Decolonization Struggles at the United Nations

The Question of Algeria, 1955-1961

Bibliographic Data

ID4771977
AuthorsSharjil Saeed (0000-0002-2671-8112, University of San Francisco, corresponding author), Sadia Saeed (0000-0002-1529-8431)
Year2021
Volume62
Issue3
Pages421-455
Publication date2021-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueEuropean Journal of Sociology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0003-9756 • E-ISSN: 1474-0583
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s000397562100028x
OpenAlexW4200135053
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited74

Although national self-determination emerged as an international legal norm with the formation of the United Nations (UN) in 1945, its implementation continued to be resisted by European colonial powers for decades after. This raises the following question: how was European colonial rule challenged at the UN? This article contends that existing accounts of decolonization have not fully theorized the processes through which colonialism was contested at the UN. It fills this gap by demonstrating the critical role of argumentation, narrativization and discursive struggles through deploying the crucial "Question of Algeria" that was debated between 1955 and 1961. It demonstrates that the Algerian question yielded two opposing discourses-an anticolonial internationalist discourse and a metrocentric civilizational discourse-with both drawing on distinct ideas about human rights and development. The analysis explains the eventual triumph of the former as states increasingly rallied behind the Algerian cause

Argumentation theory · Colonial rule · Colonialism · Decolonization · Epistemology · Eurocentrism · Human rights · Norm (philosophy) · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · African history and culture studies · Historical and Contemporary Political Dynamics · Law · North African History and Literature · Philosophy

Tools

Open DOI