This is something I noticed too. Very rarely do I see voluntarily annexations (pan-ethnic movements notwithstanding) where country A doesn't coerce country B into joining but rather does do them a good favor and gives them a choice on whether to join or not (and if not the two can agree to a close partnership).In this case the wank is only for the country that annexes.
This is because, although the authors try to deceive the public into believing that this is something sought and desired, this generally results in unfair and unequal treatment where the small country is forced to annex under implicit financial threats that, in If it refuses, the big country will put all its efforts into ensuring that the small country's economy will be destroyed until its options are to be annexed (under even worse conditions) or face financial collapse (which of course will be considered a threat even WORSE than extinction as a nation and culture).
In the hypothetical case that some type of "economic aid" is granted, this aid will be crumbs: clearly insufficient to cover even the most basic needs of the country, balanced by the fact that, for every dollar invested in aid, the big country extracts ten dollars thanks to the economic exploitation of the small country.
Of course, the only branches of the new administration that receive sufficient funding are the local branches of the propaganda ministry (to bombard the people with propaganda about how they are much better off now than before even when this couldn't be more false) and the police and military forces (to crush with extreme prejudice and lethal force anything that even remotely smacks of disaffection toward the new ruling regime).
Too many times have there been cases where only country A benefits usually. I want to see scenarios where both countries benefit and not just one.
Last edited: