Protectorate Explained

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. 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.[1] [2] [3] In exchange, the protectorate usually accepts specified obligations depending on the terms of their arrangement.[3] Usually protectorates are established de jure by a treaty.[1] [2] 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.[4] [5] [6]

A protectorate is different from a colony as it has local rulers, is not directly possessed, and rarely experiences colonization by the suzerain state.[7] [8] A state that is under the protection of another state while retaining its "international personality" is called a "protected state", not a protectorate.

History

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.

Typology

Foreign relations

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.[9] [3] [1] [2] 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 administering power.

Protected state

See also: List of countries without armed forces.

A protected state has a form of protection where it continues to retain an "international personality" and enjoys an agreed amount of independence in conducting its foreign policy.[10]

For political and pragmatic reasons, the protection relationship is not usually advertised, but described with euphemisms such as "an independent state with special treaty relations" with the protecting state. A protected state appears on world maps just as any other independent state.

International administration of a state can also be regarded as an internationalized form of protection, where the protector is an international organisation rather than a state.

Colonial protection

Multiple regions—such as the Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria, the Colony and Protectorate of Lagos, and similar—were subjects of colonial protection.[11] [12] Conditions of protection are generally much less generous for areas of colonial protection. The protectorate was often reduced to a condition similar to a colony, but with the pre-existing native state continuing as the agent of indirect rule. Occasionally, a protectorate was established by another form of indirect rule: a chartered company, which becomes a state in its European home state (but geographically overseas), allowed to be an independent country with its own foreign policy and generally its own armed forces.

In fact, protectorates were often declared despite no agreement being duly entered into by the state supposedly being protected, or only agreed to by a party of dubious authority in those states. Colonial protectors frequently decided to reshuffle several protectorates into a new, artificial unit without consulting the protectorates, without being mindful of the theoretical duty of a protector to help maintain a protectorate's status and integrity. The Berlin agreement of February 26, 1885, allowed European colonial powers to establish protectorates in Black Africa (the last region to be divided among them) by diplomatic notification, even without actual possession on the ground. This aspect of history is referred to as the Scramble for Africa. A similar case is the formal use of such terms as colony and protectorate for an amalgamation—convenient only for the colonizer or protector—of adjacent territories, over which it held sway by protective or "raw" colonial power.

Amical protection

In amical protection—as of United States of the Ionian Islands by Britain—the terms are often very favourable for the protectorate.[13] The political interest of the protector is frequently moral (a matter of accepted moral obligation, prestige, ideology, internal popularity, or dynastic, historical, or ethnocultural ties). Also, the protector's interest is in countering a rival or enemy power—such as preventing the rival from obtaining or maintaining control of areas of strategic importance. This may involve a very weak protectorate surrendering control of its external relations but may not constitute any real sacrifice, as the protectorate may not have been able to have a similar use of them without the protector's strength.

Amical protection was frequently extended by the great powers to other Christian (generally European) states, and to states of no significant importance. After 1815, non-Christian states (such as the Chinese Qing dynasty) also provided amical protection of other, much weaker states.

In modern times, a form of amical protection can be seen as an important or defining feature of microstates. According to the definition proposed by Dumienski (2014): "microstates are modern protected states, i.e. sovereign states that have been able to unilaterally depute certain attributes of sovereignty to larger powers in exchange for benign protection of their political and economic viability against their geographic or demographic constraints".[14]

Argentina's protectorates

Brazil's protectorates

British Empire's protectorates and protected states

See main article: British protectorate.

