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{{Short description|Country between two powerful countries}}
A '''buffer state''' is a [[country]] geographically lying between two rival or potentially hostile [[great power]]s.<ref>{{Cite web |title=buffer state |url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/buffer%20state |access-date=11 September 2021 |publisher=Merriam Webster}}</ref> Its existence can sometimes be thought to prevent conflict between them. A buffer state is sometimes a mutually agreed upon area lying between two greater powers, which is [[Demilitarized zone|demilitarised]] in the sense of not hosting the [[military|armed forces]] of either power (though it will usually have its own military forces). The [[invasion]] of a buffer state by one of the powers surrounding it will often result in [[war]] between the powers.

Buffer states, when authentically independent, typically pursue a [[Neutral country|neutralist]] foreign policy, which distinguishes them from [[satellite state]]s. The concept of buffer states is part of a theory of the [[Balance of power (international relations)|balance of power]] that entered European strategic and [[diplomacy|diplomatic]] thinking in the 18th century. After the [[World War I|First World War]], notable examples of buffer states were [[Second Polish Republic|Poland]] and [[First Czechoslovak Republic|Czechoslovakia]], situated between major powers such as [[Nazi Germany|Germany]] and the [[Soviet Union]]. [[Lebanon]] is another significant example, positioned between [[Syria]] and [[Israel]], thereby experiencing challenges as a result.<ref>{{Cite news |title=The A to Z of international relations |url=https://www.economist.com/international-relations-a-to-z |access-date=2023-11-27 |newspaper=The Economist |language=en}}</ref>

==Effectiveness according to empirical research==
Research shows that buffer states are significantly more likely to be conquered and [[Military occupation|occupied]] than nonbuffer states are.<ref name="Fazal 2004">{{Cite journal |last=Fazal |first=Tanisha M. |date=2004-04-01 |title=State Death in the International System |journal=International Organization |volume=58 |issue=2 |pages=311–344 |doi=10.1017/S0020818304582048 |doi-broken-date=1 November 2024 |issn=1531-5088 |s2cid=154693906}}</ref> This is because "states that great powers have an interest in preserving—buffer states—are in fact in a high-risk group for death. [[Regional power|Regional]] or great powers surrounding buffer states face a strategic imperative to take over buffer states: if these powers fail to act against the buffer, they fear that their opponent will take it over instead. By contrast, these concerns do not apply to nonbuffer states, where powers face no competition for influence or control."<ref name="Fazal 2004" />

==Examples==
{{original research section|date=June 2025}}
===Americas===
* {{Flagicon|Bolivia|variant=1826}} [[Bolivia]], created by [[Gran Colombia]] as a buffer between [[Peru]] and [[Argentina]] during the [[Upper Peru]] question<ref>{{Cite web |last=Bolivia |year=1826 |title=Colección oficial de leyes, decretos, ordenes, resoluciones &c. Que se han expedido para el regimen de la Republica Boliviana |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iOMoAAAAYAAJ&q=resoluci%C3%B3n+del+congreso+23+febrero+1825&pg=PA6}}</ref>
* {{Flagicon|Uruguay}} [[Uruguay]], served as a demilitarised buffer between Argentina and the [[Empire of Brazil]] during the early independence period in [[South America]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=Uruguay – From Insurrection to State Organization, 1820–30 |url=http://countrystudies.us/uruguay/4.htm |access-date=3 March 2017 |website=countrystudies.us}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Phelps |first=Nicole |date=1 January 2014 |title=Review of Knarr, James C., Uruguay and the United States, 1903–1929: Diplomacy in the Progressive Era |url=http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=37009 |access-date=3 March 2017 |website=www.h-net.org |language=en}}</ref>
* {{Flagicon|Paraguay|variant=1842}} [[Paraguay]], maintained after the end of the [[Paraguayan War]] in 1870, as a buffer separating Argentina and Brazil<ref>{{Cite news |title=Paraguay: Regional Geopolitics and a New President |url=https://www.stratfor.com/analysis/paraguay-regional-geopolitics-and-new-president |access-date=3 March 2017 |work=Stratfor |language=en}}</ref>
* {{Flagicon image|Colonial-Red-Ensign.svg}} [[Province of Georgia|Georgia]], a [[colony]] established by [[Kingdom of Great Britain|Great Britain]] in 1732 as a buffer between its other [[Thirteen Colonies|colonies along the Atlantic coast]] of [[North America]] and [[Spanish Florida]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Colonies {{!}} Georgia |url=http://www.smplanet.com/teaching/colonialamerica/colonies/georgia |access-date=20 November 2015 |website=www.smplanet.com}}</ref>
* {{Flagicon|Ecuador}} [[Ecuador]], served as a "cushion state" between Colombia and Peru, which had a bigger extension{{clarify|surface area maybe?|date=May 2023}} and military force and fought a [[Gran Colombia–Peru War|war in the 1820s]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Zepeda |first=Beatriz |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vVYGkG1b9qgC&q=ecuador+estado+colchon+colombia+peru&pg=PA17 |title=Ecuador: Relaciones exteriores a la luz del bicentenario |year=2009 |publisher=Flacso-Sede Ecuador |isbn=9789978672242}}</ref>

