Client state

In the field of international relations, a client state, is a state that is economically, politically, and militarily subordinated to a more powerful controlling state.^[1] Alternative terms ^{[according to whom?]} for a client state are satellite state, associated state, and dominion, condominium, self-governing colony, and neo-colony, protectorate, vassal state, puppet state, and tributary state.

Controlling states in history

Persia, Greece, Ancient China and Rome

See also: List of Roman client rulers and Client kingdoms in ancient Rome

Ancient states such as Persia and Parthia, Greek city-states, Ancient China 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 governments 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.

Ottoman Empire

Main article: Vassal and tributary states of the Ottoman Empire

 

Vassal and tributary states of the Ottoman Empire in 1590

The number of tributary or vassal states varied over time but most notable were the Khanate of Crimea, Wallachia, Moldavia, Transylvania, the Sharifate of Mecca, and the Sultanate of Aceh.

19th and 20th centuries

Russian Empire

Main article: Russia–Serbia relations

Austria-Hungary 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 Austria-Hungary against attacking Serbia. When it did attack, Russia mobilised its army.^[4][5][6] Russia also wanted Bulgaria^[7] and Montenegro^[8] as client states.

At the time, Great Britain and Austria-Hungary both considered Serbia as a client state controlled by Russia,^[9] and most historians today might call Serbia a client state.

First French Empire

Main article: List of French client states

 

The First French Empire and its satellite states in 1812

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 (the Cisalpine Republic in Northern Italy and the Parthenopean Republic in Southern Italy), Greece (Îles Ioniennes), Switzerland (the Helvetic Republic and the Rhodanic Republic), and Belgium and the Netherlands (Batavian Republic).

During the First French Empire, while Napoleon I and the French Army occupied much of 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 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 Kingdom of Westphalia, which was controlled by Jérôme Bonaparte, the Emperor's youngest brother; and the Grand Duchy of Würzburg as was Poland, then the Duchy of Warsaw.

During the French invasion of the Iberian Peninsula, Napoleon attempted to subjugate Portugal and Spain into a client Kingdom of Spain, but the French were eventually driven out of Iberia in a costly war.

France after decolonisation

In the 20th century, France exercised a sphere of influence, or Françafrique over its former African colonies,^[10][11] and to some degree former Belgian colonies in Africa (which were also French-speaking). The term is sometimes used pejoratively, to characterise the relationship with France as neocolonial. The former colonies provide oil and minerals important to the French economy, and in some, French companies have commercial interests.

British Empire

 

Map of British territories in the Indian subcontinent in 1909 with princely states in yellow

The Indian princely states were nominally sovereign entities in the British Empire and in 1947, were given a choice to either accede to independent India or Pakistan or get independence (the Nizam of Hyderabad did opt for independence but his kingdom was annexed by Indian forces in 1948). Egyptian independence in 1922 ended its brief status as a British protectorate and Iraq was made a kingdom in 1932. But in both cases, the economic and military reality did not amount to full independence, but a status where the local rulers were British clients. Other instances include Africa (e.g. Northern Nigeria under Lord Lugard), and the Unfederated Malay States; the policy of indirect rule.

Germany

World War I

Main article: Central Powers § German client states

•   Kingdom of Poland^[12] (1917–1918)
•   Kingdom of Lithuania (1918)
•   Ukrainian State^[13] (1918)
• Duchy of Courland and Semigallia^[14] (1918)
•   Democratic Republic of Georgia^[15] (1918)

World War II

•   Vichy France (1940–1944)
•   Independent State of Croatia (1941–1945)
•   Slovak Republic (1939–1945)
•   Albanian Kingdom (1943–1944)

United States

 

The leaders of some of the SEATO nations hosted by Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos on 24 October 1966

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.^[16][17][18]

•   China (1945–1949) →   Taiwan (1949–1979)
•   Khmer Republic (1970–1975)
•   Philippines (1965–1986)
•   South Korea (1948–1953)
•   South Vietnam (1955–1975)

Imperial Japan

 

Location of Manchukuo (red) within Imperial Japan's sphere of influence in 1939

In the late 19th century, the Empire of Japan 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.

