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A client state, in international relations, is a state that is economically, politically, and/or militarily subordinate to another more powerful state (called “controlling state” in this article).[1] A client state may variously be described as satellite state, associated state, dominion, condominium, self-governing colony, neo-colony, protectorate, vassal state, puppet state, and tributary state.
Controlling states in history[edit]
Persia, Greece, and Rome[edit]
Ancient states such as Persia and Parthia, Greek city-states, and Ancient Rome sometimes created client states by making the leaders of that state subservient, having to provide tribute and soldiers. Classical Athens, for example, forced weaker states into the Delian League and in some cases imposed democratic government on them. Later, Philip II of Macedon similarly imposed the League of Corinth. One of the most prolific users of client states was Republican Rome[2][3] which, instead of conquering and then absorbing into an empire, chose to make client states out of those it defeated (e.g. Demetrius of Pharos), a policy which was continued up until the 1st century BCE when it became the Roman Empire. Sometimes the client was not a former enemy but a pretender whom Rome helped, Herod the Great being a well-known example. The use of client states continued through the Middle Ages as the feudal system began to take hold.
Chinese dynasties[edit]
Ottoman Empire[edit]
![](https://web.archive.org/web/20220427123057im_/https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2f/OttomanEmpire1590.png/220px-OttomanEmpire1590.png)
The number of tributary or vassal states varied over time but notable were the Khanate of Crimea, Wallachia, Moldavia, Transylvania, Sharifate of Mecca and the Sultanate of Aceh.
19th and 20th centuries[edit]
Russia and Serbia[edit]
The Austro-Hungarian Empire tried to make Serbia a client state in order to form a Christian opposition to the Ottoman Empire, but after the 1903 May Coup, Serbia came under the influence of Russia, which was forming a pan-Eastern Orthodox opposition to the Latin Christianity represented by the Austro-Hungarian empire. In 1914, Russia repeatedly warned the Austro-Hungarian Empire against attacking Serbia. When it did attack, Russia mobilized its army.[4][5][6] Russia also wanted Bulgaria[7] and Montenegro[8] as client states.
At the time, Great Britain and Austria both considered Serbia as a client state controlled by Russia,[9] and most historians today might call Serbia a client state, but historian Christopher Clark, author of The Sleepwalkers: How Europe Went to War in 1914, in a 2014 conference on the causes of World War I (“The Great War”), argues that Serbia was a “client state” only in the imaginations of Russia's leaders:
It was a risk enhancing initiative [of Russian Foreign Minister Serge Sazanov]
to allow Serbia to becometo see Serbia as a kind of client; ... Serbia, to my knowledge, has never been a client of anyone. […] This is a mistake, when Great Powers think they can secure the services of “client states”;ThatThose “clients” are never in fact “clients”! That’s a mistake that is presumably going to continue being made by our political leaderships, though one hopes one day it will stop.[10]
France[edit]
![](https://web.archive.org/web/20220427123057im_/https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f5/Europe_1812_map_en.png/220px-Europe_1812_map_en.png)
During the Revolutionary and Napoleonic eras (1789–1815), France conquered most of western Europe and established several client states.
At first, during the French revolutionary wars these states were erected as "Républiques soeurs" ("sister republics"). They were established in Italy (Cisalpine Republic in Northern Italy, Parthenopean Republic in Southern Italy), Greece (Îles Ioniennes), Switzerland (Helvetic Republic and Rhodanic Republic), Belgium and the Netherlands (Batavian Republic).
During the First French Empire, while Napoleon I and the French army conquered Europe, such states changed, and several new states were formed. The Italian republics were transformed into the Kingdom of Italy under Napoleon's direct rule in the north, and the Kingdom of Naples in the south, first under Joseph Bonaparte's rule and later under Marshal Joachim Murat. A third state was created in the Italian Peninsula, the Kingdom of Etruria. The Batavian Republic was replaced by the Kingdom of Holland, ruled by Napoleon's third brother, Louis Bonaparte.
A total of 35 German states, all of them allies of France, seceded from the Holy Roman Empire to create the Confederation of the Rhine, a client state created to provide a buffer between France and its two largest enemies to the east, Prussia and Austria. Two of those states were Napoleonic creations: the huge Kingdom of Westphalia, which was controlled by Jerome Bonaparte, the Emperor's youngest brother; and the Grand Duchy of Würzburg.
Following the French invasion of the Iberian Peninsula, Spain too was turned into a client Kingdom of Spain under Joseph Bonaparte; as was Poland, then the Duchy of Warsaw.
