Sometimes trade agreements have been a key element in the process of economic integration of independent territories-a noteworthy example was the German customs union (the Zollverein), which was a key building block of what is now the Federal Republic of Germany.3
A characteristic of colonial expansion was the application of metropolitan systems of law and protection of property rights to `associated' territories-indeed, a defining characteristic of an empire is that control extends beyond foreign to domestic policy (Doyle, 1986).
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