Colonies --- Interesting observation, David. I would be curious to hear views on this. Coming from a former colony myself, my feeling is that in some cases, like Brazil, colonial bureaucracy did try to create room for bargain in terms of the economic wealth that would remain in the colony. This cannot be called economic 'diplomacy', but the political actions reveal understanding of politics and bargaining of economic benefits. In fact, elites' dissatisfaction with regards to how the wealth was appropriated by colonizers was an important trigger of independence in many cases.

Source author: Marília Maciel MariliaM@diplomacy.edu