Quasi-state

Map of the British Empire under Queen Victoria at the end of the nineteenth century. "Dominions" refers to all territories belonging to the Crown.

Maximum extent of the territory of the Islamic State (frequently described as a proto-state) in Iraq and Syria, on 21 May 2015.

A quasi-state or state-like entity, including what is termed a proto-state, is a political entity that does not represent a fully institutionalised or autonomous sovereign state.

The precise definition of quasi-state in political literature fluctuates depending on the context in which it is used. It has been used by some modern scholars to describe the self-governing British colonies and dependencies that exercised a form of home rule but remained crucial parts of the British Empire and subject firstly to the metropole's administration. Similarly, the Republics of the Soviet Union, which represented administrative units with their own respective national distinctions, have also been described as quasi-states.

In more recent usage, the term quasi-state has most often been evoked in reference to militant secessionist groups who claim, and exercise some form of territorial control over, a specific region, but which lack institutional cohesion. Such quasi-states include the Republika Srpska and Herzeg-Bosnia during the Bosnian War and Azawad during the 2012 Tuareg rebellion. The Islamic State is also widely held to be an example of a modern quasi-state or proto-state.

Contents

History

 

Tuareg rebels in the short-lived proto-state of Azawad.

The term "proto-state" has been used in reference to contexts as far back as Ancient Greece, to refer to the phenomenon that the formation of a large and cohesive nation would often be preceded by very small and loose forms of statehood. For instance, historical sociologist Gary Runciman describes the evolution of social organisation in the Greek Dark Ages from statelessness, to what he calls semistates based on patriarchal domination but lacking inherent potential to achieve the requirements for statehood, sometimes transitioning into protostates with governmental roles able to maintain themselves generationally, which could evolve into larger and more centralised entities fulfilling the requirements of statehood by 700 BC in the archaic period.

Most ancient proto-states were the product of tribal societies, consisting of relatively short-lived confederations of communities that united under a single warlord or chieftain endowed with symbolic authority and military rank. These were not considered sovereign states since they rarely achieved any degree of institutional permanence and authority was often exercised over a mobile people rather than measurable territory. Loose confederacies of this nature were the primary means of embracing a common statehood by people in many regions, such as the Central Asian steppes, throughout ancient history.

Proto-states proliferated in Western Europe during the Middle Ages, likely as a result of a trend towards political decentralisation following the collapse of the Western Roman Empire and the adoption of feudalism. While theoretically owing allegiance to a single monarch under the feudal system, many lesser nobles administered their own fiefs as miniature "states within states" that were independent of each other. This practice was especially notable with regards to large, decentralised political entities such as the Holy Roman Empire, that incorporated many autonomous and semi-autonomous proto-states.

Following the Age of Discovery, the emergence of European colonialism resulted in the formation of colonial proto-states in Asia, Africa, and the Americas. A few colonies were given the unique status of protectorates, which were effectively controlled by the metropole but retained limited ability to administer themselves, self-governing colonies, dominions, and dependencies. These were distinct administrative units that each fulfilled many of the functions of a state without actually exercising full sovereignty or independence. Colonies without a sub-national home rule status, on the other hand, were considered administrative extensions of the colonising power rather than true proto-states. Colonial proto-states later served as the basis for a number of modern nation states, particularly on the Asian and African continents.

During the twentieth century, some proto-states existed as not only distinct administrative units, but their own theoretically self-governing republics joined to each other in a political union such as the socialist federal systems observed in Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, and the Soviet Union.

