Puppet state
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A puppet government is a government that, though notionally of the same culture as the governed people, owes its existence (or other major debt) to being installed, supported or controlled by a more powerful entity, typically a foreign power. Such a government is known as a puppet régime.
The term is partisan and prone to semantic disputes, used almost exclusively by detractors of such governments, whether or not the majority of citizens affected acknowledge the characterization, or object to that kind of government. Often a proclaimed puppet government faces a rival government which uses the puppet government term to weaken the legitimacy of that government. Also usually implied is the government's lack of legitimacy, in the view of those using the term.
For example, each of the two Korean governments has throughout its history often used the rhetoric that it is in fact the only true ruler of the peninsula, and that the other government is merely a "puppet" of the US/Soviets.
A vassal state may be instituted as the result of a military defeat when the winner has not enough military power to fully control the defeated or enough population to colonize the new acquisitions. The tribute is a compromise for both the victor and the defeated state.
Governments which take power after foreign military intervention, or the threat thereof, are often accused by their opponents of being puppet governments, for example the government of Hamid Karzai in post-Taliban Afghanistan or the Diem government of South Vietnam, supported by the United States. Indeed, such accusations are commonly used to destabilize governments, encouraging and justifing coup d'états.
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States or governments accused of being puppets since 1900
US puppet states
- Panama (1903-1968) – The appointed Governor of the Panama Canal Zone was said to have more power than the elected head of state.
- Haiti (1915-1934 and 2004-present).
- Dominican Republic (1916-1924 and 1965-1978).
- Republic of Korea (1948-present).
- Republic of Vietnam (1954-1975).
- Cambodia (1970-1975) - The convened National Assembly deposed Norodom Sihanouk in favor of the pro-US Prime Minister Lon Nol.
- Grenada (1983-1984) – Interim government led by Sir Nicholas Brathwaite.
- Afghanistan (2001-present) after the US military invasion in 2001.
- Iraq under the interim government established after the 2003 invasion.
USSR puppet states
- Far Eastern Republic (1920-1923) - Set up by the Bolsheviks in the Russian Far East.
- Hungarian Soviet Republic (1919) - Short-lived government under the leadership of Béla Kun.
- Mongolian People's Republic (1924-1992).
- Warsaw Pact satellite states: Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, East Germany (1945-1989).
- Democratic People's Republic of Korea (1948-present), set up with the assistance of the USSR but later took an independent, isolationist course.
- People's Republic of China - The Communist Party of China finally defeated the Kuomintang in 1949 with the assistance of Joseph Stalin, but the PROC later broke its tight relations with the USSR, particularly during the era of Deng Xiaoping but more generally during the premierships of Nikita Khrushchev and Leonid Brezhnev in the USSR.
- Democratic Republic of Vietnam (1950-1976) - Established with substantial support by the USSR and PROC, later absorbed the Republic of Vietnam to become the united Socialist Republic of Vietnam (1976-present).
- Communist Cuba (1959-1991) - Supported by the Soviet Union (substantially after the Cuban Missile Crisis).
- People's Democratic Republic of Yemen (1969-1990).
- People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (1975-1990).
- Mozambique under FRELIMO (1975-1991) - Supported by the Soviet Union and Cuba.
- Angola under the MPLA (1975-1991) - Supported by the Soviet Union and Cuba.
- Nicaragua under the Sandinistas (1979-1990) - Supported by the Soviet Union and Cuba.
- Grenada after the New Jewel Movement-led coup (1979-1983), under the leadership of later-deposed Maurice Bishop as well as Bernard Coard, supported by the Soviet Union and Cuba.
- Democratic Republic of Afghanistan (1979-1990).
Vietnamese puppet states
- Democratic Kampuchea (1975-1979); People's Republic of Kampuchea (1979-1989) - The "Khmer Rouge" (Communist Party of Cambodia) under Pol Pot received significant assistance from the North Vietnamese Army but felt betrayed by the abandonment of the movement after the 1973 Paris Peace Accords. When the party captured Phnom Penh in 1975 it appeared as a homogenous victory of communist forces that year on the Indochinese peninsula, yet tensions mounted between Cambodia and the united Vietnamese government, with the People's Republic of China supporting the position of Phnom Penh and the USSR that of Hanoi. This culminated in an invasion of Cambodia by Vietnam (and subsequently Vietnam by China) in which a more Vietnamese-friendly regime was installed under the leadership of Hun Sen.
