Title:
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State, economy and society in Mauritius 1929-1945
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This dissertation investigates the role of the colonial
state in mediating the impact of the great depression and
the Second World War on Mauritius and situates the
changes in the process of state formation. It analyses
the responses of the economy and society to these major
events and shows how the colonial state was forced to
transform itself to meet the new challenges. The impact
of the depression and the Second World War on the
colonial economy and society was profound and highlighted
the dependence of the economy on external factors. At the
local level, deep structural forces such as the economic
power of capital, the social structure as well as its own
priorities led the colonial state, despite its relative
autonomy, to give inadequate protection to labour and the
other classes. The colonial state tilted the balance on
the side of capital with the result that the relations
between capital and the other classes deteriorated and
culminated into the colonial crisis of 1937. This was a
turning point in the history of the island. The colonial
state was compelled to respond to the crisis to save the
colonial order and to address age-long problems which had
plagued colonial society. In the aftermath of the crisis,
the colonial state took the initiative to embark on a
policy of reconstruction. The outbreak of the Second
World War exacerbated a number of economic and social
problems and created others. But the war
for
also
strengthened the colonial state to plan the
reconstruction of the post-war society. Emboldened by the
imperial policy of colonial development and welfare,
state intervention, supported by a sophisticated
bureaucracy, was relatively successful in modernising
colonial society by pursuing a policy of accommodation
and creating new structures of collaboration.
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