Geopolitical aspects of the end of Portuguese hegemony in Asia: the decolonization of Goa

Abstract

The main idea of the article is to portray the geopolitical aspects of the history of the liberation of Goa, nowadays a state of the Republic of India and former Portuguese colony. The work examines political and historical elements relevant in this process, correlating them with the international context of the time, the Post-Second World War. Likewise, it identifies interests which guided the Indian action to demand the handover of Goa, Portugal’s response to these concerns and the actions taken by the Portuguese to support their colonial project. The work delimits the social and economic context of Goa during the liberation movements and the role played by organized Goans and Indians. The research that gave origin to this work aims to contribute to the fields of Asian studies and Portuguese colonization, based on a systematic bibliographical survey incorporating additionally elements of the debates of international forums on the subject of self-determination of the peoples, decolonization and the Cold War. One of the geopolitical aspects revealed by the research is that Portugal did not count on a process of Goa’s integration with India, a power that emerged in the context of the struggles for self-determination of the post-Second World War, orchestrated by both the Goan majority and the Indian government and organized movements.