In Marxist theory, a semi-colony is a country which is officially an independent and sovereign nation, but which is in reality very much dependent and dominated by an imperialist country (or, in some cases, several imperialist countries). This domination could take different forms - economic (the supply of capital, technology or goods, and control over strategic assets and foreign trade), political (direct intervention by the imperialist country in the political affairs of the semi-colony to secure client-regimes), military (the presence or control exercised by foreign troops) cultural/ideological (e.g. the imposition of a foreign culture or foreign religion on the local population through the media, education and foreign consumer products). technological (the dependence on foreign technology, or the technological domination by a foreign country). demographic (settler colonialism - the immigration into the semi-colony of large numbers of settlers from the imperialist countries which dominate the semi-colony.) The term semi-colony is often used interchangeably with "neo-colony". Some semi-colonies never had much of a colonial administration before they became formally sovereign states, but most of them did. Some semi-colonies were "settler colonies" attracting large numbers of foreign immigrants, while in other semi-colonies the indigenous population always remained the vast majority. Client relationship The relationship between the semi-colony and the country (or countries) dominating it is said to benefit: the position of semi-colonial elite or ruling class (which serves both its own interest and the interests of foreign investors and creditors) and the imperialist country, which obtains profits and cheap resources from its investments in the semi-colony. The semi-colonial situation however disadvantages the working majority of the population, insofar as balanced economic development is impossible - only those industries are developed which benefit foreign investors or which benefit the export trade (usually extractive and agricultural industries). The class structure of a typical semi-colony features a large mass of peasants and unemployed, a relatively small urban working class and middle class, a strong landowning class, and an urban comprador bourgeoisie. Many semi-colonies in Africa, Asia and Latin America are, according to some Marxists, dominated by the imperialist countries which once colonised them, or by other imperialist powers. Some countries may never have been a colony but are nonetheless dominated by a superpower such as the United States or they were formerly dominated by the Soviet Union. Marxists regard semi-colonies differently from what they regard as genuinely independent nations, and will often support a semi-colony in