puppet governments
States under masters
Puppet governments are regimes that appear sovereign but are controlled by an external power.
The term implies the government lacks genuine independence—its leaders installed or manipulated by a foreign state that pulls the strings from behind the scenes: The Nazis established puppet governments across occupied Europe.
The phrase is almost always pejorative, used to delegitimize a regime by exposing its subservience.
- satellite stateNation subordinate to another
- stoogesUnquestioning subordinates or assistants
- client stateDependent nation under patronage
- vassal stateSubordinate territory owing allegiance
- sphere of influenceZone of dominant authority
regime · marionettes · pulling strings · power behind the throne · protectorate · occupation · figureheads · subjugation · domination · occupation zone · influence · proxy · intervention · Vichy France · regime change · military administration · occupied territories · colonial legacy
- WWI Occupationmilitary occupation, German occupation, occupied territory, Belgium, France
- neocolonialismneocolonialism, debt trap, resource extraction, economic exploitation, foreign debt
- Cold WarBerlin Wall, Iron Curtain, arms race, Warsaw Pact, Cuban Missile Crisis
- Bantustanshomelands
- Republican ChinaRepublic of China, Sun Yat-sen, Chiang Kai-shek, Kuomintang, Guomindang
puppet governmentssovereign states
Autonomous governing territories
sovereign nations · neutral states · great powers · superpowers
puppet governmentsrepresentative democracies
Systems with elected officials
puppet governmentscolonial powers
Nations that colonized others
hegemon · suzerain · metropole · superpowers · great powers
puppet, government, puppets, puppetry, puppeteer, puppeteers, governments, governmental, govern