We are often told that European colonialism was uniquely barbaric and oppressive. Without a doubt, many atrocities against native Africans and Indians occurred at the hands of British, French, and Belgian overlords in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. After the Second World War, European empires quickly lost most of their overseas colonies. But has this brought them peace and prosperity?

Hindus and Muslims lived in peace for nearly 400 years under the British Raj in what is now India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Similarly, there were few tensions between Arabs and Jews in the British Mandatory Rule over what later became Israel and Palestine. But after the end of British rule in those regions, massive interfaith and interethnic violence immediately resulted, causing the permanent displacement of millions of people. Less famous examples of post colonial violence include the Vietnam War, Rwandan Genocide, and Terrorism in Somalia. All of them resulted from power vacuums that were filled by corrupt and violent factions of the native populations, replacing the Western Institutions that brought political stability to the colonies. Does this sound like liberation?