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Puppet state

State controlled by an external power

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Characteristics

Puppet states are "endowed with the outward symbols of authority", such as a name, flag, anthem, constitution, law codes, motto, and government, but in reality, are appendages of another state which creates, sponsors or otherwise controls the puppet government. International law does not recognise occupied puppet states as legitimate.

Puppet states can cease to be puppets through:

  • military defeat of the "master" state (as in Europe and Asia in 1945),
  • absorption into the master state (as in the early Soviet Union),
  • achievement of independence

James Crawford states that a “puppet” regime can be generally identified based on the circumstances of its creation and the degree of foreign control over it. A presumption may apply when a regime is established through belligerent occupation, illegal intervention, or the threat or use of force; otherwise, puppet status is determined by facts such as whether it was unlawfully imposed, rejected by most of the population, controlled or directed by a foreign power in important matters, or staffed by nationals of that foreign power. Crawford goes on to state that the existence of ordinary administrative officials or a formal government does not necessarily change this characterization. When a regime is considered a puppet, its acts are generally treated as legally void with respect to the previously effective state, unless they are actually acts of the occupying power or are later ratified by a legitimate effective government.

Franz Michael viewed that a foreign government's use of a puppet government "as a method of violating the international status" of a specific state is "perhaps less shocking" to the public eye than total annexation. Puppet governments thus can be used more easily to "develop and extend" the prospects offered by military occupation. Michael viewed this as a "problem" in international relations.

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