Date of Award

4-6-2026

Document Type

Thesis

First Advisor

Professor Aldrin Magaya

Second Advisor

Professor Jennifer Mike

Third Advisor

Professor Joshua Herr

Abstract

If one can pardon the hyperbole, the argument that colonialism was one of the defining eras of human history is one that comes with a notable amount of merit. From the 1600s to the late 1990s and beyond, colonial empires that spanned the globe were engaged in a seemingly endless competition driven by a mixture of desire for resources and an intense battle for prestige on a truly global stage. Countless people were subjugated, exploited, oppressed and exposed to all manner of injustices that have had long lasting effects on their native populations, even into the modern day. However, to say that native populations took these conditions lying down is far from the truth. In facing these injustices, people from all walks of life and across colonial states banded together in groups in organized opposition. It is these non-state actors (NSAs for short) and the environments that formed them that provide the driving force for this paper. Within its pages, I argue that in the case study states of Indochina, Afghanistan and South Africa, the combined forces of economic, racial and religious oppression acted as the main reasons behind the formation of both non-violent and violent NSAs The importance of this thesis comes from the fact that by examining the conditions that caused the formation of these groups in the past, we, as a society, can then spot them in the modern day, providing opportunities for potential intervention and positive change before situations become unrecoverable.

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