), the world's most important colonial think tank of the twentieth century. Through the lens of the ICI, Florian Wagner argues that these colonial internationalists reshaped colonialism as a transimperial governmental policy, demonstrating that the ICI's goal of encouraging colonial development through the international cooperation of colonial experts in fact served to maintain colonial rule beyond the official end of empires. By inviting the colonized elites to participate, it laid the groundwork for the structural and discursive dependence of the Global South. The book presents a detailed study of the ICI's creation, the transnational activities of its prominent members, its interactions with state governments and colonial actors, and the reactions of Africans and Asians who were unsure as to whether the ICI was a tool of colonialism or an objective third party that might aid their calls for greater autonomy"-- Provided by publisher Cover 1 CONTENTS 9 List of Figures 10 Acknowledgments 11 List of Abbreviations 13 Introduction 15 1 “More Beautiful than the Nationalist Thought”? 38 2 A Transcolonial Governmentality Sui Generis 78 3 Politics of Comparison 124 4 Cultivating the Myth of Transcolonial Progress 163 5 The Adatization of Islamic Law and Muslim Codes of Development 187 6 Creating an “Anti-Geneva Bloc” and the Question of Representivity 223 7 Inventing Fascist Eurafrica at the Volta Congress 271 Inventing Fascist Eurafrica at the Volta Congress 271 8 False Authenticity 295 9 “That Has Been Our Program for Fifty Years” 329 Conclusion 363 Bibliography 371 Index 422 In 1893, colonial officials from thirteen countries abandoned imperial rivalry and established the International Colonial Institute to take control of the world's colonial policy. Florian Wagner argues that colonial internationalists reshaped colonialism as a transimperial governmental policy to perpetuate empires well into the twentieth century.