Colonialism and surveillance

If Western colonialism is to be de�?ned by its effect-that is by its ability to essentially shape large nonWestern populations’ modes of life rather than by some of its manifestations such as Western rule, Western cultural or ideological hegemony-it would be reasonable to argue that colonialism has not ended. Western powers and Western-dominated international organizations continue to vigorously pursue efforts to have non-Western populations change their modes of living to embrace the principles of governable and rational economic individualism within an international hierarchical division of labor, which was at the heart of colonialism. Such an understanding would yield interpretations of colonialism that might radically depart from prevailing official histories and their periodization (which usually follow a linear narrative of causes for colonialism, occupation, colonial rule, national awakening and de-colonization).