@Serpentine I have often thought about colonization. Is it by definition evil or is the reality more nuanced? My take on it is that it is not quite black and white. It depends on who the colonizers are, how they deal with their subjects and at what level of development the subjects are when they are colonized.
I would put forth Kazakistan, Kirghiztan, Tajikistan, Malaysia and India where colonization has had positive effects. The fact of the matter is the three ex Soviet states have far higher development indicators than had they not been colonized. The best example is Tajikistan because we can use the Tajiks across the Amu Darya in Afghanistan as comparisons. The ones south of Amu Darya are in stone age whereas Tajiks in the ex Soviet republic are relatively far more advanced.
Then there is example of Malaysia which has done very well post independance. The British colonial system was less inclusive then the Russian system. It tended to create elites as agents to control the subjects whilst a extractive economic system was built to benefit Britain.
If you look at India it is a mixed picture. Had the British not come there would have been no India. Yes there would have been a geographic region like Middle East or Balkans but no united political entity called India. Instead there would have been lots of warring states each with their own language etc. So India itself is a product British rule and Pakistan itself is a by product of that.
Everything and anything that makes Pakistan tick is from the British era. The military, the administrative machine, the law is all British colonial legacy. Some of the very things that are causing grief to the West are legacy of the British. The military, ISI the intelligenc agency are all British. Most people regard Pakistan fragile. The truth is it is solid and it's foundation is the military and the civil administration system. Both are British legacies.
Almost every regiment of the Pakistan Army date from 1850s or earlier and were constituted by the British. Each regiment has over one and half centuries built up remarkable sense of existance. This has created a incrediblely unified army that towers over the country. Another aspect of British rule is their elitest habits did not bother with mass education but they created a excellant elite schooling system including universities.
This led to small but very well educated group that provided the manpower for officer corp in the military, the civil service. Also creating a scientific pool. This is the reason why in 1972 when Bhutto decided to go nuclear it only took 8 years to go from zero to cold test in 1980. The reason was Bhutto could rely on pool of Pakistani scientists with the nuclear know how. Examples of this are men like Dr Abdus Salam ( the first Muslim Nobel prize winner in science ) who had been pushing to go nuclear as early as 1960s.
Abdus Salam - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
However there is another negative side. The British interfered in a evolution of a underdeveloped people selectively. One exampe of this negativbe effect is the mass of the population failed absorb any modernity but at the same time profited from the moderity. One result was population growth. That led to huge numbers of ignorents who were products of British western advances but at the same time thought like their ignorent forefathers.
In addition the certain groups in society like the Mullah class started to associate anything connected to colonialism as evil. This can be seen today how they will refuse engage with anything western even it is beneficial. This is connected to the colonial humiliation. Notice how colonized societies are more prone to wear non western clothes etc. At one stage there was talk of Roman Urdu ( using Roman characters like Turks did ) but there was a violent reaction. The reason was unlike Turkey Roman characters were connected to the colonial British.
So at the end of the day it is a mixed bag. I personally would have preferred the British had stayed in Pakistan for another 25 years as that would have led to larger body educated open minded people who could have acted like a catalyst for change.
Of course ideally I would have not preferred if the British had not come at all.
No no it's not bad at all . You ve got self confidence .