Americas

Europe

South Asia

Western Asia

Africa

*protectorates which existed alongside a colony of the same name

De facto

Oceania

East and Southeast Asia

China's protectorates

Dutch Empire's protectorates

Various sultanates in the Dutch East Indies (present day Indonesia):[21] [22] [23]

Sumatra

Java

Flores & Solor

Ajattappareng Confederacy (1905–c. 1949)

Mabbatupappeng Confederacy (1906–c. 1949)

Mandar Confederacy (1906–c. 1949)

Massenrempulu Confederacy (1905–c. 1949)

West Timor & Alor

France's protectorates and protected states

Africa

"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.[24]

Americas

Asia

Europe

Oceania

Germany's protectorates and protected states

See also: List of former German colonies. The German Empire used the word German: 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:

India's protectorates

Italy's protectorates and protected states

Japan's protectorates

Poland's protectorates

Portugal's protectorates

Russia's and the Soviet Union's protectorates and protected states

De facto

See also: Russian-occupied territories. Some sources mention the following territories as de facto Russian protectorates:

Spain's protectorates

Turkey's and the Ottoman Empire's protectorates and protected states

See main article: Vassal and tributary states of the Ottoman Empire.

De facto

United Nations' protectorates

United States' protectorates and protected states

After becoming independent nations in 1902 and 1903 respectively, Cuba and Panama became protectorates of the United States. In 1903, Cuba and the U.S. signed the Cuban–American Treaty of Relations, which affirmed the provisions of the Platt Amendment, including that the U.S. had the right to intervene in Cuba to preserve its independence, among other reasons (the Platt Amendment had also been integrated into the 1901 constitution of Cuba). Later that year, Panama and the U.S. signed the Hay–Bunau-Varilla Treaty, which established the Panama Canal Zone and gave the U.S. the right to intervene in the cities of Panama and Colón (and the adjacent territories and harbors) for the maintenance of public order. The 1904 constitution of Panama, in Article 136, also gave the U.S. the right to intervene in any part of Panama "to reestablish public peace and constitutional order." Haiti later also became a protectorate after the ratification of the Haitian–American Convention (which gave the U.S. the right to intervene in Haiti for a period of ten years, which was later expanded to twenty years through an additional agreement in 1917) on September 16, 1915.

The United States also attempted to establish protectorates over the Dominican Republic[39] and Nicaragua through the Bryan–Chamorro Treaty.

De facto

Contemporary usage by the United States

Some agencies of the United States government, such as the Environmental Protection Agency, refer to the District of Columbia and insular areas of the United States—such as American Samoa and the U.S. Virgin Islands—as protectorates.[43] However, the agency responsible for the administration of those areas, the Office of Insular Affairs (OIA) within the United States Department of Interior, uses only the term "insular area" rather than protectorate.

Joint protectorates

See also

Bibliography

Notes and References

  1. Fuess . Albrecht . Was Cyprus a Mamluk protectorate? Mamluk policies toward Cyprus between 1426 and 1517 . Journal of Cyprus Studies . 1 January 2005 . 11 . 28–29 . 11–29 . 1303-2925. 24 October 2020 . en.
  2. Reisman . W. . Reflections on State Responsibility for Violations of Explicit Protectorate, Mandate, and Trusteeship Obligations . Michigan Journal of International Law . 1 January 1989 . 10 . 1 . 231–240 . 24 October 2020 . 1052-2867.
  3. Bojkov . Victor D. . Democracy in Bosnia and Herzegovina: Post-1995 political system and its functioning . Southeast European Politics 4.1 . 41–67 .
  4. Leys . Colin . The British ruling class . Socialist Register . 2014 . 50 . 23 October 2020 . en . 0081-0606.
  5. Kirkwood . Patrick M. . "Lord Cromer's Shadow": Political Anglo-Saxonism and the Egyptian Protectorate as a Model in the American Philippines . Journal of World History . 21 July 2016 . 27 . 1 . 1–26 . 10.1353/jwh.2016.0085 . 148316956 . 23 October 2020 . en . 1527-8050.
  6. Rubenson . Sven . Professor Giglio, Antonelli and Article XVII of the Treaty of Wichale . The Journal of African History . 1966 . 7 . 3 . 445–457 . 10.1017/S0021853700006526 . 180113 . 162713931 . 24 October 2020 . 0021-8537.
  7. Book: Archer . Francis Bisset . The Gambia Colony and Protectorate: An Official Handbook . Psychology Press . 978-0-7146-1139-6 . 1967. en.
  8. Johnston . Alex. . The Colonization of British East Africa . Journal of the Royal African Society . 1905 . 5 . 17 . 28–37 . 715150 . 24 October 2020 . 0368-4016.
  9. Yoon . Jong-pil . Establishing expansion as a legal right: an analysis of French colonial discourse surrounding protectorate treaties . History of European Ideas . 17 August 2020 . 46 . 6 . 811–826 . 10.1080/01916599.2020.1722725 . 214425740 . 24 October 2020 . 0191-6599.
  10. "First, protected states are entities which still have substantial authority in their internal affairs, retain some control over their foreign policy, and establish their relation to the protecting state on a treaty or another legal instrument. Protected states still have qualifications of statehood."