- Lao People's Democratic Republic under the Pathet Lao (1975-present) - Defeated the loyalist forces in Laos in 1975 with the assistance of North Vietnam, having a Hanoi-friendly (and USSR-supplied) regime since.
Imperial Japanese puppet states
- Manchukuo (1931-1945), set up in Manchuria under the leadership of Emperor Puyi.
- Mengjiang (1936-1945), similar to Manchukuo but in Inner Mongolia.
- Cochinchina State (1937-1945) - Established in Nanjing by collaborationists under Wang Jingwei.
- Burma (1942-1945) - Head of state Ba Maw.
Axis-occupied Europe puppet states
Most of the West-European governments under the domination of Nazi Germany, particularly the fascist-leaning, during World War II are now and then called puppet régimes, not the least in Allied literature:
- Belgium (1939-1945) - The violent Rexist movement had achieved some electoral success in the 1930s and many of its members assisted the Nazi occupation during World War II.
- Albania (1939-1944) - Puppet of Italy during the rule of King Zog and the subsequent invasion.
- Slovakia under the Slovak People's Party (1939-1944) - The Slovak People's Party was a quasi-fascist nationalist movement associated with the Roman Catholic Church. Monsignor Jozef Tiso became the Nazis' quisling in a nominally independent Slovakia.
- The Vichy régime of Philippe Pétain (1940-1944).
- Independent State of Croatia under the Ustasha (1941-1945).
- Norway (1943-1945) - Vidkun Quisling had already during the German invasion on April 9th, 1940, attempted a coup d'état, but was appointed to head a government first from February 1, 1943.
- Italian Social Republic (1943-1945) - After the Badoglio government withdrew from the Axis Powers, the Germans occupied Italy, and founded the Italian Social Republic.
- The Arrow Cross regime of Ferenc Szálasi in Hungary (1944-1945).
Other recent puppet states
Other examples since 1900 include:
- Kingdom of Poland 1916-1918, controlled by the German Empire.
- Iraq (1932-1958) and Transjordan (1921-1951), ruled by British-installed Hashemite kings.
- Bantustans (1951-1994) of apartheid-era South Africa.
- Katanga (1960-1963), backed by the United States and Belgium.
- Namibia, which continued to be controlled by South Africa even after the United Nations dissolved its trust territory (1966-1990).
- Cyprus during the short-lived Greek-installed government of 1974.
- Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus - On territory occupied by the armed forces of Turkey in 1974.
- Saharan Arab Democratic Republic (1976-present) financed and supplied by Algeria.
- Lebanon (1976-2005) under de facto rule of Syria.
- Seychelles (1977-1993) whose government was installed and influenced heavily by Tanzania.
- Bosnia and Herzegovina (1991-present), according to opponents of that government, is effectively ruled by Western countries in general through the unelected international high representative, who has the power to dismiss state officials and strike down policy decisions of the elected authorities.
- Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan under Taliban rule (1996-2001) - Controlled by Pakistan before 1998, then allied with Al-Qaeda.
- Venezuela (2002) during the coup which fell after one day.
- Central African Republic after the Chad-sponsored coup in 2003.
- Solomon Islands since the 2003 Australian Peacekeeping Mission.
Historic puppet states
Examples from earlier centuries include:
- Kingdom of Poland, controlled by Imperial Russia.
- Duchy of Warsaw, controlled by Napoleonic France.
- Kingdom of Holland, controlled by Napoleonic France.
- Batavian Republic, controlled by Revolutionary France.
- The principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia, controlled by the Ottoman Empire, who kept their Christian culture and population.
- The Second Mexican Empire under Maximilian (1864-1867) installed by the Second French Empire.
- Nicaragua under William Walker, backed by the US.
- Kingdom of Granada during the late phase of Reconquista, a vassal of Castile that channeled African gold into Europe.
- Honduras under the de facto control of Guatemala during 1876-1891.
- The Goryeo Dynasty of Korea was for a time controlled by the Mongol Empire.
- Herodian Judea, vassal of the Roman Empire.
- Armenia, vassal of the Roman Empire.
- Macedon, vassal of the Persian Empire.
- Nubia, controlled by Ancient Egypt.
See also
Comintern Cominform Soviet Empire World War II Cold War Warsaw Pact COMECON Banana republic Satellite statees:Gobierno títere fr:Gouvernement fantoche ja:傀儡政権 simple:Puppet state zh:傀儡政權