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The `special relationships' formed by Spain, France and Britain with their former colonies demonstrate that even ties initially based on political and economic domination transform the identities of both parties. In this study, we show how European post-colonial behavior in Africa, Asia and Latin America has been inspired by historically rooted subjective conceptions of national identity and norms of interstate community. We employ a constructivist approach to provide a generalizable, middle-range explanation of foreign policies that do not fit typical realist or economistic notions of rationality. Instead, we find that Spanish, French and British policies toward their former empires follow patterns suggested by colonialist and feminist theories of International Relations. By applying this approach to post-colonial relations, we show the importance of ideas and norms in the construction of unequal power relations and expand …