Colonization provides a "safe, stable and reliable society" only as much as prison provides a "safe, stable and reliable living". Your average colony is a stunted caricature of a country, with borders and an economy that only make sense in the context of servitude to a remote power.
The only consistently prosperous form of former-colony is the type where the colonizers just removed and replaced the native population entirely - an extension of their own society into newly-emptied land. USA, Canada, Australia, etc.
There is no prosperity for the locals under colonialism. It's either servitude or erasure. And you're surprised people rejected it? And you're questioning if it was a mistake to reject it?
The only consistently prosperous form of former-colony is the type where the colonizers just removed and replaced the native population entirely - an extension of their own society into newly-emptied land. USA, Canada, Australia, etc.
There is no prosperity for the locals under colonialism. It's either servitude or erasure. And you're surprised people rejected it? And you're questioning if it was a mistake to reject it?