RESEARCH
THE LOOSE ENDS OF EMPIRE: THE LOGIC AND LOGISTICs of decolonization IN ALGERIA
Minutes from a meeting of the Joint Ceasefire Commission held between members of the French Army and the Front de Libération National in Oran, June 1962
Service Historique de la Défense, Vincennes
The phenomenon of decolonization profoundly reshaped the twentieth century. But how do the processes of decolonization actually function on the ground? Nowhere was the fight for independence fiercer than in French Algeria, but once the fighting was over the real challenge, for both France and a newly independent Algeria, was in managing the transition.
FIGHTING AGAINST FREEDOM?
COLONIAL SUBJECTS IN THE FIRST WAR OF DECOLONIZATION - INDOCHINA (1945-1954)
Algerian soldiers wait to be airlifted during the First Indochina War, May 1950
Harrison Forman, American Geographical Society Library
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Libraries
​
Nearly a quarter of the men sent by France to fight against independence in Indochina were colonial subjects. While much has been written about the participation of colonial conscripts in the First and Second World Wars, far less is known about those colonial subjects from the Maghreb, sub-Saharan Africa, and Southeast Asia itself who were mobilized to fight other colonial subjects in the first major war of modern decolonization.
The Loose Ends of Empire:
The Logic and Logistics of Decolonization in Algeria
The Loose Ends of Empire: The Logic and Logistics of Decolonization in Algeria analyzes the political, social, and cultural dimensions of imperial withdrawal to understand how wars end and transfers of power operate. Scholars and policymakers have long studied the Algerian War of Independence (1954-1962) for insights into insurgency and counter-insurgency. This work moves away from this conventional focus and breaks new ground by deeply considering the nuts-and-bolts processes of colonial disentanglement that occurred after the war—the tireless work of commissions and committees to keep the peace, transfer infrastructure, and sort through colonial-era patrimony to ensure a transition to independence that was once unthinkable to both the French and the Algerians. In short, the book asks: how do countries turn independence on paper into independence in practice?
Based on two years of fieldwork in Algeria and France, The Loose Ends of Empire argues that despite the intense violence of the war, the actual transfer of power was more successful than is generally acknowledged. Using unsealed archives and oral histories, this book traces the surprising history of cooperation that emerged in the conflict’s final months, as French policymakers and Algerians in the National Liberation Front (FLN) were forced to work with one another to confront the logistical challenges of decolonization. These erstwhile enemies had to negotiate everything from strategic assets, such as French military bases and financial institutions, to ownership of railroads, radio stations, and even renaissance artwork. The Loose Ends of Empire investigates this dynamic from multiple perspectives, looking at a range of historical actors to illustrate how each succeeded in overcoming differences and distrust—from high-level leaders and local administrators to a group of French and FLN military officers fresh from the battlefield who worked together to maintain a tenuous ceasefire. By analyzing decolonization as a series of complex negotiations, this book nuances the common view of imperial disintegration as a process marked foremost by intransigence and violence.
As recent demands to decolonize spaces across academia, political institutions, and popular culture have reinvigorated debate about, and interest in, the mechanics of decolonization, this work reconsiders what “decolonization” actually entailed and restores how historical actors themselves understood it: as the every-day, often mundane, yet affective moments of disentangling colonial connections and assuming responsibility over the very things that make a nation run. At its core, The Loose Ends of Empire sheds light on how indigenous communities exerted agency over the very structures that once controlled them. It also reveals how their decisions to dismantle, reappropriate, or even replicate such structures affected their efforts to build something new. Understanding how such choices resonate today offers scholars and students enduring lessons that elevate our engagement with larger histories of war, occupation, and postcolonial political transition.