A puppet ruler is a person who has a title indicating possession of
political power, but who, in reality, is either loyal to or controlled by outside individuals or forces. Such outside power can be exercised by a foreign government, in which case the puppet ruler's domain is called a
puppet state. But the puppet ruler may also be controlled by internal forces, such as non-elected officials.
Examples
In Latin America
Governing through puppet presidents has long been a political tactic in
Latin America. Many dictators and strongmen have formally handed over power to other officials for several reasons, often in order to follow constitutional provisions for elections and term limits, to provide a civilian façade for military rule, or to be able to go into semi-retirement away from the capital city. Strongmen who sometimes governed through figureheads included
Diego Portales of
Chile,
Rafael Núñez of
Colombia
Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...
,
Tomás Guardia Gutiérrez
General Tomás Miguel Guardia Gutiérrez (December 16, 1831 – July 6, 1882) was President of Costa Rica on two occasions: from 1870 to 1876, and from 1877 to 1882.
On 27 April 1870 Tomás Guardia was one of a group of army officers who depose ...
of
Costa Rica
Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...
,
Fulgencio Batista of
Cuba,
Ulises Heureaux and
Rafael Trujillo
Rafael Leónidas Trujillo Molina ( , ; 24 October 189130 May 1961), nicknamed ''El Jefe'' (, "The Chief" or "The Boss"), was a Dominican dictator who ruled the Dominican Republic from February 1930 until his assassination in May 1961. He ser ...
of the
Dominican Republic,
Gabriel García Moreno of
Ecuador,
Raoul Cédras
Joseph Raoul Cédras (born July 9, 1949) is a Haitian former military officer who was the ''de facto'' ruler of Haiti from 1991 to 1994.
Background
A mulatto, Cédras was educated in the United States and was a member of the U.S.-trained ''Leop ...
of
Haiti
Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and ...
,
Porfirio Díaz
José de la Cruz Porfirio Díaz Mori ( or ; ; 15 September 1830 – 2 July 1915), known as Porfirio Díaz, was a Mexican general and politician who served seven terms as President of Mexico, a total of 31 years, from 28 November 1876 to 6 Decem ...
and
Plutarco Elías Calles of
Mexico, the
Somoza family of
Nicaragua,
José Antonio Remón Cantera,
Omar Torrijos and
Manuel Noriega of
Panama,
Dési Bouterse of
Suriname
Suriname (; srn, Sranankondre or ), officially the Republic of Suriname ( nl, Republiek Suriname , srn, Ripolik fu Sranan), is a country on the northeastern Atlantic coast of South America. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north ...
, and
Antonio Guzmán Blanco and
Juan Vicente Gómez of
Venezuela. While figureheads who decided to act autonomously were often dismissed, on rare occasions the "puppets" later became significant political figures in their own right. For example,
Lázaro Cárdenas
Lázaro Cárdenas del Río (; 21 May 1895 – 19 October 1970) was a Mexican army officer and politician who served as president of Mexico from 1934 to 1940.
Born in Jiquilpan, Michoacán, to a working-class family, Cárdenas joined the M ...
turned against and exiled Calles to the United States and
Joaquín Balaguer
Joaquín Antonio Balaguer Ricardo (1 September 1906 – 14 July 2002) was a Dominican politician, scholar, writer, and lawyer. He was President of the Dominican Republic serving three non-consecutive terms for that office from 1960 to 1962 ...
was elected to the Dominican presidency six times after the assassination of Trujillo.
In the United States
A puppet does not have to be a national ruler. For example,
Oscar K. Allen
Oscar Kelly Allen Sr. (August 8, 1882 – January 28, 1936), also known as O. K. Allen, was the List of Governors of Louisiana, 42nd Governor of Louisiana from 1932 to 1936.
Allen succeeded Alvin Olin King, who served briefly in the state's h ...
was widely recognized to be
Huey Long's puppet while serving as governor of
Louisiana.
Some critics and members of the media claimed that former President
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...
was a puppet of his
vice president,
Dick Cheney
Richard Bruce Cheney ( ; born January 30, 1941) is an American politician and businessman who served as the 46th vice president of the United States from 2001 to 2009 under President George W. Bush. He is currently the oldest living former U ...
. Shortly after Bush was elected in 2000, for example,
Saturday Night Live ran a skit where Bush, played by
Will Ferrell, laments that "Cheney's going to be one tough boss." However, these claims have likely been inflated. While Cheney had a strong influence on Bush and may have, at times, manipulated him, Cheney likely can not be considered a true puppet ruler.
Elsewhere
In
the years before and during
World War II,
Puyi, the deposed
Emperor of China, is usually considered to have been the
puppet ruler of Manchukuo
Manchukuo, officially the State of Manchuria prior to 1934 and the Empire of (Great) Manchuria after 1934, was a puppet state of the Empire of Japan in Northeast China, Manchuria from 1932 until 1945. It was founded as a republic in 1932 afte ...
, a
client state of the
Empire of Japan on the Chinese mainland.
Current (as of 2021)
Prime Minister of Serbia Ana Brnabić, cited by political scientist Krzysztof Zuba as an example of a head of government with extensive political dependence on a leader of the governing party,
has been described by opposition leaders and some observers as a puppet for
President Aleksandar Vučić, whose office is
constitutionally
A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed.
When these princip ...
ceremonial with no significant executive power.
Brnabić never denied this, and even said that Vučić should act as a "mentor" of the prime minister.
References
{{reflist
Government
Politics