Client state

{{Short description|State that is subordinate to another}} {{Forms of government}} {{for|exchange of goods and services for political support|Client politics}} A '''client state''', in the context of international relations, is an umbrella term that broadly refers to any state economically, politically, and militarily subordinated to a more powerful '''controlling state'''. It typically describes a bilateral relationship that is mutually beneficial, characterized by different but shared obligations.<ref>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.</ref>

Variants<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Талдикін |first1=О. |last2=Taldykin |first2=O. |title=Клієнтські форми державності: держава-сателіт |date=2022 |url=https://er.dduvs.edu.ua/handle/123456789/10524 |journal=Науковий вісник Дніпропетровського державного університету внутрішніх|language=uk}}</ref> of a ''client state'' are associated state, dominion, condominium, self-governing colony, neo-colony, protectorate, protected state, puppet state, satellite state, vassal state and tributary state.

== Controlling states in history == === Persia, Greece, Ancient China and Rome === {{see also|List of Roman client rulers|Client kingdoms in ancient Rome}}

Ancient states such as Persia, 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<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zmmBAAAAMAAJ&q=client+king|title=Herod's Judaea|isbn=9783161497179|last1=Rocca|first1=Samuel|year=2008|publisher=Mohr Siebeck }}</ref><ref>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</ref> 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.{{Citation needed|date=May 2024}}

=== Ottoman Empire === {{main|Vassal and tributary states of the Ottoman Empire}} [[File:OttomanEmpire1600.png|thumb|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 Western Georgian principalities, the Sharifate of Mecca, Awlad Muhammad Dynasty and the Sultanate of Aceh.

== Since the 19th century == {{more citations needed section|date=July 2014}}

=== Russian Empire === {{main|Russia–Serbia relations}}

It is often said that, prior to the Partitions of Poland, during the reigns of Augustus II and Augustus III, Poland-Lithuania was essentially a client state of Russia, since both kings were elected with strong Russian (and to a lesser extent Habsburg Austrian) backing against French- and Swedish-influenced Stanislaw I, later staying in power with extensive Russian support.<ref name= "Flathe">{{Citation | first = Heinrich Theodor | last = Flathe | title = Friedrich August I., Kurfürst von Sachsen | journal = Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie | volume = 7 | publisher = Duncker & Humblot | place = Leipzig | year = 1878 | pages = 781–784 | language = de}}.</ref><ref>Jacek Staszewski, ''August III Sas'', Wrocław, 2010, p. 27–29, 70 (in Polish)</ref>

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.<ref>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.</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Thomas F. X. Noble|display-authors=et al|title=Western Civilization: Beyond Boundaries, Volume C: Since 1789|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=b1PTCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA692|year=2010|publisher=Cengage|page=692|isbn=978-1424069606}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Michael J. Lyons|title=World War II: A Short History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LYqTDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA3|year=2016|publisher=Routledge|pages=3–4|isbn=9781315509440}}</ref> Russia also wanted Bulgaria<ref>{{cite book|author=Barbara Jelavich|title=Russia and the Formation of the Romanian National State, 1821–1878|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=clLtuNxa1cgC&pg=PA288|year=2004|publisher=Cambridge UP|page=288|isbn=9780521522519}}</ref> and Montenegro<ref>{{cite book|author=Clive Ponting|title=Thirteen Days: The Road to the First World War|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a9BmAAAAMAAJ|year=2002|publisher=Chatto & Windus|page=60|isbn=9780701172930}}</ref> as client states, although Bulgaria joined the war on the side of Austria-Hungary.

At the time, Great Britain and Austria-Hungary both considered Serbia as a client state controlled by Russia.<ref>{{cite book|author=Henry Cowper|title=World War One and Its Consequences|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=l9VmAAAAMAAJ|year=1990|publisher=Open University Press|page=209|isbn=9780335093076}}</ref>

=== First French Empire === {{main|List of French client states}}

[[File:Europe 1812 map en.png|thumb|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 sœurs''" ("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,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/specialseries/2013/08/201387113131914906.html |title=The French African Connection |access-date=September 27, 2018 |date=April 7, 2014 |publisher=Al Jazeera |archive-date=November 12, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181112013750/https://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/specialseries/2013/08/201387113131914906.html |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/22/opinion/global/the-return-of-francafrique.html |title=The Return of Françafrique |access-date=September 27, 2018 |last=Haski |first=Pierre |date=July 21, 2013 |work=The New York Times |location=New York }}</ref> 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 === [[File:British Indian Empire 1909 Imperial Gazetteer of India.jpg|thumb|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#Client states}}

