Self-Determination and the Origins of Anti-Colonial Nationalism

At the end of World War I, during the years when peace was being tried to be achieved, Woodrow Wilson put forward his famous Fourteen Principles. Although it was not mentioned in the final version, the most striking of these fourteen principles was the right to self-determination. In this period when empires collapsed, colonialism began to lose its validity and nation-states emerged, this right brought hope mostly to the colonial peoples. However, the implementation of this principle, which states that all peoples, "strong or weak, small or large", have the right to self-determination, quickly destroyed the hopes that had arisen.

In The Wilsonian Moment, Erez Manela explains how Woodrow Wilson became a figure of liberation for the colonial people, how the people who believed that they would gain the right to self-determination were disappointed by the "criterion of civilization" and how they took their struggle to the streets. At the same time, it conveys that these peoples, over time, turned their faces from Wilson to Lenin, who first mentioned the right to self-determination in 1914; It paints a picture of how the interests of the Great Powers overrode principles.

I wonder if you have unintentionally woven a web around me from which there is no escape? Today, the whole world turns to America, not only for the injustices they have suffered, but also for their hopes and grievances. […] People can endure their tyrants for years, but they will tear their liberators to pieces if a new millennium is not created now. But [...] these ancient injustices and current unhappiness cannot be solved in one day. What I see is a drama of disappointment that I guess I wish with all my heart I was wrong.

woodrow wilson

(From the Promotional Bulletin)

Dough Type: 2nd Dough

Number of Pages: 431

Size: 13 x 19.5

First Print Year: 2020

Number of Printings: 1st Edition

Language Turkish