===Asia===
* [[Kingdom of Judah]] was a buffer state between [[Late Period of ancient Egypt|Egyptian Empire]] and [[Neo-Babylonian Empire]].<ref>{{Cite web|author=Dennis Bratcher|title=Old Testament History The Rise of Babylon and Exile (640 BC-538 BC)|url=https://www.crivoice.org/othbabylon.html|website=THE VOICE|access-date = 2024-08-06}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|author=Laurie Pearce|title=Babylonian Accounts of the Invasion of Judah|url=https://www.bibleodyssey.org/articles/babylonian-accounts-of-the-invasion-of-judah/|website=Bible Odyssey|access-date = 2024-08-06}}</ref>
* Multiple buffer states played major roles during the [[Roman–Persian Wars]] (66 BC – 628 AD). [[Kingdom of Armenia (antiquity)|Armenia]] was a frequently contested buffer between the [[Roman Empire]] (as well as the later [[Byzantine Empire]]) and the various [[Achaemenid Empire|Persian]] and Muslim states.
* {{Flagicon|North Korea}} [[North Korea]], during and after the [[Cold War]], has been seen by some analysts as a buffer state between the military forces of [[China]], the [[Soviet Union]] and those of [[South Korea]], [[Japan]], and the [[United States]] (stationed in South Korea, Japan, and [[Taiwan]] from 1954 to 1979).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Getting China to Become Tough with North Korea |url=http://www.cato.org/blog/getting-china-become-tough-north-korea |access-date=2016-02-10 |website=[[Cato Institute]]}}</ref>
* {{Flagicon|Manchukuo}} [[Manchukuo]] was a pro-Japanese buffer state between the [[Empire of Japan]], the Soviet Union, and the [[Republic of China (1912–1949)|Republic of China]] during [[World War II]].
* {{Flagicon|Thailand}} [[Thailand]], historically known as Siam, was an independent buffer state between the [[British Raj]], [[British Malaya]], [[French Indochina]], and their competing colonial interests in [[History of Laos#Siam and Suzerainty (1779–1893)|Laos]] and [[History of Cambodia|Cambodia]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Pholsena |first=Vatthana |title=LAOS, From Buffer State to Crossroads |publisher=Silkworm Books |year=2007 |isbn=978-9749480502}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Macgregor |first=John |title=Through the Buffer State : Travels in Borneo, Siam, Cambodia, Malaya and Burma |publisher=White Lotus Co Ltd; 2 edition |year=1994 |isbn=978-9748496252}}</ref>
* {{Flagicon|Korean Empire}} [[Korean Empire|Korea]] acted as a buffer zone between the growing superpowers of Imperial Japan and the [[Russian Empire]].
* {{Flagicon|Far Eastern Republic}} The [[Far Eastern Republic]] was a formally independent state created to act as a buffer between [[Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic|Bolshevik Russia]] and the Empire of Japan.<ref name="Wood">Alan Wood, "The Revolution and Civil War in Siberia," in Edward Acton, Vladimir Iu. Cherniaev, and William G. Rosenberg (eds.), ''Critical Companion to the Russian Revolution, 1914–1921''. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1997; pp. 716–717.</ref><ref name="Dict">George Jackson and Robert Devlin (eds.), ''Dictionary of the Russian Revolution''. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1989; pp. 223–225.</ref>
* {{Flagicon|Emirate of Afghanistan}} [[Emirate of Afghanistan|Afghanistan]] was a buffer state between the [[British Empire]], which ruled much of [[South Asia]], and the Russian Empire, which ruled much of [[Russian Turkestan|Central Asia]], during the [[Great Game|Anglo–Russian conflicts]] of the 19th century. Later, the [[Wakhan Corridor]] extended the buffer eastwards to the Chinese border.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Debarbieux |first1=Bernard |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MtUpCwAAQBAJ |title=The Mountain: A Political History from the Enlightenment to the Present |last2=Rudaz |first2=Gilles |last3=Todd |first3=Jane Marie |last4=Price |first4=Martin F. |date=2015-09-10 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=9780226031118 |page=150 |language=en}}</ref>
* The [[Himalayas|Himalayan]] nations of {{Flag icon|Tibet}} [[Tibet (1912–1951)|Tibet]],  {{Flag icon|Kingdom of Nepal}} [[Kingdom of Nepal|Nepal]], {{Flag icon|Bhutan}} [[Bhutan]], and {{flagicon image|Flag of Sikkim (1877-1914; 1962-1967).svg}} [[Kingdom of Sikkim|Sikkim]] were buffer states between the British Empire and [[Qing dynasty|China]]. Later, during the [[Sino-Indian War]] of 1962, they became buffers between China and [[India]] as the two powers fought along their borders.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Nepal: Dictated by Geography {{!}} World Policy Institute |url=http://www.worldpolicy.org/journal/winter2013/nepal-dictated-by-geography |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170831045939/http://www.worldpolicy.org/journal/winter2013/nepal-dictated-by-geography |archive-date=2017-08-31 |access-date=2016-02-10 |website=www.worldpolicy.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=The World Today; Bhutan and Sikkim: Two Buffer States Vol. 15, No. 12 |publisher=Royal Institute of International Affairs |year=1959 |pages=492–500}}</ref>
* {{Flagicon|Mongolia}} [[Mongolian People's Republic|Mongolia]] acted as a buffer between the Soviet Union and China until 1991. It currently serves as a buffer between [[Russia]] and China.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Mongolia, the uncontested buffer state |url=http://www.russia-direct.org/opinion/mongolia-uncontested-buffer-state |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190204190410/https://www.russia-direct.org/opinion/mongolia-uncontested-buffer-state |archive-date=4 February 2019 |access-date=3 March 2017 |website=Russia Direct |language=en}}</ref>
* {{Flag|Lebanon}} is a buffer state between [[Israel]] and [[Syria]].
* {{Flag|Iraq}} and {{Flag|Bahrain}} are buffer states between [[Iran]] and [[Saudi Arabia]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Kader |first=Ariz |date=July 2020
|title=Iraq: Battleground or Buffer State? |url=https://www.cidob.org/en/publications/publication_series/notes_internacionals/n1_218/iraq_battleground_or_buffer_state |website=CIDOB}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |title=Bahrain as the area of Saudi‑Iranian rivalry in the second decade of the 21st century |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/338150134 |journal=Studia Politicae Universitatis Silesiensis}}</ref>