  11. Onah . Emmanuel Ikechi . Nigeria: A Country Profile . Journal of International Studies . 9 January 2020 . 10 . 151–162 . 10.32890/jis.10.2014.7954 . 226175755 . 21 September 2021 . en . 2289-666X. free .
  12. Moloney . Alfred . Notes on Yoruba and the Colony and Protectorate of Lagos, West Africa . Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society and Monthly Record of Geography . 1890 . 12 . 10 . 596–614 . 10.2307/1801424 . 1801424 . 21 September 2021 . 0266-626X.
  13. Αλιβιζάτου . Αικατερίνη . Use of GIS in analyzing archaeological sites: the case study of Mycenaean Cephalonia, Greece . 12 March 2019 . . en . 2 July 2022.
  14. Dumieński . Zbigniew . Microstates as Modern Protected States: Towards a New Definition of Micro-Statehood . 2014 . https://web.archive.org/web/20140714195156/https://ams.hi.is/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Microstates_OccasionalPaper.pdf . Centre for Small State Studies . Occasional Paper . 14 July 2014 . 2 July 2022.
  15. Book: Cunningham, Joseph Davy. A History of the Sikhs: From the Origin of the Nation to the Battles of the Sutlej. John Murray. 1849.
  16. Book: Meyer. The Imperial Gazetteer of India. 1908. XII. 90. Ferozepur district. But the British Government, established at Delhi since 1803, intervened with an offer of protection to all the CIS-SUTLEJ STATES; and Dhanna Singh gladly availed himself of the promised aid, being one of the first chieftains to accept British protection and control.. William Stevenson Meyer. https://dsal.uchicago.edu/reference/gazetteer/pager.html?objectid=DS405.1.I34_V12_096.gif.
  17. Web site: Timeline – Story of Independence. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20190727112628/https://maldivesindependent.com/politics/timeline-story-of-independence-115638. 2019-07-27. 2020-05-11.
  18. Web site: Francis Carey Owtram. 1999. Oman and the West: State Formation in Oman since 1920. 31 October 2020. University of London.
  19. "A History of Korea: From Antiquity to the Present, by Michael J. Seth", p112
  20. Book: Lin, Hsaio-ting . Tibet and Nationalist China's Frontier: Intrigues and Ethnopolitics, 1928–49 . 2011 . UBC Press . 978-0-7748-5988-2 . 8.
  21. Web site: Indonesian traditional polities . 2024-01-16 . rulers.org.
  22. Web site: Indonesian Traditional States part 1 . 2024-01-16 . www.worldstatesmen.org.
  23. Web site: Indonesian Traditional States Part 2 . 2024-01-17 . www.worldstatesmen.org.
  24. See the classic account on this in Robert Delavignette. Freedom and Authority in French West Africa. London: Oxford University Press, (1950). The more recent standard studies on French expansion include:
    Robert Aldrich. Greater France: A History of French Overseas Expansion. Palgrave MacMillan (1996) .
    Alice L. Conklin. A Mission to Civilize: The Republican Idea of Empire in France and West Africa 1895–1930. Stanford: Stanford University Press (1998), .
    Patrick Manning. Francophone Sub-Saharan Africa, 1880–1995. Cambridge University Press (1998) .