* {{Flagicon|Poland}} Kingdom of Poland<ref>The Regency Kingdom has been referred to as a puppet state by Norman Davies in ''Europe: A history'' ([https://books.google.com/books?id=jrVW9W9eiYMC&dq=%22Kingdom+of+Poland%22+1916+puppet&pg=PA910 Google Print, p. 910]); by Jerzy Lukowski and Hubert Zawadzki in ''A Concise History of Poland'' ([https://books.google.com/books?id=HMylRh-wHWEC&pg=PA218 Google Print, p. 218]); by Piotr J. Wroblel in ''Chronology of Polish History'' and ''Nation and History'' ([https://books.google.com/books?id=lzWHDEE6OqkC&pg=PA454 Google Print, p. 454]); and by Raymond Leslie Buell in ''Poland: Key to Europe'' ([https://books.google.com/books?id=-KcfGbrKptoC&q=Poland+Key+to+Europe Google Print, p. 68]: "The Polish Kingdom... was merely a pawn [of Germany]").</ref> (1917–1918) * {{Flagicon image|Flag of Lithuania (1918).svg}} Kingdom of Lithuania (1918) * {{Flag|Ukrainian State}}<ref>Kataryna Wolczuk. The Moulding of Ukraine: The Constitutional Politics of State Formation. p. 37.</ref> (1918) * 20px|border Duchy of Courland and Semigallia<ref>Kevin O'Connor, [https://books.google.com/books?id=b3b5nU4bnw4C&dq The History of the Baltic States], page 78, {{ISBN|0-313-32355-0}}.</ref> (1918) * 20px|border United Baltic Duchy<ref>{{cite book |page=48 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=emBIdi4LPz8C |title=The Baltic States: The Years of Independence |author=Georg von Rauch |year = 1974|isbn=0-903983-00-1 |quote=Later an alternative proposal was advanced for a United Baltic Duchy under Duke Adolf Friedrich of Mecklenburg}}</ref> (1918) * {{Flag|Democratic Republic of Georgia}}<ref>{{Cite book |author-link=Donald Rayfield|last=Rayfield |first=Donald |title=Edge of empires: a history of Georgia |date=2012 |publisher=Reaktion Books |isbn=978-1-78023-030-6 |location=London |pages=326–331}}</ref> (1918)

==== World War II ==== {{main|List of World War II puppet states#Germany}}

* {{flagicon|Slovak Republic (1939–1945)}} Slovak Republic (1939–1945) * {{flag|Vichy France}} (1940–1944) * {{flagicon|Albanian Kingdom (1943–44)}} Albanian Kingdom (1943–1944)

=== United States === 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.<ref>{{cite book |title=Pacific Futures: Past and Present |date=2018 |editor1=Warwick Anderson |editor2=Miranda Johnson |editor3=Barbara Brookes |first=David L. |last=Hanlon |chapter=A Different Historiography for "A Handful of Chickpeas Flung Over the Sea": Approaching the Federated States of Micronesia's Deeper Past|publisher=University of Hawai'i Press |isbn=978-0-8248-7742-2}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |journal=Mundi |last=Chen |first=Millie |title=The Marshall Islands and U.S. Imperial Relations |url=https://tuljournals.temple.edu/index.php/mundi/article/view/374 |publisher=Temple University |date=2020 |volume=1 |number=1 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Rampell |first1=Ed |title=George H.W. Bush: Dirty Tricks and Regime Change in Nuclear-Free Palau |url=https://islandtimes.org/george-bush-dirty-tricks-palau/ |access-date=15 April 2023 |work=Island Times |date=8 January 2019}}</ref> The Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (2004–2021) has been described as a client state of the United States. It existed during the War in Afghanistan (2001–2021). It was established following the US-led overthrow of the Taliban regime in 2001 and lasted until the Taliban's return to power in 2021.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The US history of collecting — and dropping — client states is grim {{!}} Responsible Statecraft |url=https://responsiblestatecraft.org/2021/08/18/the-us-history-of-collecting-and-dropping-client-states-is-grim/ |access-date=2026-04-20 |website=responsiblestatecraft.org |language=en}}</ref>

=== Imperial Japan === [[File:Manchukuo map 1939.svg|thumb|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.

