Maybe this is because I recently watched the Indian film RRR (Rise, Roar, Revolt) which portrays a version of the British Raj that will make you despise the actions of Her Majesty's government in India, but it hit me that the Cardassians in Star Trek are probably the closest in action and behavior to the British Empire.
I've seen arguments in the past about what the Cardassian-Bajoran relationship is supposed to be based on, with various people drawing parallels to the histories of various oppressed peoples; Jews, Palestinians, Armenians, Native Americans, the Chinese and Koreans under Imperial Japan, etc., throughout human history.
Most seem to generally think of the Cardassians as Star Trek's "Space Nazis" parallel, especially given the occupation of Bajor and their treatment of Bajorans. But there's several key distinctions. The Cardassians don't seem to have an ideology based around scapegoating the Bajorans for all of Cardassia's problems (i.e., Cardassian arrogance would never allow them to admit a mistake or weakness). As awful as the deaths associated with the Bajoran occupation are depicted, nothing in canon indicates the Cardassians had a policy of genocide against the Bajorans as some sort of "final solution" of exterminating the Bajorans.
Another take on the Cardassians is that over the course of TNG and DS9 they're various stages of the Soviet Union, especially given the Cardassian government's official name is the "Cardassian Union," and a sort of Stalinist structure of the state. The entire society is centered around family, duty, and the glorification of the state. On the other hand, there's never an indication that the Cardassians are driven by (or even using as a facade) some form of ideology at their core. There's never an indication that they're trying to bend the galaxy towards the spread of some form of Cardassian communism (or whatever they would call their ideology).
What has been depicted in canon indicates the Cardassians were driven by: 1) Economics, stealing other peoples resources and territories to support their own imperial desires, and 2) Paternalism, the belief that they were "caring" for lesser cultures and enlightening them with civilization, even if their methods were brutal, unwanted, and murderous.
All of that sounds a hell of a lot like the history of British colonial rule in many countries.
Gul Dukat's lament about how he was not appreciated by the Bajorans as their "liberator," and those scenes take on the dimension of an abusive father upset of how his "children" can't recognize his greatness, and innate right to rule. If you compare that sentiment to those of people who defended the generational rule of the British Raj, or rationalized actions like the murdering of unarmed men, women, and children at the Amritsar Massacre as "necessary" for order and civilization, then it sounds a lot like the Cardassians.
I've seen arguments in the past about what the Cardassian-Bajoran relationship is supposed to be based on, with various people drawing parallels to the histories of various oppressed peoples; Jews, Palestinians, Armenians, Native Americans, the Chinese and Koreans under Imperial Japan, etc., throughout human history.
Most seem to generally think of the Cardassians as Star Trek's "Space Nazis" parallel, especially given the occupation of Bajor and their treatment of Bajorans. But there's several key distinctions. The Cardassians don't seem to have an ideology based around scapegoating the Bajorans for all of Cardassia's problems (i.e., Cardassian arrogance would never allow them to admit a mistake or weakness). As awful as the deaths associated with the Bajoran occupation are depicted, nothing in canon indicates the Cardassians had a policy of genocide against the Bajorans as some sort of "final solution" of exterminating the Bajorans.
Another take on the Cardassians is that over the course of TNG and DS9 they're various stages of the Soviet Union, especially given the Cardassian government's official name is the "Cardassian Union," and a sort of Stalinist structure of the state. The entire society is centered around family, duty, and the glorification of the state. On the other hand, there's never an indication that the Cardassians are driven by (or even using as a facade) some form of ideology at their core. There's never an indication that they're trying to bend the galaxy towards the spread of some form of Cardassian communism (or whatever they would call their ideology).
What has been depicted in canon indicates the Cardassians were driven by: 1) Economics, stealing other peoples resources and territories to support their own imperial desires, and 2) Paternalism, the belief that they were "caring" for lesser cultures and enlightening them with civilization, even if their methods were brutal, unwanted, and murderous.
All of that sounds a hell of a lot like the history of British colonial rule in many countries.
Gul Dukat's lament about how he was not appreciated by the Bajorans as their "liberator," and those scenes take on the dimension of an abusive father upset of how his "children" can't recognize his greatness, and innate right to rule. If you compare that sentiment to those of people who defended the generational rule of the British Raj, or rationalized actions like the murdering of unarmed men, women, and children at the Amritsar Massacre as "necessary" for order and civilization, then it sounds a lot like the Cardassians.