 

Territory controlled by the Anti-Fascist Council of Yugoslavia, which established its own proto-state in 1942

Another form of proto-state that has become especially common since the end of World War II is established through the unconstitutional seizure of territory by an insurgent or militant group that proceeds to assume the role of a de facto government. Although denied recognition and bereft of civil institutions, insurgent proto-states may engage in external trade, provide social services, and even undertake limited diplomatic activity. These proto-states are usually formed by movements drawn from geographically concentrated ethnic or religious minorities, and are thus a common feature of inter-ethnic civil conflicts. This is often due to the inclinations of an internal cultural identity group seeking to reject the legitimacy of a sovereign state's political order, and create its own enclave where it is free to live under its own sphere of laws, social mores, and ordering. Since the 1980s a special kind of insurgent statehood has emerged in form of the "Jihadi proto-state", as the Islamist concept of statehood is extremely flexible. For instance, a Jihadi emirate can be simply understood as a territory or group ruled by an emir; accordingly, it might rule a significant area or just a neighborhood. Regardless of its extent, the assumption of statehood provides Jihadi militants with important internal legitimacy and cementes their self-identification as frontline society opposed to certain enemies.

The accumulation of territory by an insurgent force to form a sub-national geopolitical system and eventually, a proto-state, was a calculated process in China during the Chinese Civil War that set a precedent for many similar attempts throughout the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Proto-states established as a result of civil conflict typically exist in a perpetual state of warfare and their wealth and populations may be limited accordingly. One of the most prominent examples of a wartime proto-state in the twenty-first century is the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, that maintained its own administrative bureaucracy and imposed taxes.

Theoretical basis

The definition of a proto-state is not concise, and has been confused by the interchangeable use of the terms state, country, and nation to describe a given territory. The term proto-state is preferred to "proto-nation" in an academic context, however, since some authorities also use nation to denote a social, ethnic, or cultural group capable of forming its own state.

A proto-state does not meet the four essential criteria for statehood as elaborated upon in the declarative theory of statehood of the 1933 Montevideo Convention: a permanent population, a defined territory, a government with its own institutions, and the capacity to enter into relations with other states. A proto-state is not necessarily synonymous with a state with limited recognition that otherwise has all the hallmarks of a fully functioning sovereign state, such as Rhodesia or the Republic of China, also known as Taiwan. However, proto-states frequently go unrecognised since a state actor that recognises a proto-state does so in violation of another state actor's external sovereignty. If full diplomatic recognition is extended to a proto-state and embassies exchanged, it is defined as a sovereign state in its own right and may no longer be classified as a proto-state.

 

Territory of Croatia controlled by the Republic of Serbian Krajina proto-state 1991–1995.

Throughout modern history, partially autonomous regions of larger recognised states, especially those based on a historical precedent or ethnic and cultural distinctiveness that places them apart from those who dominate the state as a whole, have been considered proto-states. Home rule generates a sub-national institutional structure that may justifiably be defined as a proto-state. When a rebellion or insurrection seizes control and begins to establish some semblance of administration in regions within national territories under its effective rule, it has also metamorphosed into a proto-state. These wartime proto-states, sometimes known as insurgent states, may eventually transform the structure of a state altogether, or demarcate their own autonomous political spaces. While not a new phenomenon, the modern formation of a proto-states in territory held by a militant non-state entity was popularised by Mao Zedong during the Chinese Civil War, and the national liberation movements worldwide that adopted his military philosophies. The rise of an insurgent proto-state was sometimes also an indirect consequence of a movement adopting Che Guevara's foco theory of guerrilla warfare.

Secessionist proto-states are likeliest to form in preexisting states that lack secure boundaries, a concise and well-defined body of citizens, or a single sovereign power with a monopoly on the legitimate use of military force. They may be created as a result of putsches, insurrections, separatist political campaigns, foreign intervention, sectarian violence, civil war, and even the bloodless dissolution or division of the state.

Proto-states can be important regional players, as their existence impacts the options available to state actors, either as potential allies or as impediments to their political or economic policy articulations.

