What if Colonialism never ended?

How would the face of Africa and parts of Asia look today if European colonies never gained independence?

Well, I think the biggest thing would be the European countries would be a lot richer and powerful than they are even today, being able to the resources of what is today dozens of countries. Many countries who are currently emerging powers (India and Pakistan come to mind) used to be colonies and it would benefit the UK quite a bit. Most importantly, I think it would mean Africa would be much more stable, as the sudden independence for many of them caused shaky democracies to emerge and lead to a lot of anarchy and dictatorships to appear.

To add to your question, how do you think the world would look if Japan didn't lose all their colonies after WW2, in particular Korea and Taiwan?

Europeans would have sent more of their best/bravest young men to die protecting, civilizing, and industrializing unthankful people that will hate them and then revert back to their old ways when the Europeans leave.

This is a really good poem about colonialism: http://www.shmoop.com/white-mans-burden/poem-text.html

The world would be in a much more tense state with great/super powers being far less afraid to commit to war. They would have vast resources from across the globe.

Globalization wouldn't enter the discussion, either, because you have colonial empires sending people of all ethnicities to and fro. Immigration is an afterthought as everyone is a subject of the empire.

Additionally, global strife and suffering are possibly much less as stable governments are supported and laws enforced by a larger, more powerful sovereign authority abroad.

The problem with colonialism is that there is always a bigger fish, and fish don't often reason as to why they shouldn't eat one another. They just do. And that means it will come down to one empire that sees another's gain as its own loss. Before long, the entire globe is mobilized for war and there isn't going to be a population issue after that.

It would be like a neverending Vietnam War.

European nations would be bleeding themselves dry trying to put down near-constant rebellions from within. Young men would be sent to die in droves, and supplies would be in constant demand. Terrorism might be a problem now, but it would be even worse with them fighting against colonial overlords. The West stayed out of the fight against Boko Haram, but you can't do that when they're in your colony's backyard. Europeans would probably end up a lot more willing to commit war crimes like torture and slaughtering civilians, because that's what they'd be doing to keep their colonies in line. If things get bad enough, you might've even seen ethnic cleansing.

In short, the world would be worse for everyone.

DuceMoosolini wrote:It would be like a neverending Vietnam War.

European nations would be bleeding themselves dry trying to put down near-constant rebellions from within. Young men would be sent to die in droves, and supplies would be in constant demand. Terrorism might be a problem now, but it would be even worse with them fighting against colonial overlords. The West stayed out of the fight against Boko Haram, but you can't do that when they're in your colony's backyard. Europeans would probably end up a lot more willing to commit war crimes like torture and slaughtering civilians, because that's what they'd be doing to keep their colonies in line. If things get bad enough, you might've even seen ethnic cleansing.

In short, the world would be worse for everyone.

I doubt it would be that bad. For one, there would likely be much more settlers in the Colonies to deal with Insurgency, and 137+ years under colonial rule might make alternatives to colonial life impossible for the natives.