Do the Cardassians fit as a representation British colonialism?

[AntonyF]

I think Romulans were always meant to be quite like Russia, but as time goes on I think Russia has commonality with China and Cardassians are more like Russia. But as was mentioned above they are all a blend really there is no one direct template.

I saw an article recently, I can't remember what world events it was relating to, but how DS9 had been so prescient, predicting so much. I think one particular strand was WOW THEY PREDICTED SUCICIDE BOMBERS. And the person was completely oblivious as to how Trek looks to the past in order to write the future.

 

[TheAdmiralty]

They were too overtly barbaric for that kind of analogy to work. There wasn't any paternalistic pretense, it was just "we're stronger so we're going to conquer you" like the Nazis or Mongols.

As another person alluded to the Federation were like the 19th century European imperialists if you think about it. Actually having a villain like that on the show would have been interesting, like a more aggressive version of the Organians who thought they were on a higher plane and should manage everyone else's affairs for them.