List of proto-states

Constituent proto-states

Current

Proto-state	Parent state	Achieved statehood	Since	Source
Adygea	Russia	Russian republic	1991
Åland	Finland	No	1921
Altai Republic	Russia	Russian republic	1992
Ashanti	Ghana	No	1957
Azad Kashmir	Pakistan	No	1975
Azores	Portugal	No	1816
Bashkortostan	Russia	de jure	1990
British Virgin Islands	United Kingdom	No	1960
Bougainville	Papua New Guinea	de facto	2001
Buryatia	Russia	Russian republic	1990
Canary Islands	Spain	No	1816
Catalonia	Spain	No	1978
Cayman Islands	United Kingdom	No	1962
Chechnya	Russia	de facto	1996
Chin State	Myanmar	No	1949
Christmas Island	Australia	No	1958
Chuvashia	Russia	Russian republic	1992
Cook Islands	New Zealand	de jure	1888
Corsica	France	No	1978
Curaçao	Netherlands	No	1816
Dagestan	Russia	Russian republic	1991
Easter Island	Chile	No	1944
Euskadi	Spain	No	1978
Falkland Islands	United Kingdom	No	1833
Faroe Islands	Denmark	No	1948
Flanders	Belgium	No	1970
French Polynesia	France	No	1847
Galicia	Spain	No	1978
Greenland	Denmark	No	1816
Guam	United States	No	1816
Guernsey	United Kingdom	No	1204
Indian reservations	United States	de jure	1658
Indigenous territory (Brazil)	Brazil	No	1850
Ingushetia	Russia	Russian republic	1992
Iraqi Kurdistan	Iraq	No	1991
Isle of Man	United Kingdom	No	1828
Jersey	United Kingdom	de jure	1204
Jewish Autonomous Oblast	Russia	de jure	1934
Jubaland	Somalia	No	2001
Kabardino-Balkaria	Russia	Russian republic	1992
Kachin State	Myanmar	No	1949
Kalmykia	Russia	Russian republic	1992
Karachay-Cherkessia	Russia	Russian republic	1992
Karelia	Russia	Russian republic	1991
Kayah State	Myanmar	No	1949
Kayin State	Myanmar	No	1949
Khakassia	Russia	Russian republic	1992
Komi Republic	Russia	Russian republic	1996
Madeira	Portugal	No	1816
Mari El	Russia	Russian republic	1990
Marquesas Islands	France	No	1844
Montserrat	United Kingdom	No	1632
Mon State	Myanmar	No	1949
Mordovia	Russia	Russian republic	1994
New Caledonia	France	No	1853
Noakhali	Bangladesh	No	2005
Northern Marianas	United States	No	1899
North Ossetia-Alania	Russia	No	1995
Nunavut	Canada	No	1999
Puerto Rico	United States	No	1816
Puntland	Somalia	No	1998
Quebec	Canada	No	1816
Saint Helena	United Kingdom	No	1834
Sakha Republic	Russia	Russian republic	1991
Shan State	Myanmar	No	1949
Sint Maarten	Netherlands	No	1848
South Tyrol	Italy	No	1926
Svalbard	Norway	No	1992
Tatarstan	Russia	Russian republic	1990
Temotu	Solomon Islands	No	1981
Turks and Caicos	United Kingdom	No	1973
Tuva	Russia	Russian republic	1992
Udmurtia	Russia	Russian republic	1990
United States Virgin Islands	United States	No	1816
Wallonia	Belgium	No	1970
Wa State	Myanmar	No	1989
Zanzibar	Tanzania	No	1964

