The control of the economic and political systems of one state by a more powerful state, usually the control of a developing country by a developed one. It is marked by the export of capital from the least economically developed countries (LEDCs) on the periphery to the controlling more economically developed countries (MEDCs) at the core, a reliance by the LEDCs on imported manufactures from the MEDCs, and adverse terms of trade for the periphery or satellite nations (Blattman et al. (2004) Harvard Inst. Econ. Res. Disc. Paper 2040). The means of control are usually economic, including trade agreements, investment, and the operations of transnational corporations, which are often seen as the primary instruments of neo-colonialism; but see Law (2000) east asia cult. crit. 8, 1. Forstorp (2008) Studs Philos. & Educ. 27 argues that ‘globalization’ and ‘knowledge society’ are expressions of neo-colonialism.