Puppet state

A puppet state, puppet régime, puppet government or dummy government is a state that is de jure independent but de facto completely dependent upon an outside power and subject to its orders. Puppet states have nominal sovereignty, except that a foreign power effectively exercises control through economic or military support. By leaving a local government in existence the outside power evades all responsibility, while at the same time successfully paralyzing the local government they tolerate.

Puppet states differ from allies, who choose their actions of their own initiative or in accordance with treaties they have voluntarily entered. Puppet states are forced into legally endorsing actions already taken by a foreign power.

Characteristics

Puppet states are "endowed with the outward symbols of authority", such as a name, flag, anthem, constitution, law codes, motto and government, but in reality is are appendages of another state which creates, sponsors or otherwise controls the puppet government. International law does not recognize occupied puppet states as legitimate.

Puppet states can cease to be puppets through:

  • military defeat of the "master" state (as in Europe and Asia in 1945),
  • absorption into the master state (as in the early Soviet Union),
  • achievement of independence

Terminology

The term is a metaphor which compares a state or government to a puppet controlled by a puppeteer with strings. The first recorded use of the term "puppet government" was in 1884, in reference to the Khedivate of Egypt.

In the Middle Ages vassal states existed based on delegation of the rule of a country by a king to noble men of lower rank. Since the Peace of Westphalia of 1648, the concept of a nation came into existence where sovereignty was connected more to the people who inhabited the land than to the nobility who owned the land.

An earlier similar concept is suzerainty, the control of the external affairs of one state by another.

Nineteenth-century examples

French revolutionary and Napoleonic clients

First French Empire and French satellite states in 1812

The Batavian Republic was established in the Netherlands under French revolutionary protection.

In Italy, the First French Republic encouraged a proliferation of small republics in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. (see also Sister republics).

In Eastern Europe, Napoleon's First French Empire established the Polish client state of the Duchy of Warsaw.

British Empire

Map of the British Indian Empire. The princely states are in yellow.

In 1896 Britain established a state in Zanzibar.

Early twentieth-century examples

Main article: List of World War I puppet states

World War II examples

Imperial Japan

Further information: Axis powers of World War II, Collaboration with Imperial Japan, and List of WWII puppet states

During Japan's imperial period, and particularly during the Pacific War (parts of which are considered the Pacific theatre of World War II), the Imperial Japanese regime established a number of dependent states.

Nominally sovereign states

Location of Manchukuo (red) within Imperial Japan's sphere of influence
Wang Jingwei receiving German diplomats while head of state in 1941

Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy

Further information: Axis powers of World War II and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy
German-occupied Europe at the height of the Axis conquests in 1942

Several European governments under the domination of Germany and Italy during World War II have been described as "puppet régimes". The formal means of control in occupied Europe varied greatly. These states fall into several categories.

Existing states in alliance with Germany and Italy

  • Hungarian Government of National Unity (1944–1945) – The pro-Nazi régime of Prime Minister Ferenc Szálasi supported by the Arrow Cross Party was a German puppet régime. Arrow Cross was a pro-German, anti-Semitic Fascist party. Szálasi was installed by the Germans after Hitler launched Operation Panzerfaust and had the Hungarian Regent, Admiral Miklós Horthy, removed and placed under house arrest. Horthy was forced to abdicate in favor of Szálasi. Szálasi fought on even after Budapest fell and Hungary was completely overrun.

Existing states under German or Italian rule

  • Albania under Nazi Germany (1943–1944) – The Kingdom of Albania was an Italian protectorate and puppet régime. Italy invaded Albania in 1939 and ended the rule of King Zog I. King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy added King of Albania to his titles and Zog was exiled. King Victor Emmanuel and Shefqet Bej Verlaci, Albanian Prime Minister and Head of State, controlled the Italian protectorate. Shefqet Bej Verlaci was replaced as Prime Minister and Head of State by Mustafa Merlika Kruja on 3 December 1941. The Germans occupied Albania when Italy quit the war in 1943 and Ibrahim Bej Biçaku, Mehdi Bej Frashëri, and Rexhep Bej Mitrovica became successive Prime Minister under the Nazis.
  • Vichy France (1940–1942/4) – The Vichy French régime of Philippe Pétain had limited autonomy from 1940 to 1942, and depended heavily on Germany. The Vichy government controlled many of France's colonies and the unoccupied part of France and enjoyed international recognition. In 1942, the Germans occupied the portion of France administered by the Vichy government in Case Anton and installed a new leadership under Pierre Laval, ending much of Vichy's international legitimacy.
  • Monaco (1942–1944) – In 1943, the Italian army invaded and occupied Monaco, setting up a fascist administration. Shortly thereafter, following Mussolini's collapse in Italy, the German army occupied Monaco and began deporting the Jewish population. Among them was René Blum, founder of Monaco's Ballet de l'Opera, who died in a Nazi extermination camp.