•   Azad Hind (1943–1945)
•   State of Burma (1943–1945)
•   Kingdom of Kampuchea (1945)
• China (East Hebei Autonomous Government and North Shanxi Autonomous Government)^[19]
  •   Great Way Government (1937–1938)
  •   Provisional Government of the Republic of China (1937–1940)
  •   Reorganised National Government of the Republic of China (1940–1945)
•   Joseon (After the First Sino-Japanese War)^[20]
•   Korean Empire^[21][22] (1905–1910)
•   Kingdom of Luang Phrabang (1945)
•   Manchukuo (1932–1945)
•   Mengjiang (1939–1945)
•   Second Philippine Republic (1943–1945)
•   Ryukyu (current Okinawa Prefecture)
•   Thailand (1942–1945)
•   Empire of Vietnam (1945)

Soviet Union

See also: Soviet Empire

Soviet proxy, "satellite", or client states included much of the Warsaw Pact member states whose policies were heavily influenced by Soviet military power and economic aid. Other nations with Marxist–Leninist governments were routinely criticised as being Soviet proxies as well, among them Cuba following the Cuban Revolution, the Chinese Soviet Republic, North Korea,^[23] North Vietnam, South Yemen, the People's Republic of Angola, the People's Republic of Mozambique, and the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan. Within the Soviet Union itself, the Ukrainian SSR and the Byelorussian SSR, had seats at the United Nations, but were actually proper Soviet territory.

See also

• Banana republic
• Strategic autonomy
• Suzerainty
• Tributary

References

1. 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.
2. Rocca, Samuel (2008). Herod's Judaea. Mohr Siebeck. ISBN 9783161497179.
3. 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
4. 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.
5. Thomas F. X. Noble; et al. (2010). Western Civilization: Beyond Boundaries, Volume C: Since 1789. Cengage. p. 692. ISBN 978-1424069606.
6. Michael J. Lyons (2016). World War II: A Short History. Routledge. pp. 3–4. ISBN 9781315509440.
7. Barbara Jelavich (2004). Russia and the Formation of the Romanian National State, 1821–1878. Cambridge UP. p. 288. ISBN 9780521522519.
8. Clive Ponting (2002). Thirteen Days: The Road to the First World War. Chatto & Windus. p. 60. ISBN 9780701172930.
9. Henry Cowper (1990). World War One and Its Consequences. Open University Press. p. 209. ISBN 9780335093076.
10. . Al Jazeera. April 7, 2014. Archived from the original on November 12, 2018. Retrieved September 27, 2018.
11. Haski, Pierre (July 21, 2013). "The Return of Françafrique". The New York Times. New York. Retrieved September 27, 2018.
12. The Regency Kingdom has been referred to as a puppet state by Norman Davies in Europe: A history (Google Print, p. 910); by Jerzy Lukowski and Hubert Zawadzki in A Concise History of Poland (Google Print, p. 218); by Piotr J. Wroblel in Chronology of Polish History and Nation and History (Google Print, p. 454); and by Raymond Leslie Buell in Poland: Key to Europe (Google Print, p. 68: "The Polish Kingdom... was merely a pawn [of Germany]").
13. Kataryna Wolczuk. The Moulding of Ukraine: The Constitutional Politics of State Formation. p. 37.
14. Kevin O'Connor, The History of the Baltic States, page 78, ISBN 0-313-32355-0.
15. Rayfield, Donald (2012). Edge of empires: a history of Georgia. London: Reaktion Books. pp. 326–331. ISBN 978-1-78023-030-6.
16. Hanlon, David L. (2018). "A Different Historiography for "A Handful of Chickpeas Flung Over the Sea": Approaching the Federated States of Micronesia's Deeper Past". In Warwick Anderson; Miranda Johnson; Barbara Brookes (eds.). Pacific Futures: Past and Present. University of Hawai'i Press. ISBN 978-0-8248-7742-2.
17. Chen, Millie (2020). "The Marshall Islands and U.S. Imperial Relations". Mundi. 1 (1). Temple University.
18. Rampell, Ed (8 January 2019). "George H.W. Bush: Dirty Tricks and Regime Change in Nuclear-Free Palau". Island Times. Retrieved 15 April 2023.
19. "China grapples with preserving reminders of Japanese occupation". Nikkei Asia. Retrieved 2022-05-31.
20. . cross-currents.berkeley.edu. Archived from the original on 2022-03-17. Retrieved 2022-05-31.
21. "How Japan Took Control of Korea | HISTORY". www.history.com. Retrieved 2021-07-02.
22. "Japanese Rule Over Korea - A Liberation Day Korea History - Koryo Tours". koryogroup.com. 15 August 2020. Retrieved 2022-06-02.
23. Mizokami, Kyle (8 January 2016). "Why North Korea is betting big on nuclear weapons". The Week.