* {{Flag|Azad Hind}} (1943–1945) * {{Flag|State of Burma}} (1943–1945) * {{Flagicon image|Flag of Cambodia under French protection.svg}} Kingdom of Kampuchea (1945) * China (East Hebei Autonomous Government and North Shanxi Autonomous Government)<ref>{{Cite web |title=China grapples with preserving reminders of Japanese occupation |url=https://asia.nikkei.com/Politics/International-relations/China-grapples-with-preserving-reminders-of-Japanese-occupation |access-date=2022-05-31 |website=Nikkei Asia |language=en-GB}}</ref> ** {{Flagicon image|Flag of the Great Way Municipal Government of Shanghai.svg}} Great Way Government (1937–1938) ** {{Flagicon image|Flag of the Provisional Government of the Republic of China (1939–1940).svg}} Provisional Government of the Republic of China (1937–1940) ** {{Flagicon image|Flag of the Republic of China-Nanjing (Peace, Anti-Communism, National Construction).svg}} Reorganised National Government of the Republic of China (1940–1945) * {{Flag|Joseon}} (After the First Sino-Japanese War)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Transimperial Genealogies of Korea as a Protectorate: The Egypt Model in Japan's Politics of Colonial Comparison {{!}} Cross-Currents |url=https://cross-currents.berkeley.edu/e-journal/issue-32/mizutani |access-date=2022-05-31 |website=cross-currents.berkeley.edu |archive-date=2022-03-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220317192743/https://cross-currents.berkeley.edu/e-journal/issue-32/mizutani |url-status=dead }}</ref> * {{Flag|Korean Empire}}<ref>{{Cite web|title=How Japan Took Control of Korea {{!}} HISTORY|url=https://www.history.com/.amp/news/japan-colonization-korea|access-date=2021-07-02|website=www.history.com|date=28 February 2018 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Japanese Rule Over Korea - A Liberation Day Korea History - Koryo Tours |url=https://koryogroup.com/blog/japanese-rule-over-korea-a-liberation-day-korea-history |access-date=2022-06-02 |website=koryogroup.com |date=15 August 2020 |language=en}}</ref>{{Unreliable source|date=September 2024|reason=blog|certain=yes}} (1905–1910) * {{Flagicon image|Flag_of_the_Kingdom_of_Luang_Phrabang_(1707-1893).svg}} Kingdom of Luang Phrabang (1945) * {{Flag|Manchukuo}} (1932–1945) * {{Flag|Mengjiang}} (1939–1945) * {{Flag|Second Philippine Republic}} (1943–1945) * {{Flagdeco|Vietnam|1945}} Empire of Vietnam (1945)

In 1915, the Japanese government published the Twenty-One Demands, whose last seven demands of Section 5 would've transformed the Chinese economy and government so much that China would've essentially become a client state of Japan.<ref>Arthur S. Link, ''Wilson, Volume III: The Struggle for Neutrality, 1914–1915'' (1960) pp 267–308; [https://archive.org/details/wilsonstrugglefo0003unse online].</ref> During World War II, Macau was left unoccupied by the Japanese military, unlike neighboring Hong Kong or fellow Portuguese colony Timor, yet Japanese civilian advisors were forcefully installed to patrol the city instead, thus turning it into a ''de facto'' Japanese protectorate.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Ptak |first=Roderich |date=2017 |title=Review of Wartime Macau: Under the Japanese Shadow |url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.13173/jasiahist.51.2.0328 |journal=Journal of Asian History |volume=51 |issue=2 |pages=328–333 |doi=10.13173/jasiahist.51.2.0328 |jstor=10.13173/jasiahist.51.2.0328 |issn=0021-910X|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

=== Soviet Union === {{see also|Soviet Empire|Satellite state}} 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,<ref name=DPRK>{{cite magazine| url=https://theweek.com/articles/597768/why-north-korea-betting-big-nuclear-weapons |title=Why North Korea is betting big on nuclear weapons| date=8 January 2016| last=Mizokami| first=Kyle| magazine=The Week}}</ref> North Vietnam, the Socialist Republic of 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 == {{div col|colwidth=18em}} * Associated state * Banana republic * Condominium * Dominion * Neo-colony * Protectorate * Puppet state * Satellite state * Self-governing colony * Strategic autonomy * Suzerainty * Tributary state * Vassal state {{div col end}}

== References == {{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Client State}} Category:Client states Category:Sovereignty Category:Geopolitical terminology Category:Types of countries