A protectorate, in the context of international relations, is a state or dependent territory that foregoes an independent foreign policy and often defence in favour of treaty with a protecting power, in order to ensure its defence against regional aggressors. It is a dependent territory that enjoys self government over most of its internal affairs, while still recognizing the suzerainty of a more powerful sovereign state without being a possession. In exchange, the protectorate accepts treaty obligations which bind it to the protecting power in foreign policy. Protectorates are established formally by a treaty between the powers involved. 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.
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.
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. 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
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.: "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."
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. Conditions of protection are generally less generous for areas of colonial protection, but were also much more flexible arrangements. However, protectorates in the modern period were often reduced to a condition similar to a state colony, but with the pre-existing native state continuing as an agent of indirect rule. Occasionally, a protectorate, and indeed colonies, during this time had been established by another form of indirect rule: a chartered company, which becomes a corporate trading entity in its home state (yet geographically overseas), yet allowed to be an independent political actor, with its own foreign policy, and generally its own armed forces, and enabled to participate in local politics and affairs. This had the advantage of the ability to establish a new subordinated state by private company authority, which brought little cost to the state and could then be brought under the home state's authority after such a chartered company's abolition.
In fact, protectorates were often declared despite no agreement being duly entered into by the state supposedly being protected, but some were agreed to by a protectorate's native institutional authority (which was often absolutist or autocratic in its headship) that was in legitimate power within those states. Protecting powers frequently decided to rearrange several protectorates into new, artificial unified states without consulting the protectorates native headship or being mindful of the theoretical duty of a protector to help maintain a protectorate's status and integrity. The Berlin agreement of 26 February 1885, allowed colonial powers of the time to establish protectorates in Sub-Saharan Africa (the last region to be divided among them) by mere diplomatic notification, even without actual possession of the territory 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 a union—convenient only for the colonizer or protector—of adjacent territories, over which it held () regional influence by protective or "raw" power.
Amical protection In an amical protection—as in the UK's previous relationship with the United States of the Ionian Islands from 1815 to 1864—the terms are often very favourable for the protectorate. Frequently established in the Early-Mid Modern period, the political interest of the protector was typically a moral one (as rather a matter of culturally accepted moral obligation, prestige, ideology, internal popularity, or of dynastic, historical, or ethnocultural ties). The protector's interest could also be 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 affairs of state but may not have constituted any practical sacrifice, as the protectorate may not have been able to have a similar use of them without the protector's power.
The great powers frequently extended amical protection 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 to other, much weaker states.
In post-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".
List of protectorates
Argentina Liga Federal (1815–1820) República de Tucumán (1820–1821) Perú (1820–1822)
Brazil Imperial protectorates
Uruguay (1851–1870) Paraguay (1869–1876)
Republican protectorates
Independent State of Acre (1903)
British Empire
List of former British protectorates
Americas
Arab world
Asia
Europe
Sub-Saharan Africa
Oceania
List of former British protected states
China
Han dynasty: Protectorate of the Western Regions Tang dynasty: Beiting Protectorate Protectorate General to Pacify the West Protectorate General to Pacify the North Protectorate General to Pacify the East Protectorate General to Pacify the South Song dynasty Longyou Protectorate Yuan dynasty: Goryeo (1270–1356)"A History of Korea: From Antiquity to the Present, by Michael J. Seth", p112 Qing dynasty: Tibet
Dutch Empire Various sultanates in the Dutch East Indies (present day Indonesia):
Sumatra Tarumon Kingdom (1830–1946) Langkat Sultanate (26 October 1869 – December 1945) Deli Sultanate (22 August 1862 – December 1945) Asahan Sultanate (27 September 1865 – December 1945) Bila (1864–1946) Tasik (Kota Pinang) (1865 – December 1945) Siak Sultanate (1 February 1858 – 1946) Sungai Taras (Kampong Raja) (1864–1916) Panei (1864–1946) Sultanate of Serdang (1865 – December 1945) Indragiri Sultanate (1838 – September 1945) Jambi Sultanate (1833–1899) Kuala (1886–1946) Pelalawan (1859 – November 1945) Siantar (1904–1946) Tanah Jawa (1904–1946)
Riau Archipelago Riau-Lingga (1824–1911)
Java Banten (1682–1811) Cirebon (1684–1819) Yogjakarta Sultanate (13 February 1755 – 1942) Mataram Sultanate (later Surakarta Sunanate) (26 February 1677 – 19 August 1945) Principality of Mangkunegara (24 February 1757 – 1946) Duchy of Pakualaman (22 June 1812 – 1942) Semarang (1682–1809)
Bali Klungkung (1843–1908) Badung (1843–1906) Bangli (1843–1908) Buleleng (1841–1872 and 1890–1893) Gianyar (1843–1908) Jembrana (1849–1882) Karang Asem (1843–1908) Tabanan (1843–1906)
Lombok Mataram Lombok (1843–1894) Sumbawa (1908–c. 1948) Bima (8 December 1669 – 1949) Dompu (1905–1942)
Flores and Solor Larantuka (1859–1904) Tanah Kuna Lima (1917–1924) Ndona (1917–1924) Sikka (1879–c. 1947)
Borneo Sultanate of Banjar (1826–1860) Pontianak Sultanate (16 August 1819 – 1942) Sambas Sultanate (1819–1949) Kubu (4 June 1823 – 1949) Landak (1819–c. 1949) Mempawah Kingdom (1819–1942) Sanggau Kingdom (182?–1949) Sekadau (182?–c. 1949) Simpang (1822–c. 1949) Sintang (1822–1949) Sukadana (1828–c.1949) Kota Waringin Sultanate (1824–1949) Kutai Kertanegara Sultanate (8 August 1825 – 1949) Gunung Tabur (1844–c.1945) Bulungan Sultanate (1844–c.1949) Simbaliung (1844–c. 1949) Kubu (1823–1949) Tayan (1823–c. 1949)
Celebes Gowa Sultanate (1669–1906; 1936–1949) Bone Sultanate (1669–1905) Bolaang Mongonduw (1825–c. 1949) Laiwui (1858–c. 1949) Luwu (1861–c. 1949) Soppeng (1860–c. 1949) Butung (1824–c. 1949) Siau (1680–c. 1949) Banggai (1907–c. 1949) Tallo (1668–1780) Wajo (1860–c. 1949) Tabukan (1677–c. 1949)
Ajattappareng Confederacy (1905–c. 1949) Malusetasi Rapang Swaito (union of Sawito and Alita, 1908) Sidenreng Supa
Mabbatupappeng Confederacy (1906–c. 1949) Barru Soppengriaja (union of Balusu, Kiru, Kamiri, 1906) Tanette
Mandar Confederacy (1906–c. 1949) Balangnipa Binuang Cenrana Majene Mamuju Pambauang Tapalang
Massenrempulu Confederacy (1905–c. 1949) Allah Batulapa Bontobatu Enrekang Kasa Maiwa Malua
Moluccas Ternate Sultanate (12 October 1676 – 1949) Bacan Sultanate (1667–1949) Tidore (1657–c.1949)
West Timor and Alor Amanatun (1749–c. 1949) Amanuban (1749–c. 1949) Amarasi (1749–c. 1949) Amfoan (1683–c. 1949) Beboki (1756–c. 1949) Belu (1756–c.1949) Insana (1756–c.1949) Sonbai Besar (1756–1906) Sonbai Kecil (1659–1917) Roti (Korbafo before 1928) (c. 1750–c.1949)