New states formed to reflect national aspirations

States and governments under control of Germany and Italy

Italian Social Republic

  • Italian Social Republic (1943–1945, known also as the Republic of Salò) – General Pietro Badoglio and King Victor Emmanuel III withdrew Italy from the Axis Powers and moved the government to Southern Italy, already conquered by the Allies. In response, the Germans occupied Northern Italy and founded the Italian Social Republic (Repubblica Sociale Italiana or RSI) with Italian dictator Benito Mussolini as its "Head of State" and "Minister of Foreign Affairs". While the RSI government had some trappings of an independent state, it was completely dependent both economically and politically on Germany.

British examples during and after World War II

Further information: Allies of World War II and List of World War II puppet states

The Axis demand for oil and the concern of the Allies that Germany would look to the oil-rich Middle East for a solution, caused the invasion of Iraq by the United Kingdom and the invasion of Iran by the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union. Pro-Axis governments in both Iraq and Iran were removed and replaced with Allied-dominated governments.

  • Kingdom of Iraq (1941–1947) – Iraq was important to the United Kingdom because of its position on the route to India. Iraq also could provide strategic oil reserves. But due to the UK's weakness early in the war Iraq backed away from the pre-war Anglo-Iraqi Alliance. On 1 April 1941, the Hashemite monarchy in Iraq was overthrown by a pro-German coup d'état under Rashid Ali. The Rashid Ali regime began negotiations with the Axis powers and military aid was quickly sent to Mosul via Vichy French-controlled Syria. The Germans provided a squadron of twin-engine fighters and a squadron of medium bombers. The Italians provided a squadron of biplane fighters. In mid-April 1941, a brigade of the 10th Indian Infantry Division landed at Basra (Operation Sabine). On 30 April, British forces at RAF Habbaniya were besieged by a numerically inferior Iraqi force. On 2 May, the British launched pre-emptive airstrikes against the Iraqis and the Anglo-Iraqi War began. By the end of May, the siege of RAF Habbaniya was lifted, Fallujah was taken, Baghdad was surrounded by British forces, and the pro-German government of Rashid Ali collapsed. Rashid Ali and his supporters fled the country. The Hashemite monarchy (King Faisal II and Prime Minister Nuri al-Said) was restored, and declared war on the Axis powers in January 1942. British and Commonwealth forces remained in Iraq until 26 October 1947.
  • Imperial State of Iran (1941–1943) – German workers in Iran caused the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union to question Iran's neutrality. In addition, Iran's geographical position was important to the Allies. So, in August 1941, the Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran (Operation Countenance) was launched. In September 1941, Reza Shah Pahlavi was forced to abdicate his throne and went into exile. He was replaced by his son Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was willing to declare war on the Axis powers. By January 1942, the UK and the Soviet Union agreed to end their occupation of Iran six months after the end of the war.

Soviet examples after 1939

Main article: Soviet satellite states

Puppet states later absorbed into the U.S.S.R.

Map of the Finnish Democratic Republic (1939–40), a short-lived puppet state of the Soviet Union. Green indicates the area that the Soviet Union planned to cede to the Finnish Democratic Republic, and red the areas ceded by Democratic Finland to the Soviet Union.

Soviet satellites in Europe

As Soviet forces prevailed over the German Army on the Eastern Front during the Second World War, the Soviet Union supported the creation of communist governments throughout Eastern Europe. Specifically, the People's Republics in Poland, Romania, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, Hungary, and Albania were dominated by the Soviet Union. While all of these People's Republics did not "officially" take power until after World War II ended, they all have roots in pro-Communist war-time governments.

Soviet puppet states in Central Asia

  • Republic of Mahabad (22 January 1946 – 15 January 1947), officially known as the Republic of Kurdistan and established in several provinces of northwestern Iran, or what is known as Iranian Kurdistan, was a short-lived republic that sought Kurdish autonomy within the limits of the Iranian state. Iran re-took control in December and the leaders of the state were executed in March 1947 in Mahabad.
  • Democratic Republic of Afghanistan (1978–1991)
The greatest extent of the territory which the Soviet Union politically, economically and militarily dominated as of 1959–1960, after the Cuban Revolution but before the official 1961 Sino-Soviet split [total area: about 34,375,000 square kilometres (13,272,000 sq mi)]

Other states under Soviet influence

Yugoslavia was a communist state closely linked to the Soviet Union, but Yugoslavia retained autonomy within its own borders. After the Tito–Stalin split in 1948, the relationship between the two countries deteriorated significantly. Yugoslavia was expelled from the international organizations of the Eastern Bloc. After Stalin's death and a period of de-Stalinization by Khrushchev, peace was restored, but the relationship between the two countries was never completely mended. Yugoslavia continued to pursue independent policies and became the founding member of the Non-Aligned Movement.

The Soviet Union continued to exert some influence over the People's Republic of China before the Sino-Soviet split in 1961. Some other countries which once were Soviet puppet governments include Mongolia, North Korea, North Vietnam, the reunified Vietnam and Cuba, all of which had substantial dependence on Soviet economy, military, science and technology. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, most of its former satellites moved towards democratization. Only China, Cuba, Laos and Vietnam remain one-party communist states.

