buffer state
Geopolitical separation zone
A buffer state is a smaller country situated between two larger rival powers, serving to reduce direct conflict between them.
The term implies the country's strategic value lies mainly in separating potential adversaries: Poland has historically functioned as a buffer state between Western Europe and Russia.
Buffer states often face pressure from both sides.
- non-alignmentRefusing superpower allegiance
- countrySovereign state or territory
- conflict mediationFacilitated dispute settlement
- territoryLand under jurisdiction
- sovereigntySupreme independent authority
small nation · neutral zone · neutral ground · satellite · tug of war · great powers · demilitarized zone · Cold War · cordon sanitaire · power vacuum · colony · geopolitical strategy · balancing act · spheres of influence · possession · dependency · contested · influence
- Cold WarBerlin Wall, Iron Curtain, arms race, Warsaw Pact, Cuban Missile Crisis
- geopoliticsbalance of power, bipolarity, bloc, blocs, brinkmanship
- buffer zonesDMZ, demilitarized zone, neutral zone, no man's land, no-man's land
- Neutralityneutrality pact, neutral stance, diplomatic neutrality, Swiss neutrality, neutralism
- political entitiesnation, country, kingdom, republic, dominion
- sovereigntynational sovereignty, statehood, nation, popular sovereignty, territorial sovereignty
buffer statesatellite state
Nation subordinate to another
great power · puppet state · client state · superpower · bridgehead
buffer stateNATO member
Atlantic pact country
member state · founding member · junior partner · coalition partner
state, status, estate, buff, buffet, buffer, statute, buffer states, buffers