Puppet ruler

Puppet ruler
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. A figurehead monarch, as source of legitimacy and possibly divine reign, has been the used form of government in several situations and places of history.
There are two basic forms of using puppets as monarchs (rulers, kings, emperors): a figurehead in which the monarch is a puppet of another person or a group in the country who rules instead of the nominal ruler; and a puppet government under a foreign power. Examples of the first type are the Emperors who were the puppets of the shōguns of Japan and the kings who were the puppets of the Mayor of Palace in the Frankish kingdom. Client kingdoms under the Roman Republic and Roman Empire and the British Empire's colonial relationship with King Farouk of Egypt in the 1950s are examples of the second type.
List of puppet kings and queens
Classical antiquity
Qin Er Shi, Emperor of China's Qin Empire – dominated by his eunuch Zhao Gao
Emperor Xian of Han of China – dominated by the warlord Dong Zhuo, his successors Li Jue and Guo Si, and finally the Wei Kingdom founded by Cao Pi before being forced to abdicate
Philip II Philoromaeus of the last Seleucid, King of Syria – ruled as client king for the Roman Republic and Pompey
Late antiquity
Leo I the Thracian, Roman emperor appointed by Aspar, but broke free
Libius Severus, second Roman emperor appointed by Ricimer
Olybrius, third Roman emperor appointed by Ricimer
Glycerius, Roman emperor appointed by Ricimer's nephew, Gundobad
Romulus Augustulus, Roman emperor appointed by his general father, Orestes
Post-classical period
Ecgberht I of Northumbria puppet ruler for the Danes
Baldwin I, Latin Emperor – installed to rule the Latin Empire by the Republic of Venice after the Fourth Crusade
John, King of England – nominally ruled as a vassal for Pope Innocent III after 1213
John Balliol of Scotland – puppet king for King Edward I of England
Musa, a puppet Ilkhan ruler in Mongol Persia
Henry VI Lancaster of England – largely dominated by advisors such as Queen Margaret of Anjou and William de la Pole, 1st Duke of Suffolk
Early modern period
John Sigismund Zápolya, Ottoman puppet king of Hungary contesting Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand I of Hapsburg's claim to the throne
Manco Inca, Sapa Inca of Tawantinsuyu – installed by the Spanish Empire, later revolted and founded the Neo-Inca State
Simeon Bekbulatovich Russian Tsar – ruled for one year as Puppet monarch of Ivan the Terrible
Moctezuma II, Tlatoani (Emperor) of Tenochtitlan and Aztec Triple Empire
Joseph Nasi, an Ottomans puppet manger as Duchy of Naxos
Napoleonic era
Elisa Bonaparte, Italian ruler as Grand Duchess of Tuscany and Princess of Lucca
Louis Bonaparte of the Kingdom of Holland
Jérôme Bonaparte, of Kingdom of Westphalia created from territories of Prussia and the former Holy Roman Empire (present-day cultural Germany) after the Battle of Jena-Auerstedt
Joseph Bonaparte, of Napoleonic Spain during the Peninsular War and of the Neapolitan Kingdom after the French invasion of Naples
Elector and later King, Frederick Augustus I of Saxony, appointed as Napoleonic Duke of Warsaw (present-day Poland, Belarus, and Lithuania)
Late modern period
Rulers of the princely states of India under paramountcy of the British East India Company and later the British Raj
Hussein Shah of Johor – proclaimed Sultan of Johor by the British Empire during the succession crisis of the Johor Sultanate.
Mubarak al-Sabah – signed an agreement with the British Empire to make the Sheikhdom of Kuwait a British protectorate
Pedro V of Kongo – ruled the Kingdom of Kongo (modern-day Angola, Gabon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the Republic of the Congo) as a client king for the Portuguese Empire
Gungunhana – Portuguese client ruler of the Gaza Empire, exiled after unsuccessful rebellion against Portuguese rule.
Osman Mahamuud – client king of the Majeerteen Sultanate (modern-day Puntland) for the Italian Empire
Muhammad Rahim Bahadur II and Isfandiyar Jurji Bahadur – Russian client rulers of the Khanate of Khiva
Emperor Gojong and Sunjong of Korea – ruled as puppets of the Japanese Empire after the Russo-Japanese War
Aimone of Savoy, King of Croatia – appointed by Fascist Italy after the Axis invasion of Yugoslavia as figurehead for Ante Pavelić's Ustaše regime
Aisin-Gioro Puyi, Emperor of Manchukuo – former Emperor of China appointed to lead Japan's puppet state of Manchukuo
Bảo Đại, Emperor of Vietnam – emperor of the French protectorate of Annam and Japanese-occupied Vietnam, later chief of state of South Vietnam
Sisavang Vong, King of Luang Phrabang – client king of the French protectorate of Laos
Tashi Namgyal and Palden Thondup Namgyal – ruled Sikkim as protectorate of India after 1950.
Sisowath Monivong, of Cambodia – king of the French protectorate of Cambodia
Puppet governments
A puppet does not have to be a national ruler, or even a person. For example, Oscar K. Allen was widely recognized to be Huey Long's puppet while serving as governor of Louisiana. The government of Manchukuo was controlled by the Japanese government.
Some critics and members of the media claimed that former President George W. Bush was a puppet of his vice president, Dick Cheney. 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.
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 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
Government
Politics