Decolonization is the term commonly used to refer to the transition from a world of colonial empires to a world of nation-states in the years after World War II. This book demonstrates that the process involved considerable violence and instability. It highlights three themes: first, that global war between empires precipitated decolonization, creating the economic and political crises that gave colonial subjects the opportunity to seek independence. Second, that the nation-state was not the only option pursued by anti-colonial activists; and third, that the struggle to escape imperial subjugation and create nation-states generated widespread violence and produced huge refugee populations, leading to political problems that persist today.

Introduction -- Waves of decolonization -- Global war's colonial consequences -- A world disordered and reordered -- The problem of the nation-state -- Imperial continuities and the politics of amnesia.