The basic economic and political theory by which 17th and 18th century European powers governed their overseas colonies?

Seventeenth and eighteenth century European powers mainly utilized Adam Smith's mercantilism concept of economics, which enriched the mother nation through restricted spheres of trade. Politically, it depended. France ruled with an absolute monarchy that controlled virtually all the details of colonial affairs, whereas in England, a parliament that controlled the nation's finances had considerable influence upon the actions of the King and the nation.