Description
Situated within the decolonial turn in IR and Political Theory, this paper undertakes a critical examination and comparison of nationalist thought in the Algerian and Indian anti-colonial movements. The paper examines internal debates between liberal imperial, religio-nationalist and radical strands of anti-colonial thinking, tracing their connection to both metropolitan, but also broader global circuits of religious and political transnationalism. By placing figures and movements – such as Abd-el-Kadar, Messali Hadj, Ferhat Abbas and Frantz Fanon in the case of Algeria, and Mohammed Ali Jinnah, Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar in the case of India -- into dialogue and situating them in the broader political context of global ideological contestation, the paper seeks to unpack notions of decoloniality and anti-colonial nationalism, pointing to ways forward for the development of a richer understanding and more plural conceptualisation of decolonial thought.
