Fighting one island to claim another : Mauritius’ journey to international justice

Abstract

Islands make a remarkable contribution to understandings of decolonization, in particular where severance with former colonial powers was impeded by dependency. In their decolonization narrative, Mauritian politicians drove negotiations with the British imperial power but were hoodwinked by the detachment of the Chagos Archipelago, also known as the British Indian Ocean Territory, in 1965. Chagossian activists and a new generation of Mauritian politicians kept the Chagos Archipelago on the political agenda while varied economic and diplomatic relations allowed Mauritius greater freedom to exercise its sovereignty. Finally, in 2018, Mauritius contested the status of the Archipelago before the International Court of Justice. The case represents an episode of anti-colonial struggle where participants sought to reframe and officialise their shared island histories. The event also revealed broader shifts in global politics in which former imperial powers seem less likely to reap the benefits of the international institutions they designed.