Winding up the British Empire in the Pacific Islands: (Oxford History of the British Empire Companion Series)

Winding Up the British Empire in the Pacific Islands is the first detailed account, based on recently-opened archives, of when, how, and why the British Government changed its mind about giving independence to the Pacific Islands. As Britain began to dissolve the Empire in Asia in the aftermath of the Second World War, it announced that there were some countries that were so small, remote, and lacking in resources that they could never become independent states. However, between 1970 and 1980 there was a rapid about-turn. Accelerated decolonization suddenly became the order of the day. Here was the death warrant of the Empire, and hastily-arranged independence ceremonies were performed for six new states - Tonga, Fiji, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Kiribati, and Vanuatu.The rise of anti-imperialist pressures in the United Nations had a major role in this change in policy, as did the pioneering examples marked by the release of Western Samoa by New Zealand in 1962 and Nauru by Australia in 1968. The tenacity of Pacific Islanders in maintaining their cultures was in contrast to more strident Afro-Asia nationalisms. The closing of the Colonial Office, by merger with the Commonwealth Relations Office in 1966, followed by the joining of the Commonwealth and Foreign Offices in 1968, became a major turning point in Britain's relations with the Islands. In place of long-nurtured traditions of trusteeship for indigenous populations that had evolved in the Colonial Office, the new Foreign & Commonwealth Office concentrated on fostering British interests, which came to mean reducing distant commitments and focussing on the Atlantic world and Europe.

Table of Contents:
PrefaceProloguePART I: Oceania Overview1: 'Imperialism, as such, is a newly coined word': Empire and Oceania2: 'The task of "Empire un-building" is a difficult one': Decolonization3: 'Britain's withdrawal east of Suez is also a withdrawal west of Panama': End of Empire in the Pacific: when, why, and how?PART II: Holding On4: 'A dramatic and liberal gesture': Attlee's Secret Smaller Territories Enquiry, 1949-515: 'Limbo', 'mezzanine status' or 'independence minus': Self-government within the Commonwealth in the 1950s6: 'Something of a profit and loss account': Macmillan's Audit of Empire, 1957-59PART III: Letting Go7: 'The Cold War Front is advancing upon Oceania': Pressures at the United Nations, 1960-618: 'To Complete the process of decolonization as soon as possible': Responses to the UN Declaration on Colonialism, 1962-659: 'Coming to the most difficult period of decolonization': The Lady Margaret Hall Conference, 196510: 'A line would have to be drawn': The paradox of the expanding United Nations, 1965-70PART IV: Winding Up11: 'For us the British Empire is past history': Towards a retreat from 'Never-land': Tonga and Fiji, 197012: 'Independence and self-government have the same value': Self-determination for Niue, 1970-7413: 'It is more blessed to go than be pushed': The 1973 Programme Analysis and Review14: 'To encourage Australia and New Zealand to take a larger share': The Anzac role in decolonization15: 'Liquidating colonial arrangements with as much speed as possible': Accelerated decolonization: (1) Solomon Islands16: 'We cannot now apply the brakes': Accelerated decolonization: (2) Gilbert and Ellice Islands17: 'The most difficult pre-independence conference we have had for a Pacific territory': Accelerated decolonization: (3) Kiribati and Banaba18: 'The dying art of decolonization is difficult to pursue in a Condominium': Accelerated decolonization: (4) New HebridesEpilogueBibliography

About the Author :
W. David McIntyre was educated at Peterhouse, Cambridge, the University of Washington, Seattle, and the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. After teaching for the Universities of Maryland, British Columbia, and Nottingham, he became Professor of History at the University of Canterbury New Zealand between 1966 and 1997. As Honorary Special Correspondent of The New Zealand International Review he reported on Commonwealth Heads of Government Meetings from 1987 to 2011.

Review :
McIntyres work draws larger historiographical implications that locate the origins of the decolonization process in the nineteenth century. When one adds McIntyres meticulous research to these observations, one can only conclude that his work deserves the full attention of scholars and interested readers concerned with the last stages of the British Empire. Professor McIntyre's book ... has drawn on new sources, including the Foreign and Commonwealth Office files, to fill a gap in our understanding of the recent history of the Pacific. McIntyre provides eminently lucid accounts of each country's distinct road to independence ... In sum, the book excels in providing a broader context for the factors that served to propel the unforeseen decolonization of Britain's Pacific island dependencies. It is an exemplary contribution to the Oxford series and to the overall literature on decolonization a singular contribution to our understanding of the last days of the British Empire ... David McIntyre has added an important, much-needed sentence to a larger conversation about one significant aspect of modern Pacific Islands' history. He has done so with authority and elegant precision With a remarkable level of detail driven by in-depth archival research, McIntyre creates what is surely the definitive story of the end of the British Empire in the Pacific, arguing that above all else it was United Nations anticolonialism and the British government's drive to be an Atlantic and European power ... rather than a colonial power that provided the nails for the coffin David McIntyre in Winding up the British Empire in the Pacific Islands takes up the challenge of examining this concluding phase of British decolonisation. This is a first rate book. McIntyre skilfully tells the story and provides fascinating explanations for the timing and methods of the British withdrawal from the region This book is a fine work of scholarship. It fills a gap in the history of how the British Empire was wound up in the Pacific outposts ... this is a clear, interesting and authoritative study but, from whatever starting point the reader is coming, they will find the book a pleasure to read The account persuasively presented is that while British governments of all colours may have resented external demands for decolonisation, they were not at all seeking to hang on to 'assets' as long as possible, for few could be discerned. For policymakers in London (and indeed in Australia and New Zealand, whose governments also had Pacific island responsibilities, which this book also addresses) the problem became how to decolonise in the region not whether to decolonise