Former

Proto-state	Parent state	Achieved statehood	Dates	Source
Adjara	Georgia	No	1921–2004
Aruba	Netherlands	No	1986–1995
Bophuthatswana	South Africa	De jure	1977–1994
Bosnia-Herzegovina	Yugoslavia	Yes	1943–1992
Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic	Russian SFSR,  Soviet Union	Yes	1920–1991
Ciskei	South Africa	De jure	1981–1994
Republic of Crimea	Ukraine	No	March 11–18, 2014
Croatia	Yugoslavia	Yes	1943–1991
Carpathian Ruthenia	Czechoslovakia	De facto	1919–1939
Czech Socialist Republic	Czechoslovakia	Yes	1969–1993
East Caprivi	South Africa	No	1972–1989
Finnish Socialist Workers' Republic	Finland	No	1918
Galician Ruthenians	Austria-Hungary	De facto	1848–1918
Gagauzia	Moldova	No	1991–1994
Gazankulu	South Africa	No	1971–1994
Jammu and Kashmir	India	No	1921–2019
Hereroland	South Africa	No	1970–1989
KaNgwane	South Africa	No	1972–1994
Karelian ASSR	Russian SFSR,  Soviet Union	union republic	1923–1940
Kavangoland	South Africa	No	1973–1989
KwaNdebele	South Africa	No	1981–1994
KwaZulu	South Africa	No	1981–1994
Lebowa	South Africa	No	1972–1994
Macedonia	Yugoslavia	Yes	1945–1991
Montenegro	Yugoslavia,  Serbia and Montenegro	Yes	1945–2006
Moldavian ASSR	Ukrainian SSR,  Soviet Union	union republic	1924–1940
Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic	Soviet Union	Yes	1940–1991
Ovamboland	South Africa	No	1973–1989
QwaQwa	South Africa	No	1974–1994
Russian SFSR	Soviet Union	Yes	1917–1991
Serbia	Yugoslavia,  Serbia and Montenegro	Yes	1945–2006
Singapore	Malaysia	Yes	1963–1965
Slovak Socialist Republic	Czechoslovakia	Yes	1969–1993
Slovenia	Yugoslavia	Yes	1945–1991
South West Africa (Namibia)	South Africa	Yes	1915–1990
Southern Sudan	Sudan	Yes	2005–2011
Transkei	South Africa	De jure	1976–1994
Trucial States	United Kingdom	Yes	1820–1971
Turkestan ASSR	Russian SFSR	No	1918–1924
Ukrainian People's Republic of Soviets	Russian SFSR	No	1917–1918
Ukrainian Soviet Republic	Russian SFSR	No	1918
Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic	Russian SFSR,  Soviet Union	Yes	1919–1991
Venda	South Africa	De jure	1979–1994

Secessionist, insurgent, and self-proclaimed autonomous proto-states

Current

Proto-state	Parent state	Achieved statehood	Since	Source
Abkhazia	Georgia	De facto	1992
Somaliland	Somalia	De facto	1991
Northern Cyprus	Cyprus	De facto	1974
Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan	Islamic State of Afghanistan	Yes	1994
Al-Qaeda	Mali  Somalia	De facto	2006
Al-Shabaab	Somalia	No	2009
Allied Democratic Forces	Democratic Republic of the Congo  Uganda	No	1996
Ambazonia	Cameroon	No	2017
Cabinda	Angola	No	1975
Coalition of Patriots for Change	Central African Republic	No	2020
Kachin	Myanmar	No	1961
Kosovo	Serbia	Yes	2008
Ansar al-Sharia (Yemen)	Yemen	No	2011
Donetsk People's Republic and  Luhansk People's Republic	Ukraine	De facto	2014
Islamic State	Iraq  Syria  Afghanistan  Somalia  Yemen  Nigeria  Libya  Mozambique	De facto	2013
Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan	Pakistan	No	2006
Republic of Artsakh	Azerbaijan/ Armenia	De facto	1991
Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria	Syria	Partial	2012
Sahrawi Republic	Morocco	Yes	1976
South Ossetia	Georgia	De facto	1991
Tigray People's Liberation Front	Ethiopia	Partial	2020
Transnistria	Moldova	De facto	1990
Southern Transitional Council	Yemen	De facto	2017
State of Palestine	Israel	Yes	1988
Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan	Pakistan	No	2002
West Papua	Indonesia	No	1971
Zapatista Autonomous Municipalities	Mexico	De facto	1994
Azawad	Mali	De facto	2012
Oromo Liberation Front	Ethiopia	No	1973
Sudan Revolutionary Front	Sudan	No	2011
	Mozambique	No	2020
National Democratic Alliance Army	Myanmar	No	1989
United Wa State Army	Myanmar	No	1989
Houthi movement	Yemen	No	2004
Revolutionary Commando Army	Syria	No	2016
Hayat Tahrir al-Sham	Syria	No	2017
Syrian National Army	Syria	No	2017
Nduma Defense of Congo-Renovated	Democratic Republic of the Congo	No	2015
Mai-Mai	Democratic Republic of the Congo	No	2015
National Resistance Front of Afghanistan	Afghanistan	No	2021

