When slavery was abolished in the mid-nineteenth century, the terms of these rulers’ partnership with Western colonizers changed from trade in slaves to trade in commodities. After independence in the early 1960’s, during the Cold War, many African rulers played the West against the Soviet bloc to retain their predatory economies.
在奴隶制在19世纪中期被废除之后，这些统治者与西方合作的形式就从奴隶贸易转变成商品贸易。在1960年代早期冷战期间的独立运动中，许多非洲统治者为了维护其掠夺性统治而加入对抗苏联的美国阵营。时至今日，在中国，伊朗，委内瑞拉，甚至有时是印度和巴西的帮助下，他们的统治依然在继续。