mailed fist

英単語には多義語が多く、馴染みのある単語でも、その単語の持つ知らない意味で使われている場合が多々あります。
The approach relies on a variety of means to dismantle resistance to colonial domination, using rumor, slander, and the highest available technology of surveillance and control; enlisting cooperative domestic elites; and the mailed fist, the Philippine constabulary and U.S. forces, when needed.
上の文はNoam Chomsky著のHopes Prospectsの一節ですが、"mailed fist" で引っ掛かりました。誰でも知っている "mailed（"mail" ）" と "fist" ですが、私が知っている意味ではこの "mailed fist" の個所の意味はチンプンカンプンです。まず "mail"を辞書で見ます。
・Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary: armor made of metal links or sometimes plates
・Dictionary.com: clad or armed with mail: a mailed knight.
・Oxford English Dictionary: armour made of metal rings or plates joined together flexibly: a coat of mail
なるほど上の "mailed" の意味はこの形容詞形ですね。これなら "mailed fist" で特別な意味がありそうだ。今度は "mailed fist" で辞書を調べます。
the use of physical force to maintain control: the country’s leadership has shown its continued reliance on the mailed fist
・Dictionary.com: 1. superior force, especially military force, when presented as a threat: The country showed its mailed fist in negotiations. 2. brutal or naked power, especially coercive force: the mailed fist hidden in the velvet glove.
納得です。