In 1992, all references to Marxism–Leninism in the constitution of North Korea were dropped by the Supreme People's Assembly and replaced with Juche. In 2009, the constitution was quietly amended to not only remove all Marxist–Leninist references from the first draft, but also drop all references to communism.

Examples before and during decolonization

See also: Françafrique

In some cases, the process of decolonization has been managed by the decolonizing power to create a neo-colony, that is a nominally independent state whose economy and politics permits continued foreign domination. Neo-colonies are not normally considered puppet states.

Dutch East Indies

The Netherlands formed several puppet states in the former Dutch East Indies as part of its effort to quell the Indonesian National Revolution

Congo crisis

See also: King Leopold II, Mining industry of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Blood diamond

Following Belgian Congo's independence as Congo-Leopoldville in 1960, Belgian interests supported the short-lived breakaway state of Katanga (1960–1963).

East Timor

Indonesia established a Provisional Government of East Timor following its invasion of East Timor in December 1975.

South Africa's Bantustans

Map of bantustans in South West Africa (present-day Namibia) as of 1978

During the 1970s and 1980s, four ethnic bantustans - some of which were extremely fragmented - called "homelands" by the government of the time, were carved out of South Africa and given nominal sovereignty. Mostly Xhosa people resided in the Ciskei and Transkei, Tswana people in Bophuthatswana and Venda people in the Venda Republic.

The principal purpose of these states was to remove South African citizenship from the Xhosa, Tswana and Venda peoples, and so provide grounds for denying them their democratic rights. All four bantustans were reincorporated into a democratic South Africa on 27 April 1994, under a new constitution.

The South African authorities established ten bantustans in South West Africa (present-day Namibia), then illegally occupied by South Africa, in the late 1960s and early 1970s in accordance with the Odendaal Commission. Three of them were granted self-rule. These bantustans were replaced with separate ethnicity-based governments in 1980.

Examples after the Cold War

Republic of Kuwait

The Republic of Kuwait was a short-lived pro-Iraqi state in the Persian Gulf that only existed three weeks before it was annexed by Iraq in 1990.

Republic of Serbian Krajina

The Republic of Serbian Krajina was a self-proclaimed territory ethnic cleansed by Serbian forces during the Croatian War (1991–95). That regime was completely dependent to the Serbian regime of Slobodan Milošević, and was not recognized internationally.

Recent and current examples

Armenia

  • Artsakh - A former self-declared independent state heavily populated by Armenians, it was internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan. Russian peacekeepers controlled the Lachin corridor that allowed traffic to reach Armenia, on which it was heavily dependent.

China

Russian Federation

Abkhazian President Alexander Ankvab with Transnistrian President Yevgeny Shevchuk in 2013. Both Abkhazia and Transnistria have been described as puppet states of Russia.
  • Abkhazia is considered a puppet state that depends on Russia. The economy of Abkhazia is heavily integrated with Russia and uses the Russian ruble as its currency. About half of Abkhazia's state budget is financed with aid money from Russia. Most Abkhazians have Russian passports. Russia maintains a 3,500-strong force in Abkhazia with its headquarters in Gudauta, a former Soviet military base on the Black Sea coast and the borders of the Republic of Abkhazia are protected by Russian paratroopers.
  • South Ossetia has declared independence but its ability to maintain independence is solely based on Russian troops deployed on its territory. As South Ossetia is landlocked between Russia and Georgia, from which it seceded, it has to rely on Russia for economic and logistical support, as all of its exports and imports and air and road traffic is only with Russia. Former President of South Ossetia Eduard Kokoity claimed he would like South Ossetia eventually to become a part of the Russian Federation through reunification with North Ossetia.
  • The Donetsk People's Republic and the Luhansk People's Republic were self-proclaimed republics in eastern Ukraine considered puppet states of Russia. Russia annexed the DPR and the LPR on 30 September 2022, following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.
  • Transnistria is considered a puppet state supported by Russia.

Disputed examples

In Yemen

Map of territorial control in Yemen
  Southern Transitional Council supported by the UAE
  Internationally-recognized Government of Yemen based in Saudi Arabia
  Houthi-led Supreme Political Council supported by Iran
  Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and AQ-affiliated Ansar al-Sharia

Iran

  • Yemen – The Houthi government are considered by some to be a puppet state which is supported by Iran. This classification is disputed, however.

Saudi Arabia

United Arab Emirates

Turkish Republic of North Cyprus

Northern Cyprus in 2009
  • Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus – According to the European Court of Human Rights, the Republic of Cyprus remains the sole legitimate government in Cyprus, and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus should be considered as a puppet state under Turkish effective control. Its isolation, the Turkish military presence and the heavy dependence on Turkish support mean that Turkey has a high level of control over the country's decision-making processes. That has led to some experts stating that it runs as an effective puppet state of Turkey. Other experts, however, have pointed out the independent nature of elections and appointments in Northern Cyprus and disputes between the Turkish Cypriot and Turkish governments and concluded that "puppet state" is not an accurate description for Northern Cyprus.

Belarus

See also