Decolonization as a Universal Script

Decolonization has been repurposed from a historical process into a portable moral grammar that automatically classifies actors as 'oppressor' or 'oppressed' and supplies an immediate political verdict. The script short‑circuits empirical inquiry by prioritizing categorical identity and moral symmetry over contextual, legal or historical complexity. — If decolonization functions as a universal interpretive script, it reshapes campus politics, foreign‑policy argumentation, and media framing—making rapid moralization more likely and complicating democratic deliberation.