In the 20th century, France started to apply the concept of Françafrique, its name for its former African colonies,[11][12] sometimes extended to the former Belgian colonies. At present the term is used on some occasions to criticise the allegedly neocolonial relationship France has with its former colonies in Africa.
The countries involved provide oil and minerals important to the French economy. In addition, French companies have commercial interests in several countries of the continent.
British Empire[edit]
In the British Empire the Indian Princely States were technically independent and were given their separate independence in 1947 (although the Nizam of Hyderabad indeed opted for independence but could not retain his independence from India). Egyptian Independence in 1922 ended a British protectorate in Egypt. Sudan continued to be governed as Anglo-Egyptian Sudan until Sudanese independence in 1956; Britain also had an interest in Egypt until the Suez Crisis was over. Iraq was made a kingdom in 1932. In each case the economic and military reality did not amount to full independence, but a status where the local rulers were British clients. Similarly in Africa (e.g. Northern Nigeria under Lord Lugard), and Malaya with the Federated Malay States and Unfederated Malay States; the policy of indirect rule.
Germany[edit]
After France was defeated in the Battle of France, Vichy France was established as a client state of Nazi Germany, which remained as such until 1942 when it was reduced to a puppet government until its liberation in 1944. Germany also established, in its newly conquered Eastern territories, client states including the Slovak Republic, the Croatian State and the Albanian Kingdom.
United States of America[edit]
![](https://web.archive.org/web/20220427123057im_/https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6f/CongressBuilding_SEATO.jpg/220px-CongressBuilding_SEATO.jpg)
The term has been applied to authoritarian regimes with close ties to the United States during the Cold War, also referred to as U.S. proxy states, such as South Vietnam, Indonesia (1967–1998) under the Suharto Regime, Iran until 1979, Cambodia under the regime of Lon Nol from 1970 to 1975, the Philippines under Ferdinand Marcos from 1965 to 1986,[13] and Saudi Arabia. U.S. - Iran relations under Mohammad Reza Shah (reigned 1941 to 1979) have been cited as a modern political-science case-study.[14]
Chile (1973–1990)
China (1945–1979, on the island of Taiwan from 1949)
Cuba (1902–1959)
Indonesia (1967–1998)
Khmer Republic (1970–1975)
Philippines (1965–1986)
South Vietnam (1955–1975)
South Korea
Canada[15]
Israel
Pahlavi Iran (1964-1979)
Saudi Arabia
The term has also been applied to states which are extremely economically dependent on a more powerful nation. The three Pacific Ocean countries associated with the United States under the Compact of Free Association (the Federated States of Micronesia, the Marshall Islands and Palau) have been called client states.
Japan[edit]
In the late 19th century, the Japanese Empire gradually reduced Joseon Korea's status to that of a client state. In the early 20th century, this was converted to direct rule. Manchukuo, in contrast, remained a puppet state throughout World War II.
Manchukuo
Korean Empire[16]
Joseon(Post Sino-Japanese War)
Qing dynasty(Post Sino-Japanese War)
Ryukyu(Current Okinawa Prefecture)
State of Burma
Second Philippine Republic
Kingdom of Laos
Mengjiang
Republic of China(East Hebei Autonomous Government, Great Way Government)
Cambodia(from 9 March 1945 to 16 October 1945)
Provisional Government of Free India
Empire of Vietnam
Soviet Union[edit]
Soviet proxy or "client" states included much of the Warsaw Pact nations whose policies were heavily influenced by Soviet military power and economic aid. Other third world nations with Marxist-Leninist governments were routinely criticized as being Soviet proxies as well, among them Cuba following the Cuban Revolution, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea,[17] the People's Republic of Angola, the People's Republic of Mozambique, the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan, and the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam). Within the Soviet Union itself, the Ukrainian SSR and the Byelorussian SSR, had seats at the United Nations, but were actually proper Soviet territory.
- Warsaw Pact and Comecon states:
Albania (1946-1968)
Bulgaria
Cuba
Czechoslovakia
East Germany (1949-1990)
Hungary
Mongolia
Poland
Romania (remained a de jure member in spite of the de-satellization of Romania)
Vietnam (North Vietnam to 1976)
People's Republic of Kampuchea (1979–1989)
Afghanistan (1979–91)
People's Republic of China (until the Sino-Soviet split)
Jiangxi (1931–1937)
Laos
North Korea (1949-1991)
People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (1974–1991 (Derg until 1987))
South Yemen
Yugoslavia (until the Tito–Stalin split)
21st century[edit]
Belarus[edit]
- Western analysts have called Belarus a client state of Russia since its independence from the Soviet Union[18][19] (see also: Union State).
