Puppet state
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A puppet state is a state[1] [2] [3] that is nominally independent, but in reality, under the control of another power.[4] "Puppet state" is a term of political criticism, used to denigrate a current government which is perceived as unduly dependent upon an outside power. It implies that government's lack of legitimacy, in the view of those using the term. The term is closely associated with the state of Manchukuo, established under Japanese auspices in Manchuria in 1932. Although the term might reasonably be used to describe a significant number of states in the past, only Manchukuo is routinely designated as a "puppet state". In fact many puppet states (notably Panama, Cuba (both created under US auspices), Croatia and Slovakia (under Nazi Germany domination) and even, in some ways, Manchukuo (under the Japanese), have depended on the mobilization of unrequited national aspirations. The term has two distinct but related meanings.[citation needed] First, it refers to a state whose government depends on a foreign power for its existence and which closely follows the will of that foreign power in key policy issues; sometimes economic, sometimes strategic. Such a government is also known as a puppet régime. In this respect, "puppet state" is one of many terms that describe the subordination of one state to another in the international system. Second, the term refers to a state that has been created by the intervention of an external power in territory under the sovereignty of another state. In this respect, a puppet state is a secessionist state enabled and supported by an external power. Under these definitions[citation needed], a puppet state either lacks democratic legitimacy (because its policies are determined elsewhere) or it lacks sovereign legality (because it was created in breach of the rules of sovereign succession). For these reason, the term "puppet state" can be useful if applied only in the modern world, that is, the world in which states are presumed to be a reflection of the will of their people, and in which war has been outlawed as means of formal territorial acquisition. For subordinate relations in pre-modern times, the terms vassal state and tributary state are preferable. The concept of a "puppet state" implies some deliberate attempt to deceive.[citation needed] Either the citizens of the alleged puppet state or the international community are assumed to be deceived into believing that the puppet state is really independent when it is not. This presumption of deception makes the term a partisan one, prone to semantic disputes. Each side believes that it sees a reality which the other side cannot, or refuses to, see. The two main difficulties in deciding whether a particular regime constitutes a puppet state are (a) the difficulty of observing the process by which the external power transmits its will to the puppet and (b) the fact that those who act as puppets may see themselves sincerely as following their national interest. See also client state, satellite state and protectorate. The first puppet statesThe first puppet state, in the sense of a state which claimed popular legitimacy but which was significantly dependent on an external power, was the Batavian Republic, established in the Netherlands under French revolutionary protection. The first puppet states, in the sense of new states whose creation was made possible by the intervention of a foreign power, were the Italian republics created in the late 18th and early 19th centuries with the assistance and encouragement of Napoleonic France. See French client republics. Cuba and Panama separated from the sovereign power (respectively Spain and Colombia) by United States intervention were examples of states which began as puppets doing the will of an intervening hegemon but which developed into truly independent states. In 1895, Japan detached Korea from its tributary relationship with China, giving it formal independence which was in reality only a prelude to Japanese annexation. Other entities sometimes considered puppet states are:
Puppet states of Imperial JapanDuring Japan's imperial period, and particularly during the Pacific War (parts of which are considered the Pacific theatre of World War II), Japan established a number of states that historians have come to consider puppet régimes. See also Axis powers of World War II Ick Nominally sovereign states
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