Government-in-exile · Lablypedia

Governments-in-exile tend to occur during wartime occupation or in the aftermath of a civil war, revolution, or military coup. For example, during German expansion and advance in World War II, some European governments sought refuge in the United Kingdom, rather than face destruction at the hands of Nazi Germany. On the other hand, the Provisional Government of Free India proclaimed by Subhas Chandra Bose sought to use support from the invading Japanese to gain control of the country from British occupiers, and in the final year of WWII, after Nazi Germany was driven out of France, it maintained the remnants of the Nazi-sympathising Vichy government as a French government in exile at the Sigmaringen enclave.

A government in exile may also form from widespread belief in the illegitimacy of a ruling government. Due to the outbreak of the Syrian Civil War in 2011, for instance, the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces was formed by groups whose members sought to end the rule of the ruling Ba'ath Party.

The governments-in-exile may have little or no recognition from other states. The effectiveness of a government in exile depends primarily on the amount of support it receives, either from foreign governments or from the population of its own country. Some exiled governments come to develop into a formidable force, posing a serious challenge to the incumbent regime of the country, while others are maintained chiefly as a symbolic gesture.

Governments in exile predate the formal use of the term. In periods of monarchical government, exiled monarchs or dynasties sometimes set up exile courts, as the House of Stuart did when driven from their throne by Oliver Cromwell and again at the Glorious Revolution (see James Francis Edward Stuart § Court-in-exile). The House of Bourbon would be another example because it continued to be recognised by other countries at the time as the legitimate government of France after it was overthrown by the populace during the French Revolution. This continued through the rule of Napoleon Bonaparte and the Napoleonic Wars from 1803–04 to 1815. With the spread of constitutional monarchy, monarchical governments which were exiled started to include a prime minister, such as the Dutch government during World War II headed by Pieter Sjoerds Gerbrandy.

The capital of a government-in-exile is known as a capital-in-exile, located outside the government's proclaimed territory. This differs from a temporary capital, which is located somewhere inside the government's controlled territory.

Current governments-in-exile

Current governments regarded by some as a "government-in-exile"

These governments once controlled all or most of their claimed territory, but continue to control a smaller part of it while also continuing to claim legitimate authority of the entire territory they once fully controlled.

Deposed governments-in-exile

Deposed governments of current states

These governments-in-exile were founded by deposed governments or rulers who continue to claim legitimate authority of the state they once controlled.

Deposed governments of de facto states

These governments in exile were founded by deposed governments or rulers who continue to claim legitimate authority of the state they once controlled, even if their claimed territory is now controlled by another country.

Deposed governments of subnational territories

These governments in exile claim legitimacy of autonomous territories of another state and have been founded by deposed or inactive governments or rulers, who do not claim independence as a separate state.

Alternative governments in exile

Alternative governments of current states

These governments have been founded in exile by political organisations and opposition parties, aspire to become actual governing authorities or claim to be legal successors to previously deposed or inactive governments, and have been founded as alternatives to incumbent governments.

Alternative separatist governments of current subnational territories

These governments have been founded in exile by political organisations, opposition parties, and separatist movements, and desire to become the governing authorities of their territories as independent states, or claim to be the successor to previously deposed or inactive governments, and have been founded as alternatives to incumbent governments.

Exiled governments of non-self-governing or occupied territories

These governments-in-exile are governments of non-self-governing or occupied territories. They claim legitimate authority over a territory they once controlled, or claim legitimacy of a post-decolonisation authority. The claim may stem from an exiled group's election as a legitimate government.

The United Nations recognises the right of self-determination for the population of these territories, including the possibility of establishing independent sovereign states.

2 more chapters are free with a Lably account.

Former governments in exile

World War II

Many countries established a government in exile after loss of sovereignty in connection with World War II.

Governments in London

A large number of European governments-in-exile were set up in London.

Other exiled leaders in Britain in this time included King Zog of Albania and Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia.

Occupied Denmark did not establish a government in exile, although there was an Association of Free Danes established in London. The government remained in Denmark and functioned with relative independence until August 1943 when it was dissolved, placing Denmark under full German occupation. Meanwhile, Iceland, Greenland and the Faroe Islands were occupied by the Allies and effectively separated from the Danish crown. (See British occupation of the Faroe Islands, Iceland during World War II, and History of Greenland during World War II.)

Governments-in-exile in Asia

The Philippine Commonwealth (invaded 9 December 1941) established a government in exile, initially located in Australia and later in the United States. Earlier, in 1897, the Hong Kong Junta was established as a government in exile by the Philippine revolutionary Republic of Biak-na-Bato.

While formed long before World War II, the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea continued in exile in China until the end of the war.

At the fall of Java, and the surrender by the Dutch on behalf of Allied forces on 8 March 1942, many Dutch-Indies officials (including Dr van Mook and Dr Charles van der Plas) managed to flee to Australia in March 1942, and on 23 December 1943, the Royal Government (Dutch) decreed an official Netherlands East Indies government-in-exile, with Dr van Mook as Acting Governor General, on Australian soil until Dutch rule was restored in the Indies.

Axis-aligned governments in exile

In the later stages of World War II, with the German Army increasingly pushed back and expelled from various countries, Axis-aligned groups from some countries set up "governments-in-exile" under the auspices of the Axis powers, in the remaining Axis territory - even though internationally recognised governments were in place in their home countries. The main purpose of these was to recruit and organise military units composed of their nationals in the host country.

Persian Gulf War

Following the Ba'athist Iraqi invasion and occupation of Kuwait, during the Persian Gulf War, on 2 August 1990, Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah and senior members of his government fled to Saudi Arabia, where they set up a government-in-exile in Ta'if. The Kuwaiti government in exile was far more affluent than most other such governments, having full disposal of the very considerable Kuwaiti assets in western banks—of which it made use to conduct a massive propaganda campaign denouncing the Ba'athist Iraqi occupation and mobilising public opinion in the Western world in favor of war with Ba'athist Iraq. In March 1991, following the defeat of Ba'athist Iraq at the hands of coalition forces in the Persian Gulf War, the Sheikh and his government were able to return to Kuwait.

Municipal councils in exile

Following the Turkish Invasion of Cyprus in 1974 and the displacement of many Greek Cypriots from North Cyprus, displaced inhabitants of several towns set up what are in effect municipal councils in exile, headed by mayors in exile. The idea is the same as with a national government in exile—to assert a continuation of legitimate rule, even though having no control of the ground, and working towards restoration of such control. Meetings of the exiled Municipal Council of Lapithos took place in the homes of its members until the Exile Municipality was offered temporary offices at 37 Ammochostou Street, Nicosia. The current Exile Mayor of the town is Athos Eleftheriou. The same premises are shared with the Exile Municipal Council of Kythrea.

Also in the Famagusta District of Cyprus, the administration of the part retained by the Republic of Cyprus, based in Paralimni, considers itself as a "District administration in exile", since the district's capital Famagusta had been under Turkish control since 1974.

Administrative divisions of Ukraine in exile

During the Russo-Ukrainian War, after the Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation in March 2014, following a disputed status referendum, the Ukrainian governments of both the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the City of Sevastopol moved to nearby Kherson in the Kherson Oblast, where they were based until the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. After the Russian occupation of Kherson Oblast, the governments are now operating remotely in Ukraine.

Due to the Russo-Ukrainian War, the capital of Luhansk Oblast was de facto moved from Luhansk to Sievierodonetsk in 2014 while the capital of Donetsk Oblast was de facto moved from Donetsk to Mariupol in June 2014, then to Kramatorsk in October 2014, where it currently is. As of the fall of Sievierodonetsk in June 2022, the government of Luhansk Oblast is operating remotely in Ukraine.

Fictional governments-in-exile

Works of alternate history as well as science fictional depictions of the future sometimes include fictional governments-in-exile.

In Len Deighton's SS-GB, the UK is defeated in World War II and occupied by Germany. The story features a British government-in-exile in Washington, D.C.
In If Israel Lost the War by Robert Littell, Richard Z. Chesnoff and Edward Klein, Israel is defeated in the 1967 Six-Day War and its territory occupied by Arab armies. Thereupon, David Ben-Gurion and Golda Meir set up an Israeli government in exile in North America.
Algis Budrys' The Falling Torch is set in a future time when Earth was conquered and occupied by extraterrestrial humanoid invaders. Many years later, the Earth government in exile, located at a human colony planet orbiting Alpha Centauri, is holding a regular meeting in an atmosphere of dejection and futility—its hosts being indifferent to Earth's plight and unwilling to offer any real help. The exile prime minister is shown more involved with his successful career as the chef of a luxury hotel than with the seemingly non-existent hope of liberating Earth. This depiction might have drawn on the writer's actual experience as a member of the exile Lithuanian community in the 1950s US, at the time seeing little hope of shaking the Soviet hold of its homeland.
In the Hearts of Iron IV mod, Kaiserreich (which portrays an alternate history where Germany wins World War I), the former governments of France, Britain, and Italy are exiled to Algeria, Canada, and Sardinia, respectively, after syndicalist revolutionaries assume control.