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This article is about states protected and/or dominated by a foreign power. For the republic in the British Isles governed by Lords Protector, see The Protectorate.
In international law, a protectorate is an autonomous territory that is "protected" by a stronger state or entity, called the protector, which engages to protect it (diplomatically or, if needed, militarily) against third parties, in exchange for which the protectorate usually accepts specified obligations, which may vary greatly, depending on the real nature of their relationship. A protectorate is usually effectively an autonomous territory of the protector state, or a component of an empire. A protectorate state is a state which entrusts some of its important functions to another state, however, it retains sufficient measure of sovereignty and remains a state under international law.
[edit] Rationale[edit] Amical protectionIn the case of so-called amical protection, mainly extended by the great powers to fellow Christian (generally European) states and tiny ones without significant intrinsic importance, the terms may often be very favorable for the protectorate. The political interest of the protector is often moral (a matter of image, prestige, ideology, internal popularity, dynastic, historical or ethno-cultural ties, etc.), and/or countering a rival or enemy power (e.g. preventing the Ottoman Empire from maintaining or obtaining control of areas of strategic importance). This may involves a very weak protectorate surrendering control of its external relations, which may not constitute any real sacrifice, since the protectorate may not have been able to have similar use of them without the protector's strength. [edit] Colonial protectionConditions are often much less generous for areas of colonial protection. Here the protectorate was often reduced to a de facto condition rather similar to a colony, but using the pre-existing native state as an agent of indirect rule. Sometimes a protectorate was even established by and/or exercised by the other form of indirect rule: a chartered company, which truly becomes a de facto state 'in' its European home state (but geographically overseas), allowed to be an independent country which has its own foreign policy and generally its own armed forces. In fact, protectorates were declared despite not being duly entered into by pre-existent traditional states, or only by a party in its internal politics of dubious authority. Colonial protectors frequently decided on their own to reshuffle several protectorates into a new, artificial unit, a logic disrespectful of the theoretical duty of a protector to help maintain the protectorate's status and integrity. The Berlin agreement of February 26, 1895 actually stipulated that the colonial powers could declare in Black Africa (the last region to be divided among them) protectorates that could be established by diplomatic notification, even without actual possession on the ground. A similar case is the formal use of such terms as 'colony' and protectorate for an amalgamation, convenient only for the colonizer/protector, of geographically proximious territories over which it held (de facto) sway by protective or 'raw' colonial logic. [edit] Foreign relationsIn practice, a protectorate often has direct foreign relations only with the protecting power, so other states must deal with it by approaching the protector. Similarly, the protectorate rarely takes military action on its own, but relies on the protector for its defence. This is distinct from annexation, in that the protector has no formal power to control the internal affairs of the protectorate. Protectorates differ from League of Nations Mandates, and similar United Nations Trust Territories, which gave in practice similar authority to "responsible" Western powers or Japan in various areas of the non-European world over former colonial possessions (including protectorates) of the losers in World Wars I and II, since a protectorate formally enters into the protection itself, while the international mandates are imposed upon them by the world community-representing body. [edit] British and Commonwealth protectoratesIn English law, protection is an established term for the duty of a sovereign to keep the subject safe from harm, including harm done by the sovereign; the subject has a corresponding duty of allegiance and obedience. In 1775, George III declared the thirteen colonies "out of his protection" for their disobedience — almost equivalent to a declaration of war. When the British took over Cephallenia in 1809, they proclaimed that "We present ourselves to you, Inhabitants of Cephalonia, not as Invaders, with views of conquest, but as Allies who hold forth to you the advantages of British protection." When the British continued to occupy the Ionian Islands after the Napoleonic wars, they did not formally annex the islands, but described them as a protectorate. The islands were constituted by the Treaty of Paris in 1815 as the independent United States of the Ionian Islands under British protection. Other British protectorates followed. In 1894, Prime Minister William Gladstone's government officially announced that Uganda was to become a British Protectorate, where Muslim and Christian strife had attracted international attention. The British administration installed carefully selected local kings under a program of indirect rule through the local oligarchy, creating a network of British-controlled civil service. Most British protectorates were overseen by a Commissioner or a High Commissioner, rather than a Governor. British law makes a distinction between a protectorate and protected state. Constitutionally the two are of similar status where Britain provides controlled defence and external relations. However, a protectorate has an internal government established, while a protected state establishes a form of local internal self-government based on the already existing one. Persons connected with former British protectorates, protected states, mandated or trust territories may still be British protected persons if they did not acquire the nationality of their country at independence. Other cases include: [edit] Americas
[edit] Arab World
[edit] South and South East Asia
[edit] Subsaharan Africa
[edit] Oceania
[edit] Dutch
[edit] GermanThe German Empire (Second Reich) used the word "Schutzgebiet", literally protectorate, for its true colonies as well until they were lost during World War I. Cases involving indirect rule included; In the Pacific:
In Africa:
Besides these colonial uses, within Europe the Nazi Third Reich established:
[edit] French protectorates
[edit] Asia
[edit] Arab World and Madagascar
[edit] Sub-saharan AfricaThe legal regime of "protecton" was the formal legal structure under which French colonial forces expanded in Africa between the 1830s and 1900. Almost every pre-existing state in the area later covered by French West Africa was placed under protectorate status at some point, although direct rule gradually replaced protectorate agreements. Formal ruling structures, or fictive recreations of them, were largely retained as the lowest level authority figure in the French Cercles, with leaders appointed and removed by French officials. [1]
[edit] Oceania
[edit] ItalianIn Europe:
In the colonial empire:
[edit] Japanese
[edit] Russian
[edit] Spanish
[edit] Joint protectorates
[edit] United Nations
[edit] Contemporary usage by the United StatesSome agencies of the United States government, such as the United States Environmental Protection Agency, still use the term protectorate to refer to insular areas of the United States such as Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, as were the Philippines and (it can be argued via the Platt Amendment) Cuba at the end of Spanish colonial rule. However, the agency responsible for the administration of those areas, the Office of Insular Affairs (OIA) within the United States Department of Interior exclusively uses the term "insular area" rather than protectorate. [edit] Sources and references
[edit] Footnotes
[edit] See also
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