How to 'win' decolonisation?

What would it take for the French and/or the British to turn decolonisation in to a great victory, in more than just diplomatic terms.
The overseas empires of the Europeans post war are often described as large burdens and just cutting them loose is a victory on its own. I'm not really talking about that, I'm wondering if there was a way to go about decolonisation that actively benefits the the parties involved.
 
Okay, so going by your stated conditions, I assume something like "If they hadn't decolonized, France and the UK would each have had about a dozen civil-wars going on across the globe for decades" doesn't qualify as a victory? You want outcomes that are actually better in comparison to what we saw IOTL.

If you're thinking that they could somehow have maximized whatever benefits they got through decolonization, I don't know how possible that is: obviously, they had easier access to overseas resources when they were the a actual government of those colonies, rather than just another country trying to secure trade deals.

I think maybe you would need a radically altered Cold War, with greater hostility toward the USA and especially the USSR among third world nations, thus allowing the European powers to position themselves as the perceived protectors of the former colonies, against superpower depredations. Maybe one or both of the superpowers goes berzerk and starts outright grabbing territory all over the world, as opposed to the coups and proxy wars that mostly characterized the Cold War IOTL. The third-worlders might prefer "the devil they know" to the ones they don't, and sign defense and trade treaties with their former masters.

But, even then, the Europeans would still probably be better off without decolonization to begin with(assuming there are no revolts in the colonies).
 
The big problem with decolonization is colonial economies were explicitly structured, logistically and socially, to maximize exporting raw materials to the metropole. Being totally export-oriented meant they were dependent on their former masters even after they were freed, had little means for really changing that dynamic or undermining local elites who profited from those arrangements. That's part of why domestic development policies ran into lots of problems in the colonies. Latin America experienced and still experiences similar problems.
 
My happy world view idea of this happening is Britain and France laying out a well defined road map to decolonisation post WW1 that is understood by all parties and is going to happen no matter what

Britain had several already successful examples of this having happened namely Canada, Australia and one glaring example of it not going so well in South Africa

So layout a number of bench marks that a nation must achieve in order to gain a semblance of independence and build it up slowly to full independence

France has the option of offering full inclusion to Metropole France to its North African Holdings - and making the offer of granting full French citizenship

Britain can do the same to some of its smaller 'holdings' such as Malta (which from what I understand very nearly happened).

I suggest this happens slowly as it enables the decolonised nation to absorb various professional responsibilities across a generation - such as Leaders, Judges, Police, Drs etc etc

Don't be so quick to draw lines on a map and allow those nations to establish for themselves over time weather they should be one nation or several - have this decision making process built in to the 'road map'

Perfect...and Nirvana....
 
My happy world view idea of this happening is Britain and France laying out a well defined road map to decolonisation post WW1 that is understood by all parties and is going to happen no matter what

Britain had several already successful examples of this having happened namely Canada, Australia and one glaring example of it not going so well in South Africa

So layout a number of bench marks that a nation must achieve in order to gain a semblance of independence and build it up slowly to full independence

France has the option of offering full inclusion to Metropole France to its North African Holdings - and making the offer of granting full French citizenship

Britain can do the same to some of its smaller 'holdings' such as Malta (which from what I understand very nearly happened).

I suggest this happens slowly as it enables the decolonised nation to absorb various professional responsibilities across a generation - such as Leaders, Judges, Police, Drs etc etc

Don't be so quick to draw lines on a map and allow those nations to establish for themselves over time weather they should be one nation or several - have this decision making process built in to the 'road map'

Perfect...and Nirvana....
Canada and Australia were settler colonies where the British treated the white settlers very different from the people in their African and Asian colonies, were they conquered natives and used them to benefit Britain and British people.

Meanwhile, France would have the issue of all those non French people being able to vote in French elections, and also lots of people from those colonies very much liked their culture and had no interest in becoming French people, like they may gain French citizenship ,but that won't be translated to them suddenly being treated equally by the average French person. Furthermore being integrated into the French Metropole would most likely be seen by the people in the colonies as an attempt by France to still control them, so the people would most likely reject such attempts.
 
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