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Decolonization Struggles at the United Nations: The Question of Algeria, 1955-1961

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 December 2021

Sadia Saeed
Sadia Saeed*
Affiliation:
University of San Francisco [[email protected]].
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Abstract

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.

Résumé

Résumé

Bien que l’autodétermination nationale est apparue comme une norme juridique internationale avec la formation des Nations Unies (ONU) en 1945, sa mise en œuvre continue de résister, des décennies après, aux pouvoirs coloniaux européens. Cela soulève la question suivante : comment le pouvoir colonial européen était-il contesté à l’ONU ? Cet article soutient que les récits socio-historiques existants de la décolonisation n’ont pas pleinement théorisé les processus contentieux par lesquels la règle coloniale a été contestée à l’ONU. Il comble ce manque en démontrant le rôle crucial de l’argumentation, de la narration et des luttes discursives à travers le déploiement de la cruciale « question algérienne » qui a été débattue entre 1955 et 1961. La question algérienne a donné deux discours opposés – un discours internationaliste anticolonial et un discours civilisationnel métrocentrique – avec des idées distinctes sur les droits humains et le développement. L’analyse explique le triomphe final des premiers alors que de plus en plus d’états se ralliaient à la cause algérienne.

Zusammenfassung

Zusammenfassung

1945, mit der Gründung der Vereinten Nationen (UNO), wurde das nationale Selbstbestimmungsrecht zu einer internationalen Rechtsnorm, dennoch scheiterte seine Umsetzung noch jahrzehntelang am Widerstand der europäischen Kolonialmächte. Dies wirft folgende Frage auf: Auf welche Art und Weise hat die UNO die europäische Kolonialherrschaft hinterfragt? Dieser Beitrag stellt die Behauptung auf, dass die bestehenden historisch-soziologischen Darstellungen der Dekolonisation die umstrittenen Prozesse, durch die die koloniale Herrschaft in der UNO in Frage gestellt wurde, nicht vollständig theoretisiert haben. Der Artikel schließt diese Lücke. Mittels der wichtigen „Algerienfrage“ der Jahre 1955–1961 dokumentiert er die Bedeutung von Argumentation, Narrativierung und diskursiven Kämpfen. Die Algerienfrage brachte zwei gegensätzliche Diskurse hervor – einen antikolonialen internationalistischen Diskurs und einen metrozentrischen zivilisatorischen Diskurs –, die jeweils auf unterschiedlichen Vorstellungen von Menschenrechten und Entwicklung beruhten. Die Untersuchung erklärt den letztendlichen Triumph des ersteren, als sich die Staaten zunehmend hinter die algerische Sache stellten.

Keywords

DecolonizationUnited NationsAlgeriaHuman RightsDevelopmentDécolonisationNations UniesAlgérieDroits humainsDéveloppementDekolonisationVereinte NationenAlgerienMenschenrechteEntwicklung
Type
Research Article
Information
European Journal of Sociology / Archives Européennes de Sociologie , Volume 62 , Issue 3 , December 2021 , pp. 421 - 455
Copyright
© European Journal of Sociology 2021

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Footnotes

I would like to thank David McCourt, Matthias Koenig, and the anonymous reviewer at the European Journal of Sociology for their insightful and generous comments on this article. I also thank the participating audience at a talk given at the 2019 Annual Social Science History Association Conference.

References

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