Colonialism on the Defensive: Australia in the United Nations Trusteeship Council

In the years following the Second World War, the United Nations (UN) Trusteeship Council was vital to the evolution of colonial practices throughout the world. Predicated on the liberal imperial principles of trusteeship, the Council was established to oversee the development of trust territories along the path to self-government. This article uses the Australian case study to reveal the influence of the UN Trusteeship Council in shaping the process of decolonisation in the post-war period. As a country whose colonies were predominantly trust territories, Australia serves as an important case study through which to understand the Trusteeship Council. Australia regularly found itself defending the maintenance of a colonial status quo in the face of criticism from representatives from the socialist bloc and the Global South. Examining the Australian case study reveals how the Trusteeship Council facilitated both a challenge to colonial rule as well as enabling a defence of colonialism.