What challenges and choices faced the new states that emerged from decolonization?
Topic 8.6 Newly Independent States: the political and economic challenges faced by newly independent states and the varied paths they took, including new economic policies, migration, and the creation of new nations.
A focused answer to AP World History Topic 8.6, explaining the challenges of newly independent states: building stable governments and economies, choosing between state-led and market models, the migrations and new states like Israel and Pakistan, and the legacy of colonial borders.
Reviewed by: AI editorial process; not yet individually human-reviewed
Have a quick question? Jump to the Q&A page
Jump to a section
What this topic is asking
Topic 8.6 covers the newly independent states that emerged from decolonization and the challenges they faced. It asks you to explain the political and economic difficulties of building new nations - the legacy of arbitrary colonial borders, the choice between state-led and market economic models, the migrations and new nations decolonization produced, and the varied paths these states took with varied success.
What "newly independent states" means
The political challenge: inherited borders and weak institutions
Building stable government was hard.
The economic challenge: which path to development?
New states had to choose how to grow.
Colonialism had left many new states economically dependent, often as exporters of a few raw materials (the legacy of Topic 6.4). To develop, they chose different economic strategies:
- State-led development. Some governments directed industry and planned the economy, building state enterprises and protecting domestic industry, often inspired by socialist or Soviet models.
- Market-oriented development. Others favored markets, trade, and foreign investment, integrating into the global capitalist economy.
Results varied widely: a few states grew rapidly, while others struggled with debt, corruption, and stagnation. Economic choices were also entangled with Cold War alignment.
New nations and migrations
Decolonization redrew the map and moved peoples.
- Partition and new states. The partition of British India created India and Pakistan in 1947 (later also Bangladesh), and the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948 created new nations and new conflicts.
- Mass migration. Partition and the creation of new states triggered massive migrations as people moved to be on the "right" side of new borders, often amid violence.
- Lasting conflicts. Many new states inherited disputed borders and unresolved tensions - over Kashmir, in the Middle East - that produced enduring conflict.
Try this
Q1. Name the two states created by the 1947 partition of British India. [Recall]
- Cue. India and Pakistan.
Q2. Explain one reason newly independent states struggled to build stable governments. [Short explanation]
- Cue. Colonizers had drawn borders that grouped together peoples of different ethnicities, religions, and languages, so new states struggled to forge a shared national identity, and many faced ethnic conflict, civil war, or coups as a result.
Exam-style practice questions
Practice questions written in the style of College Board exam questions on this dot point, with worked answer explainers. The year tag is the paper they imitate, not the source.
AP 2021 (style)3 marksBriefly identify ONE challenge faced by newly independent states. Briefly explain ONE economic strategy a new state adopted. Briefly explain ONE new nation created by decolonization.Show worked answer →
A Short Answer Question (SAQ), 3 points, one per bullet.
A. Identify: many new states faced the challenge of building stable government across borders drawn by colonizers that ignored ethnic and religious divisions.
B. Economic strategy: some new states pursued state-led development, with governments directing industry and planning the economy to promote growth.
C. New nation: the partition of British India created the new states of India and Pakistan in 1947, and the new state of Israel was established in 1948.
Each bullet must be concrete.
AP 2023 (style)6 marksEvaluate the most significant challenge faced by newly independent states in the period c. 1900 to the present.Show worked answer →
A Long Essay Question (LEQ), scored on the 6-point causation rubric.
Thesis (1): "The most significant challenge was building stable, unified states within borders inherited from colonizers that often grouped rival peoples together, though economic development and Cold War pressure were also formidable challenges."
Contextualization (1): situate the new states in the legacy of arbitrary colonial borders and economic dependence.
Evidence (2): colonial borders and ethnic conflict; state-led versus market development; partition and new nations; Cold War intervention.
Analysis (2): explain HOW inherited borders and weak institutions made stable government hard, then add complexity by weighing this against economic and Cold War challenges.
Related dot points
- Topic 8.5 Decolonization After 1900: the processes and methods of decolonization after the Second World War, including negotiated and armed independence, partition, and the role of nationalism.
A focused answer to AP World History Topic 8.5, explaining decolonization after 1900: the negotiated independence of India under Gandhi, armed struggles in Algeria and Vietnam, the role of nationalism, partition and its violence, and how methods of decolonization differed.
- Topic 8.3 Effects of the Cold War: the global effects of the Cold War, including military alliances, nuclear proliferation, the Non-Aligned Movement, and superpower intervention in the decolonizing world.
A focused answer to AP World History Topic 8.3, explaining the effects of the Cold War: military alliances like NATO and the Warsaw Pact, nuclear proliferation, the Non-Aligned Movement of nations refusing to take sides, and superpower intervention in newly independent states.
- Topic 8.7 Global Resistance to Established Order After 1900: the movements that challenged existing power structures after 1900, including civil rights, anti-apartheid, feminist, and other movements, both peaceful and violent.
A focused answer to AP World History Topic 8.7, explaining global resistance to established orders after 1900: the United States civil rights movement, the anti-apartheid struggle in South Africa, feminist movements, Tiananmen, and the spread of both nonviolent and violent resistance.
- Topic 9.5 Economics in the Global Age: the economic changes of globalization, including free-market neoliberalism, multinational corporations, free-trade agreements, and the rise of new economic powers.
A focused answer to AP World History Topic 9.5, explaining economics in the global age: the spread of free-market neoliberalism, the rise of multinational corporations and global supply chains, free-trade agreements and blocs, and the emergence of new economic powers like China and India.
- Topic 9.6 Calls for Reform and Responses After 1900: the rights and reform movements after 1900, including feminist, civil rights, environmental, and other movements, and the responses they provoked.
A focused answer to AP World History Topic 9.6, explaining calls for reform after 1900: feminist movements for women's rights, civil and human rights movements, environmental and economic-justice movements, the human-rights framework, and the responses these movements provoked.
Sources & how we know this
- AP World History: Modern Course and Exam Description — College Board (2020)