Satellite state

From Freepedia

Satellite state is a political term that refers to a country which is formally independent but which is primarily subject to the domination of another, larger power. The term has been coined by analogy to stellar objects orbiting a larger object, such as planets revolving around the sun, and was initially used to refer to Central and Eastern European countries of the Warsaw Pact during the Cold War. It implied that the countries in question were "satellites" under the hegemony of the Soviet Union. Other countries in the Soviet sphere of influence during the Cold War - such as North Korea (especially in the decades surrounding the Korean War) and Fidel Castro's Cuba (particularly after joining the Comecon) - were sometimes also labeled as satellite states.

Relationship to "puppet state"

The term "satellite state" is often seen as close in meaning, or even synonymous, with other terms such as "puppet state", which typically have a much more pejorative connotation. In some contexts, though, "puppet state" denotes a government completely dependent on a larger power, in contrast to a satellite state which, in various aspects, including economics, has a slightly greater degree of formal independence. However, the precise relationship between the two terms is not always clear; in many instances the practical meaning of the two cannot be distinguished.

The phrase "puppet state" is used frequently to connote the dependence of small nations to a larger power, especially implying that without necessary support of the larger power the "puppet state" would simply collapse. It was thus a reciprocal effect of the Cold War that the United States was said to hold many "puppets" - countries with U.S.-supported anti-communist, authoritarian governments such as El Salvador, South Korea and Taiwan. Similarly, other contemporary great powers such as Nazi Germany, Imperial Japan, and many long-gone empires are sometimes said to have acquired or ruled satellites, but the term "puppet states" is more commonly found.

See also

• Imperialism
• Finlandization
• 1956 Hungarian Revolution
• Prague Spring
• Brezhnev Doctrine
• Sinatra Doctrine
• Puppet state
• Buffer state