Neo colonialism is a term generally associated with a twentieth-century discourse that assigned to the former colonial powers the blame for the stunted development of newly independent nations. It is also a concept that allowed intellectuals to begin talking about the internal colonialisms that divide former colonial societies along ethnic, and not just racial, divides—for instance, with lighter-skinned people having a higher status than darker-skinned people. Today, neocolonialism is used more frequently to suggest a new form of colonialism whereby a powerful country might exercise control not through territorial occupation but at a distance through economic or political domination, cultural monopolization, or the threat of military force. Contemporary US imperialism might be said to be a form of neocolonialism—in other words, a form of military and economic dominance without direct political control.

Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection, loc. 258