L’OMBRA DEL CRIPTO-COLONIALISMO IN THAILANDIA E ALTROVE. AGENTIVITÀ E DOMINIO DISONESTO

Since the concept of crypto-colonialism was first proposed in 2002, it has become increasingly clear that it should be treated as a heuristic device, not as part of a new classification. The new term, however, does provide greater clarity than earlier coinages such as “semi-colonialism,” particularly in respect of two key elements. The first concerns how local bourgeoisies, whose regional influence is linked to their willingness to create national culture in terms acceptable to the European colonial powers, benefited significantly from their mediating role. The second is that each crypto-colony, operating in terms of the colonial “civilizing mission”, has sought to reproduce the inequalities of colonialism at its own back door, treating neighboring countries and/or internal areas of active ethic difference as culturally retrograde and in need of guidance. Internally, the emergence of a code of manners is directly linked to the imitation of colonial values, which sometimes produces the seemingly paradoxical effect of insisting that local people must adopt European mannerisms and habits in order to prove their adherence to the national culture. The cultural dimension of crypto-colonialism is thus far from “soft,” but serves as an instrument of domination at multiple levels. The reshaping of local culture often resembles what happens in post-colonial states, but with the important difference that it occurs in the context of societies that explicitly deny ever having been colonized at all.