    Jean Suret-Canale. Afrique Noire: l'Ere Coloniale (Editions Sociales, Paris, 1971); Eng. translation, French Colonialism in Tropical Africa, 1900 1945. (New York, 1971).
  25. Book: Bedjaoui, Mohammed. International Law: Achievements and Prospects. 1 January 1991. Martinus Nijhoff Publishers. 9231027166. Google Books.
  26. Book: Capaldo, Giuliana Ziccardi. Repertory of Decisions of the International Court of Justice (1947–1992). 1 January 1995. Martinus Nijhoff Publishers. 0792329937. Google Books.
  27. C. W. Newbury. Aspects of French Policy in the Pacific, 1853–1906. The Pacific Historical Review, Vol. 27, No. 1 (Feb., 1958), pp. 45–56
  28. Gonschor. Lorenz Rudolf. Law as a Tool of Oppression and Liberation: Institutional Histories and Perspectives on Political Independence in Hawaiʻi, Tahiti Nui/French Polynesia and Rapa Nui. Honolulu. University of Hawaii at Manoa. August 2008. 10125/20375. 56–59. Thesis .
  29. Book: Gründer, Horst. Geschichte der deutschen Kolonien. 2004. Schöningh. 978-3-8252-1332-9. de.
  30. Gerrits . Andre W. M. . Bader . Max . Russian patronage over Abkhazia and South Ossetia: implications for conflict resolution . East European Politics . 2 July 2016 . 32 . 3 . 297–313 . 10.1080/21599165.2016.1166104 . 156061334 . 2159-9165. free . 1887/73992 . free .
  31. Web site: Pieńkowski . Jakub . Renewal of Negotiations on Resolving the Transnistria Conflict . 2016 . Central and Eastern European Online Library (CEEOL) . en . 3 July 2022.
  32. News: Greene . Sam . Putin's 'Passportization' Move Aimed At Keeping the Donbass Conflict on Moscow's Terms . 24 October 2020 . The Moscow Times . 26 April 2019 . en.
  33. Robinson . Paul . Russia's role in the war in Donbass, and the threat to European security . European Politics and Society . 1 October 2016 . 17 . 4 . 506–521 . 10.1080/23745118.2016.1154229 . 155529950 . 2374-5118.
  34. News: Putin's Karabakh victory sparks alarm in Ukraine . 25 April 2021 . Atlantic Council . 12 November 2020.
  35. News: Goble . Paul . Nagorno-Karabakh Now A Russian Protectorate – OpEd . 21 September 2021 . Eurasia Review . 25 November 2020.
  36. News: Socor . Vladimir . Russia's 'Peacekeeping' Operation in Karabakh: Foundation of a Russian Protectorate (Part Two) . 21 September 2021 . Jamestown.
  37. News: From the Archive 1999: Timor the defiant . The Sydney Morning Herald . 30 August 2019.
  38. News: East Timor . Human Rights Watch.
  39. Web site: Dominican Republic, 1916-1924. U.S. Department of State Archive. 20 August 2008 .
  40. Web site: Platt Amendment (1903). September 15, 2021. National Archives.
  41. Web site: Gould . Lewis L. . William McKinley: Foreign Affairs . 4 October 2016 . Miller Center.
  42. Aguilar . Filomeno V. . The Republic of Negros . Philippine Studies . 2000 . 48 . 1 . 26–52 . 42634352 . 0031-7837.
  43. News: 12 March 2020. Notice of Finding of Failure To Submit State Plans for the Municipal Solid Waste Landfills Emission Guidelines. Environmental Protection Agency.