Nauru[edit]
- Due to its heavy dependence on Australia, some sources have identified the small Pacific island nation of Nauru as a client state of Australia.[20][21][22]
Syria[edit]
- The Obama administration of the United States referred to Syria as a client state of Russia in 2016.[23]
Ukraine[edit]
- The Obama administration also referred to Ukraine as a Russian client state in 2016. Western analysts criticized these remarks, noting that the Ukrainian government of the time was a pro-Western one, and not pro-Russian.[23] The government of Ukraine remains pro-Western as of 2022, and in February 2022 Russia invaded Ukraine in an apparent effort to install a pro-Russia government.
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ Michael Graham Fry, Erik Goldstein, Richard Langhorne. Guide to International Relations and Diplomacy. London, England, UK; New York, New York, USA: Continuum International Publishing, 2002. Pp. 9.
- ^ Rocca, Samuel (2008). Herod's Judaea. ISBN 9783161497179.
- ^ Collected studies: Alexander and his successors in Macedonia, by Nicholas Geoffrey Lemprière Hammond,1994,page 257,"to Demetrius of Pharos, whom she set up as a client king
- ^ Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Sazonov warned Austria in 1914 that Russia "Would respond militarily to any action against the client state." Christopher Clark, The Sleepwalkers: How Europe Went to War in 1914 (2012) p 481.
- ^ Thomas F. X. Noble; et al. (2010). Western Civilization: Beyond Boundaries, Volume C: Since 1789. Cengage. p. 692. ISBN 978-1424069606.
- ^ Michael J. Lyons (2016). World War II: A Short History. Routledge. pp. 3–4. ISBN 9781315509440.
- ^ Barbara Jelavich (2004). Russia and the Formation of the Romanian National State, 1821-1878. Cambridge UP. p. 288. ISBN 9780521522519.
- ^ Clive Ponting (2002). Thirteen Days: The Road to the First World War. Chatto & Windus. p. 60. ISBN 9780701172930.
- ^ Henry Cowper (1990). World War One and Its Consequences. Open University Press. p. 209. ISBN 9780335093076.
- ^ "CIRSD Conference on WWI: Panel "What Kind of Failure?" - Prof. Christopher Clark" (Video), Center for International Relations and Sustainable Development, May 30, 2014, retrieved December 8, 2021 – via YouTube
- ^ "The French African Connection". Al Jazeera. April 7, 2014. Archived from the original on November 12, 2018. Retrieved September 27, 2018.
- ^ Haski, Pierre (July 21, 2013). "The Return of Françafrique". The New York Times. New York. Retrieved September 27, 2018.
- ^ "Imelda's Tears". The New Yorker. April 12, 1998.
- ^ Gasiorowski, Mark J. (1991). U.S. foreign policy and the Shah: building a client state in Iran. Reference, Information and Interdisciplinary Subjects Series. Cornell University Press. ISBN 9780801424120. Retrieved 2018-09-19.
- ^
Williams, Glen (1989). "6: Canada in the International Political Economy". In Clement, Wallace; Williams, Glen (eds.). The New Canadian Political Economy. Montreal: McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP. pp. 116, 130. ISBN 9780773506817. Retrieved 2018-09-19.
The dependency school, dominant in the 1960s and early 1970s, argued that Canada is an economic colony with a client state. [...] while it might have been possible a decade ago to use a Latin American dependency model when describing Canada, because of its excessive degree of foreign ownership and 'American client state' status, both Canadian capitalists and the Canadian state have now 'come of age.'
- ^ "How Japan Took Control of Korea | HISTORY". www.history.com. Retrieved 2021-07-02.
- ^ Mizokami, Kyle (8 January 2016). "Why North Korea is betting big on nuclear weapons". The Week.
- ^ Foy, Henry; Seddon, Max (20 August 2020). "Putin prepares for a controlled succession in Belarus". Financial Times. Retrieved 24 February 2022.
- ^ "Ukraine conflict: What we know about the invasion". BBC News. 24 February 2022. Retrieved 24 February 2022.
- ^ "Pacific correspondent Mike Field". Radio New Zealand. 18 June 2015. Archived from the original on 10 December 2015. Retrieved 8 December 2015.
- ^ "Nauru's former chief justice predicts legal break down". Special Broadcasting Service. Archived from the original on 10 December 2015. Retrieved 8 December 2015.
- ^ Ben Doherty (28 October 2015). "This is Abyan's story, and it is Australia's story". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 26 February 2017. Retrieved 12 December 2016.
- ^ a b Coalson, Robert; Iakubovych, Tetiana (13 January 2016). "Many Puzzled By Obama's Reference To Ukraine As Russian 'Client State'". RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty. Retrieved 24 February 2022.