Colonization was a mistake too. It was predicated on utopian ideas of uplifting the natives similar to modern nation-building, but it only succeeded in opening the door to racial grievance and foreign immigration. 19th century Europeans had the willpower to enact the project, but lacked the intellectual integrity to fend off the Jewish hucksters like Boaz that undermined them at the turn of the 20th.
I'd say the most successful version was in two different areas. Somaliland in that they have stable and fully functioning country despite their neighbours and an international community unwilling to recognise them. Their success was because of the hands off approach leaving the tribes structure intact.
And Hong Kong pre China takeover, if you say I have a British Empire bias well, all the others especially the French ones either had or are having coups and civil wars
Thanks, that's another important point I forgot. European magical thinking (or Machivellian strategy, hard to say which is more influential) about multiethnic and multiracial states caused tons of grief in both the colonial and postcolonial periods.
Colonization was a mistake too. It was predicated on utopian ideas of uplifting the natives similar to modern nation-building, but it only succeeded in opening the door to racial grievance and foreign immigration. 19th century Europeans had the willpower to enact the project, but lacked the intellectual integrity to fend off the Jewish hucksters like Boaz that undermined them at the turn of the 20th.
I'd say the most successful version was in two different areas. Somaliland in that they have stable and fully functioning country despite their neighbours and an international community unwilling to recognise them. Their success was because of the hands off approach leaving the tribes structure intact.
And Hong Kong pre China takeover, if you say I have a British Empire bias well, all the others especially the French ones either had or are having coups and civil wars
Thanks, that's another important point I forgot. European magical thinking (or Machivellian strategy, hard to say which is more influential) about multiethnic and multiracial states caused tons of grief in both the colonial and postcolonial periods.