A Deterritorialized History: Investigating German Colonialism ...
A Deterritorialized History: Investigating German Colonialism ...
A Deterritorialized History: Investigating German Colonialism ...
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<strong>German</strong>y. But, true to Deleuze and Guattari’s formulation, true stability was never<br />
achieved, since the colonial scandals had already left their mark.<br />
104<br />
The controversy over the colonial abuses altered <strong>German</strong> politics. As the war<br />
consumed more and more money, soldiers, time and effort, traditional political categories<br />
were polarized into supporters of interventionist colonial expansion and those calling for<br />
moderation in colonial policy. For instance, the SPD was split into a left-wing and a pro-<br />
colonialism right-wing. 139 <strong>German</strong>y also developed a cadre of “liberal imperialists” like<br />
Friedrich Naumann, Max Weber, and Ernst Francke who hoped a successful Weltpolitik<br />
would ameliorate the situation of the <strong>German</strong> working class. 140 The expansion even<br />
provided the SPD with an argument to encourage an anti-colonial coalition with the<br />
liberals by citing growing taxes and international entanglements. Even the nationalist<br />
and bourgeois parties were transformed by growing gaps between advocates of overseas<br />
expansion and those who stressed European affairs. 141 <strong>German</strong> politics were therefore<br />
deterritorialized by the novel circumstances of the African wars. Deterritorialization<br />
reveals how the diversity of factors within colonial politics influenced these polarizations.<br />
This analysis of colonial policy and the politics inflecting this policy offers a<br />
unique perspective on the articulation of political interests. As indicated above, Deleuze<br />
and Guattari provide a theoretical perspective for the examination of political ideas that<br />
recognizes the presence of difference, fluidity and irrationality within discourses of the<br />
nation-state and one that moves away from the excessively managerial vision of politics<br />
used by many historians. 142 Deterritorialization incorporates political influences in<br />
discussions of society, economics and culture while simultaneously restoring<br />
marginalized voices.