Puppet state
A puppet state is a country that is officially independent but is not so in practice. Puppet governments are usually kept in power by military force provided by an occupying country and are strongly controlled. Puppet states are generally not internationally recognized by most countries, except by the countries which control them and by a few other countries.
It is a biased term and is used in criticizing the government of the alleged puppet state.
See also
Puppet State Media
First French Empire and French satellite states in 1812
Map of the British Indian Empire. The princely states are in yellow.
Location of Manchukuo (red) within Imperial Japan's sphere of influence
Wang Jingwei receiving German diplomats while head of state in 1941
German-occupied Europe at the height of the Axis conquests in 1942
The greatest extent of the territory which the Soviet Union politically, economically and militarily dominated as of 1959–1960, after the Cuban Revolution but before the official 1961 Sino-Soviet split [total area: about 34,375,000 square kilometres (13,272,000 sq mi)]
Map of bantustans in South West Africa (present-day Namibia) as of 1978
Abkhazian President Alexander Ankvab with Transnistrian President Yevgeny Shevchuk in 2013. Both Abkhazia and Transnistria have been described as puppet states of Russia.
1=* Southern Transitional Council supported by the UAE* Internationally-recognized Government of Yemen based in Saudi Arabia* Houthi-led Supreme Political Council supported by Iran* Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and AQ-affiliated Ansar al-Sharia