“The effects and aftermaths of Italy’s defeat in the Second World War” in Political and legal aspects of Italian colonialism in Somalia

The Second World War has often been seen as a great divide in the history
of the African continent. Among other things, the war has been credited with
releasing national and liberation forces which exacerbated and accelerated the
crises within the colonial empires. It precipitated the collapse of colonial structures.
It changed the structure of the international system. It marked the decline
of the European military power, and the rising antagonism between the US and
the USSR. The Second World War was clearly a divide, but seen from the horizon,
the Moon also appears bigger than it actually is 1. The war shaped the structure
of the international system, but not the nature of the system itself. The war
did not mark a turning point in the inter-imperialistic competitions that led to
the conflict. The end of the war also led to the increasing economic dependency
of the former colonies on their former colonial powers. The war itself was crucial
in incorporating emerging African nation-States into the world capitalist
economy 2. Unequal relationships of power between former colonial powers and
the colonised did not change substantially, and existing inequalities of power
led to the formation of neo-colonial forms of domination. Colonialism was a social process which decolonization continued” 3. Yet, what impact did Italy’s defeat in the Second World War have on Somalia’s decolonisation?
This chapter shows how Somalia’s post-colonial status was secondary to a complex negotiation, and compromise. It focuses on the immediate post-war period, comprising the period between the military defeats (1943-44) and the United Nations General Assembly’s final decision on the process of decolonisation of the former Italian colonies (1949). It considers three main implications: 1) the “right of return” claimed by the Italians; 2) the international bargain and final compromise pursued by the International Community, and 3) the political response provided by the Somalis.