Rethinking internal colonialism: an analysis of the concept’s limitations and benefits

This study aims to re-examine the concept of internal colonialism by analysing its limitations and benefits and reviewing its uses in the literature. It argues that treating this concept as a separate category from colonialism leads to an inadequate understanding of the colonial experiences of stateless nations, minorities, and minoritised peoples forced to live within a state's borders. In contrast, it argues that internal colonialism is not a separate category from colonialism, but rather a specific form of it. More specifically, internal colonialism refers to a process that can emerge among peoples whose territories had been annexed by empires in previous centuries and who were subsequently subjected to centralising policies under capitalism as empires transformed alongside the rise of capitalism. To develop this argument, the concept's origin and literature will be analysed, and the problematic aspects of these uses will be identified. Thus, while highlighting the limitations of the literature on internal colonialism, this study will demonstrate that it is an analytically valuable concept within colonial studies. In doing so, the article will draw on alternative perspectives beyond mainstream approaches in the literature on internal colonialism, as well as perspectives on territorial annexation colonialism in relation to land-based colonialism.