Former

Proto-state	Parent state	Achieved statehood	Dates	Source
Al-Nusra Front	Syria	No	2012–2017
Ansar al-Islam	Iraq	No	2001–2003
Angola	Portugal	Yes	1961–1975
Ansar al-Sharia (Libya)	Libya	No	2014–2017
Ansar Dine	Mali	No	2012–2013
Armed Forces of South Russia	Russia	No	1919–1920
Azawad	Mali	De facto	2012–2013
Boko Haram	Nigeria  Cameroon	No	2013–2015
Carpatho-Ukraine	Czechoslovakia,  Hungary	De facto	1938–1939
Chechen Ichkeria	Russia	No	1991–2000
Chinese Soviet Republic	China	No	1931–1937
Communist China	China	Yes	1927–1949
Dubrovnik Republic	Yugoslavia	No	1991–1992
Dar al-Kuti	Central African Republic	De facto	2015-2021
Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Syrmia	Yugoslavia	No	1995–1998
FARC	Colombia	No	1964–2017
Fatah al-Islam	Lebanon	No	2007
Fujian	China	No	1933–1934
Groupe islamique armé	Algeria	No	1993–1995
Herzeg-Bosnia	Bosnia-Herzegovina	No	1991–1996
Hyderabad State	India	De facto	1947–1948
Idel-Ural State	Russia	No	1917–1918
Irish Republic	United Kingdom	Yes	1919–1922
Islamic Emirate of Kunar	Afghanistan	No	1989–1991
Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan	Islamic State of Afghanistan	De facto	1996–2001
Islamic Republic of Imbaba	Egypt	No	1989–1992
Jamiat-e Islami	Afghanistan	No	1982–1989
Republic of Kosova	FR Yugoslavia	No	1992–1999
Kharkiv People's Republic	Ukraine	No	2014
Jiangxi	China	No	1931–1937
Republic of Kosova	FR Yugoslavia	No	1992–1999
Jubaland	Somalia	No	1998–2001
Junbish-e Milli	Afghanistan	No	1992-1997
Liberated Yugoslavia	Independent State of Croatia  Occupied Serbia	Yes	1942–1945
Mongolia	China	Yes	1911–1946
Mozambique	Portugal	Yes	1964–1974
Revolutionary Vietnam	South Vietnam	No	1969–1976
Republika Srpska	Bosnia-Herzegovina	No	1991–1995
Red Spears' rebel area in Dengzhou	China	No	1929
Serbian Krajina	Croatia	No	1991–1995
Sudetenland	Czechoslovakia	No	1918–1938
"Taylorland" or Greater Liberia	Liberia	No	1990–1995/97
Tamil Eelam	Sri Lanka	No	1983–2008
Tibet	China	No	1912–1951
Ukrainian National Government	Soviet Union,  Nazi Germany	No	1941
Ukrainian People's Republic	Russian Republic,  Russian SFSR	Yes	1917–1921
UNITA	Angola	No	1975–2002
United States	Great Britain	Yes	1776-1783
West Ukrainian People's Republic	Austria-Hungary,  Poland	No	1918–1919
Western Bosnia	Yugoslavia	No	1993–1995
Zaporozhian Sich	Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth	Yes	16th century–1649

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