Eintrag
2 Min.
Colonialism
Colonialism refers to a system of domination in which one power exercises control—political, economic, cultural, and/or military—over another people or territory. Emerging as a distinctly European project in the 16th century, it involved the large-scale violent settlement of regions such as the Americas, Africa, Australia and large parts of Asia, alongside the extraction of land, labour, and resources. Colonialism institutionalized inequality by depriving colonized populations of rights and autonomy, often justified through ideologies of racial superiority and “civilizing missions”. The binary logic of ‘us’ and ‘them’ that it created was justified through the exclusion of the people they colonised. As a result, European thinking, culture, history and politics were made to be seen as the ‘norm’ or as ‘natural’ (Escobar 2007). These practices structured a global order dividing resource-rich regions from resource-extracting powers, a dynamic whose effects persist even after formal decolonization.
Neocolonialism describes the continuation of colonial patterns of domination after the end of a formal empire, particularly through economic, political, and cultural influence rather than direct territorial control. While political independence was achieved in many regions after World War II, structural inequalities rooted in colonialism continue to shape global relations, often limiting genuine self-determination. Former colonial powers—and increasingly global institutions and corporations—maintain influence over formerly colonized regions through trade dependencies, debt, and ideological power.
One example of these neo-colonial structures is the asymmetrical trade relations that the EU maintains with countries of the Global South. Since the mid-20th century, the EU (or its predecessors) has negotiated various trade agreements with a range of countries of the Global South. Critics accuse the EU of using these agreements to prevent these countries from developing their own industries, for example because finished industrial products imported into the EU are often subject to significantly higher tarifs than raw materials. Furthermore, European companies often hold a monopoly in these countries.
The terms Global North and Global South refer to this enduring global inequality. The Global North broadly designates wealthier, industrialized countries or resource-extracting powers—primarily in Europe and North America—that historically benefited from colonialism and continue to hold disproportionate economic and political power. The Global South includes regions in Africa, Latin America, Asia, and parts of Oceania that are on the one hand resource-rich, yet remain structurally disadvantaged within the global system. These terms are not purely geographic but reflect historical and economic relationships shaped by colonial exploitation and its aftermath.
Together, these concepts highlight how colonialism is not merely a historical phenomenon but an ongoing structure influencing global hierarchies, knowledge production, and socio-economic inequalities.
– written by Lucia Mrazovà, research fellow at Leibniz-Institute for Regional Geography (IfL)
Sources
Bhambra, Gurminder K (ohne Jahr): Global Social Theory, unter: https://globalsocialtheory.org/topics/decoloniality/ (accessed 10.05.2026)
Brüggmann, Mathias / Hoffbauer, Andreas (2009): „Chinesischer Neokolonialismus“. China zückt politisches Scheckbuch, 22.09.2009, in: https://www.handelsblatt.com/politik/ international/chinesischer-neokolonialismus-china-zueckt-politisches-scheckbuch- seite-2/3263716-2.html, Stand: 24.04.2023.
Escobar, A. (2007). Worlds and knowledges otherwise: The Latin American modernity/coloniality research program. Cultural studies, 21(2-3), 179-210.
Kohn, Margaret and Kavita Reddy, “Colonialism”, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Summer 2024 Edition), Edward N. Zalta & Uri Nodelman (eds.), unter: https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2024/entries/colonialism/ (accessed 10.05.2026)
University of Exeter (2026): Introduction to Decolonisation, unter: https://introductiontodecolonisation.com/glossary-of-key-terms/ (accessed 10.05.2026)
More information of colonialism and migration: