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Protectorate

Concept in international relations

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  • 4 chapters

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Through State (polity), Self-governance and Treaty

A protectorate is different from a colony, insofar as it retains, at least on paper, self-governance and legal identity as a separate state, is not directly possessed, and rarely experiences colonization by the suzerain state. A state that is under the protection of another state while retaining its international legal personality and some independent foreign policy is sometimes called a "protected state" as distinct from a true protectorate, which has no foreign policy of its own save its alliance with its protector; a "protected state" in this sense typically has a greater degree of independence.

History

Protectorates are one of the oldest features of international relations, dating back to classical antiquity. The Delian League, Classical Athens's empire, operated as a network of poleis, internally self-governing but surrendering their foreign policy to Athens. Likewise, the Roman Republic had an extensive network of protectorates, known as socii, which provided up to 60% of the Republic's manpower.

In the Middle Ages, Andorra was a protectorate of France and Spain. The modern understanding of protected states developed during the Napoleonic Wars, when the French Empire set up numerous protectorates across Europe, including Confederation of the Rhine, the Kingdoms of Italy, Spain, Etruria, and Holland, the Duchy of Warsaw, and puppet republics in Switzerland and (ephemerally) Ireland.

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