External influences
Another essential component of the colonial state was the way in which it acted
as a conduit for powerful forces from outside. This was most obvious in the political field, where British and French policies were made in London and
Paris and subject to all the pressures of the various parties and interest groups
to be found there. As far as the colony, or dominated country, itself was
concerned, it meant that its own political life was greatly affected by events like
changes of government in Britain and France, or even defeats in wars, over
which it had no control. It also meant that it was subject to a variety of often
quite contradictory influences and examples: for instance, the ambiguous
lessons to be learned from the practice of pluralism and democracy at the
centre combined with the day-to-day experience of dictatorial and arbitrary
government in the colony itself. In these circumstances, local politicians cannot
be blamed for learning as much about how to fix elections as they did about the
virtues of pluralism or judicial independence. And, of course, both types of
lessons proved useful to those who became leaders of movements of national
opposition or ministers in any of the cabinets they were allowed to form.
The role of the colonial state in mediating between the colony and the international
economy was just as important. By and large, the British and French
attempted to manage affairs in such a way that they monopolized these relations,
awarding contracts and concessions to their own nationals, looking after the interests
of their own merchants and, in general, attempting to keep the colony as
their own economic preserve. Once again, there were often international
constraints that made this more difficult: for example, the fact that what were
known as ‘A’ mandates – that is, Syria, Iraq and Palestine – were technically independent
countries and could not be included, legally, in any scheme designed to
promote imperial preference at the expense of third parties. Nevertheless, this was
far outweighed by the benefits to be obtained in terms of control over the Middle
East’s oil resources or access to each mandate’s reserves of hard currency placed
securely in the Bank of England and the National Bank of France.