Neocolonialism as Racial Exploitation

Despite anticolonial leaders’ ambitions for decolonization, upon attaining formal independence they were immediately faced with the paradox of depending on external capital for realizing that very agenda. As former colonies faced increasing encroachment from foreign corporations and capital-exporting states, Kwame Nkrumah developed an account of neocolonialism that became widely influential across the Third World. While much attention has been given to Nkrumah’s account of neocolonialism as foreign interference, this paper draws attention to parts of his critique that emphasize neocolonialism as racial exploitation. On this reading, neocolonialism is primarily an effort to impose onto vulnerable states an economic model that advantages the neo-imperialist state and international capitalists, at the expense of vulnerable states’ ability to escape persistent vulnerability. I argue that neocolonialism as racial exploitation remains an important framework for understanding contemporary global economic relations. Through an extended analysis of the international investment regime, this paper shows how disadvantaged groups in postcolonial (and often even Global North) countries are constrained by the terms of investment from pushing for measures that rectify social inequalities, even as those same terms enable investors to pursue self-enrichment. Emphasizing neocolonialism as exploitation rather than merely foreign interference suggests that responses to neocolonial economic relations are insufficient if they only aim to strengthen the postcolonial state against the predations of foreign powers. Instead, I argue that responses should also aim to constrain the postcolonial state to a practice of international investment that facilitates rather than hinders the pursuit of decolonization as egalitarian transformation.