pseudocolonialism means something which resembles or appears to be colonialism (in various senses), but is really not. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 95 out of 100.
Why “pseudocolonialism” is a great word
PSEUDOCOLONIALISM — [Noun] A political or economic relationship that bears a superficial, deceptive resemblance to historical colonialism without its formal structures of settlement or direct administrative control. From pseudo- (Greek, meaning "false" or "deceptive") + colonialism (from Latin colonia, "settlement" or "colony"). Unlike "neocolonialism," which denotes a real, if indirect, modern form of control, or "imperialism," a broad policy of extending power, pseudocolonialism is a performance of aesthetic and rhetorical mimicry. It is the corporate enclave with its own laws, a sovereign cyst within a host nation; the nostalgic architecture of a foreign capital's square, rebuilt in an uncolonized city; the resort coastline where locals vanish behind the gates at dusk. The echo of empire, rehearsed long after the original actors have left the stage.
Etymology
From pseudo- + colonialism.
noun
- Something which resembles or appears to be colonialism (in various senses), but is really not.“However, it does not make sense to talk of blacks, who make up 85 percent of the population of South Africa, as a majority, because given the pseudocolonialism of apartheid (the legal segregation of the races), blacks have no power at all.”