Introduction — The Ends of Empire: Chronologies, Historiographies, and Trajectories

Abstract

The Ends of European Colonial Empires: Cases and Comparisons provides a plural assessment of the ends of the European colonial empires, made by some of the leading experts of the growing field — in quantity, quality, and scope — of decolonization studies.1 The historiography of decolonization is still work in progress, vibrant in its plurality of analytical approaches, establishing productive conversations with other historiographies and disciplinary fields. It is a field of research marked by the emergence of novel intellectual concerns, political and ideological outlooks and also geopolitical vistas, as John Darwin illustrates in his contribution to this volume.2 For example, the intersections between the scrutiny of the imperial and colonial endgames and local and global researches on the histories of the Cold War, of development, of labour, of human rights or of international organizations are being prolifically explored.3 The establishment of a critical dialogue between historiographies of imperial endgames, geopolitical competition, and trajectories of globalization, for instance, entails many relevant advantages for each domain.4 Of course, these historiographical dialogues may generate some problems.5