Divide and rule Cyprus? Decolonisation as process

Abstract

Instances of decolonisation can be considered processes featuring complicated interactions that are both path-dependent and open-ended. This perspective contrasts with reductionist epistemologies, particularly economistic ones. Viewing the decolonisation of Cyprus in processual terms, this article argues that the process at hand was crucially shaped by the colonial strategy of divide-and-rule and that the process’s complicated flow of interactions obscured the British government’s ability to assess the unfolding predicament clearly, failing most particularly to rank its options optimally by misreading the option of granting independence to Cyprus.