Coloniality is defined by where the ruling class sits, not by dependency

Evidence

This analytic distinction rests upon the fundamental fact that the ruling class of a colony is located outside that colony, and the colonial state is the instrument of that externally based ruling class; with decolonization, this structural feature of the dominated formation no longer applies and the formation therefore ceases to be colonial, regardless of any other kind of dependence. — Aijaz Ahmad, In Theory, 383

Categorization

• DEFINE: The structural criterion distinguishing colony from formally independent but dependent state.
• XREF: Relevant to debates on neocolonialism and world-systems theory (Wallerstein). — connects to: Colonial status means an external ruling class, not mere dependence

Related

• Colonial status means an external ruling class, not mere dependence (similarity 0.96)
• Neocolonialism means power exerted at a distance, not through territorial occupation. (similarity 0.82)
• Postcolonial status denotes structural state shifts, not mere birth after decolonization (similarity 0.80)
• Neocolonialism keeps formally independent states economically and politically directed from outside (similarity 0.79)
• Colonialism advanced state formation by racially ordering the colonized exterior (similarity 0.79)
• An enlarged state concept transforms postcolonial-state theory away from instrumental models (similarity 0.78)