The problematic American-led occupation of Iraq reinforces the scholarly consensus that the effects of alien rule on native populations are usually damaging. These days the idea of alien rule is a dead letter. But is this really the case? After all, as Chapter 2 argues, some modern instances of alien rule have met with notable success. Further, self-determination evidently has not worked its wonders in many parts of the world. The list of egregious native rulers in the contemporary world is depressingly long. Some writers have advocated the imposition of alien rule, in the form of neo-trusteeship, as a solution to the growing problem of failed states and the threat they pose to international order (Fearon and Laitin 2004). Others have claimed that by offering access to modern institutions and technology, colonialism often provided the colonies with net benefits (Ferguson and Schularick 2006; Lal 2004; Mitchener and Weidenmier 2005). These considerations suggest that any blanket condemnation of alien rule is likely to mislead.

This chapter analyzes; the conditions responsible for resistance to alien rule by comparing the reactions to Japanese rule in Taiwan and Korea from the late nineteenth to the mid-twentieth centuries. This comparison is instructive because these countries have many common features and were colonized by the same power in the same historical era, but experienced markedly different levels of nationalist resistance.