Against decolonisation? Drifting tributaries of colonialism's legacies

Conceptually and politically, decolonisation has drifted beyond its mid-20th-century association with national independence movements. This chapter analyses critiques of this semantic expansion while arguing that restricting the term to political sovereignty struggles is reductive given contemporary global dynamics. The text explores decolonisation’s relationships to media, culture, and infrastructure, revisiting 1990s’ debates on cultural and media imperialism to understand current formations of power. It further examines Germany’s “Historikerstreit 2.0” controversy regarding Holocaust remembrance and colonial memory, revealing how nationalism paradoxically resurfaces in these debates despite Germany’s diverse migration society. While decolonisation risks dilution or mainstreaming when detached from nationalist frameworks, returning to such anchors is not politically viable in today’s multipolar world. Instead, there is a need for a “decolonisation without guarantees” that addresses ongoing capitalism, inequality, and environmental crisis while acknowledging that contemporary colonial power operates through economic arrangements, knowledge practices, and extractive projects beyond territorial forms.