单选题 According to the passage, Anderson's theory explains the longevity of British colonial authority in India because the British

• (A) offered great flexibility and authority to the local elites with whom they were obliged to negotiate
• (B) felt a great temptation to act unilaterally and exercise military authority of their Indian possessions
• (C) became more deeply enmeshed in the politics of the Indian subcontinent than was strategically appropriate
• (D) managed to convince the local elites that submission to the British would be economically advantageous for all parties
• (E) resisted successfully the attempts of local power brokers to revise the terms of their negotiations