An Overseas Territory in Europe: Gibraltar as a test case for discussing the non-colonial

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article offers a geopolitical analysis set against Gibraltar’s status, first as a colony and currently as a British Overseas Territory, to discuss the transformations brought about by UK-driven policies towards its remaining territories and constitutional reform. One such transformation was indicated by Gibraltar’s 2006 Constitution, which introduced a new term, the ‘non-colonial’, to describe Gibraltar’s relationship with Britain. Whilst the ‘non-colonial’ does not suggest formal decolonisation, it does bring Gibraltar to the brink of independence and serves to decentre definitions of colonialism and decolonisation as understood by United Nation’s Special Committee on Decolonisation. These terms become contested in the process and, as this article suggests, the ‘non-colonial’ creates a space that offers another alternative to decolonisation, one in which both the colonial and post-colonial find expression. Whilst a space fraught with tensions because the terms for the ‘non-colonial’ are being worked out at Gibraltar in real time, the challenge lies in achieving a deeper understanding of the complex set of terms now informing relationships which are no-longer held to be colonial.