[2] A colony in this sense could have "semi-colonial" status after it formerly obtained sovereign political independence while it remained in many important respects dependent on other countries.
Others argue that there is not really any substantive evidence for a universal sequence of events; each country has its own developmental path, influenced by national peculiarities and its position in the world capitalist order.
[8] In many cases, there is no consensus or broad agreement among historians and social scientists about how exactly the terms "colony", "neo-colony" or "semi-colony" should be applied to a given country.
[10] The relationship between the semi-colony and the country (or countries) dominating it is said to benefit: The semi-colonial predicament however mainly disadvantages the majority of the working population, insofar as balanced economic development is impossible - that is, only those industries and institutions are developed which mainly benefit foreign investors, or which mainly benefit/support the export trade (usually extractive mineral and foodstuff industries).
Lenin wrote: "As to the “semicolonial” states, they provide an example of the transitional forms which are to be found in all spheres of nature and society.
From that definition followed a political strategy for the labour movement in each type of country (for example as regards nationalisation of industry, workers' rights, democratisation, the ownership of land).
[17] The general perspective of the Communist International was that it was impossible for semi-colonial countries to achieve substantive industrialisation, agrarian reform and the transformation of property relations without a socialist and democratic revolution.
The new leaders of ex-colonial African states described neo-colonialism as 'the survival of the colonial system in spite of formal recognition of political independence in emerging countries, which became the victims of an indirect and subtle form of domination by political, economic, social, military or technical (forces)… (see O'Connor, 1970, p.
Some scholars prefer to use the world-systems theory labels of "core", "semi-periphery" and "periphery" to describe the structure of the capitalist world order.
Some contemporary Trotskyist groups, such as the League for a Fifth International interpret Lenin's analysis of imperialism in a way which defines the vast majority of states in the world as semi-colonies, including all of Eastern Europe.