Protectorate
A protectorate, in the context of international relations, is a state that is under protection by another state for defence against aggression and other violations of law.[1] It is a dependent territory that enjoys autonomy over most of its internal affairs, while still recognizing the suzerainty of a more powerful sovereign state without being a possession.[2][3][4] In exchange, the protectorate usually accepts specified obligations depending on the terms of their arrangement.[4] Usually protectorates are established de jure by a treaty.[2][3] Under certain conditions—as with Egypt under British rule (1882–1914)—a state can also be labelled as a de facto protectorate or a veiled protectorate.[5][6][7]
For the 17th-century British protectorate, see The Protectorate.A protectorate is different from a colony as it has local rulers, is not directly possessed, and rarely experiences colonization by the suzerain state.[8][9] A state that is under the protection of another state while retaining its "international personality" is called a "protected state", not a protectorate.[10][a]
History[edit]
Protectorates are one of the oldest features of international relations, dating back to the Roman Empire. Civitates foederatae were cities that were subordinate to Rome for their foreign relations. In the Middle Ages, Andorra was a protectorate of France and Spain. Modern protectorate concepts were devised in the nineteenth century.[11]
Typology[edit]
Foreign relations[edit]
In practice, a protectorate often has direct foreign relations only with the protector state, and transfers the management of all its more important international affairs to the latter.[12][4][2][3] 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 their successors, United Nations Trust Territories, whose administration is supervised, in varying degrees, by the international community. A protectorate formally enters into the protection through a bilateral agreement with the protector, while international mandates are stewarded by the world community-representing body, with or without a de facto administering power.
(1815–1820)
Liga Federal
(1817–1818)
Chile
(1820–1822)
Peru
(1843–1851)
Gobierno del Cerrito
France's protectorates and protected states[edit]
Africa[edit]
"Protection" was the formal legal structure under which French colonial forces expanded in Africa between the 1830s and 1900. Almost every pre-existing state that was later part of 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 with the low-level authority figures in the French Cercles—with leaders appointed and removed by French officials.[38]
(1894–1920)
Ruanda-Urundi
Marshall Islands
The German Empire used the word Schutzgebiet, literally protectorate, for all of its colonial possessions until they were lost during World War I, regardless of the actual level of government control. Cases involving indirect rule included:
Before and during World War II, Nazi Germany designated the rump of occupied Czechoslovakia and Denmark as protectorates:
(1947–2007).
Bhutan
: 2 May 1889 Treaty of Wuchale, in the Italian language version, stated that Ethiopia was to become an Italian protectorate, while the Ethiopian Amharic language version merely stated that the Emperor could, if he so chose, go through Italy to conduct foreign affairs. When the differences in the versions came to light, Emperor Menelik II abrogated first the article in question (XVII), and later the whole treaty. The event culminated in the First Italo-Ethiopian War, in which Ethiopia was victorious and defended her sovereignty in 1896.
Ethiopia
: on 15 October 1912 Italian protectorate declared over Cirenaica (Cyrenaica) until 17 May 1919.
Libya
Majeerteen Sultanate
(1462–1475)
Kaffa
(1654–1764)
Cossack Hetmanate
(1804–1810)
Kingdom of Imereti
(1807–1812)
Revolutionary Serbia
(1829–1856)
Principality of Wallachia
(1873–1920)
Emirate of Bukhara
(1873–1920)
Khanate of Khiva
(1914)
Uryankhay Krai
protectorate from 27 November 1912 until 2 April 1958 (Northern zone until 7 April 1956, Southern zone (Cape Juby) until 2 April 1958).
Spanish Morocco
(1851–1899)
Sultanate of Sulu
Cossack Hetmanate
(1904–1939)
Panama
(1915–1936)
Haiti
The
and the
Septinsular Republic were federal republics of seven formerly Venetian (see Provveditore) Ionian Islands (Corfu, Cephalonia, Zante, Santa Maura, Ithaca, Cerigo, and Paxos), officially under joint protectorate of the allied Christian powers, de facto a British amical protectorate from 1815 to 1864.
United States of the Ionian Islands
(1945–1949)