===Africa===
* [[Saadi Sultanate|Morocco]] served as a buffer state between the [[Ottoman Empire]], [[Spanish Empire|Spain]], and [[Kingdom of Portugal|Portugal]] in the 16th century.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Cory |first=Stephen |title=Reviving the Islamic Caliphate in Early Modern Morocco |date=2016 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781317063438 |pages=36–37}}</ref>
* The [[Bechuanaland Protectorate]] (present-day {{Flagicon|Botswana}} [[Botswana]]) was initially created as a buffer between the British Empire and the two [[Boer republics]] of the [[Orange Free State]] and the [[South African Republic|Transvaal Republic]] until the [[Second Boer War]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ram |first=J.R. |date=16 March 2019 |title=Botswana: The best kept African secret |url=https://www.telegraphindia.com/culture/travel/botswana-the-best-kept-african-secret/cid/1686954 |website=The Telegraph}}</ref>

===Europe===
*  [[Principality of Transylvania (1570-1711)|Principality of Transylvania]] was a buffer state between [[Ottoman Empire]] and [[Habsburg Empire]] until the [[Treaty of Karlowitz]] was signed.<ref>Ingrao, C. (2022). The Habsburg Empire under siege: Ottoman expansion and Hungarian revolt in the age of Grand Vizier Ahmed Köprülü (1661–76): by Georg B. Michels, Montreal, McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2021, x + 603 pp., $85.00 (cloth), ISBN 978-0-228-00575-9. Canadian Slavonic Papers, 64(2–3), 386–387. https://doi.org/10.1080/00085006.2022.2105507</ref>
* {{Flagicon|Switzerland}} [[Switzerland]] has been a buffer state between [[Italy]], [[Austria]], [[France]], [[Germany]], and other state powers in medieval and modern Europe.
* {{Flagicon|Netherlands}} [[United Kingdom of the Netherlands|The United Kingdom of the Netherlands]], composed of today's [[Belgium]] and [[Netherlands]], was created by the [[Congress of Vienna]] in 1815 to maintain peace between [[Kingdom of France|France]], [[Kingdom of Prussia|Prussia]], and the [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|United Kingdom]]. The kingdom existed for 15 years until the [[Belgian Revolution]].
* {{Flagicon|Belgium}} [[Belgium]] acted as buffer state between [[French Third Republic|France]], the [[German Empire]], the [[Netherlands]], and the British Empire before the [[World War I|First World War]].
* The [[Rhineland]] served as a [[demilitarized zone|demilitarised zone]] between France and [[Weimar Republic|Germany]] during the [[Interwar period|interwar]] years of the 1920s and early 1930s. There were early French attempts at creating a [[Rhenish Republic]].<ref>{{Cite magazine |date=27 August 1923 |title=THE RUHR: Rhineland Republic? |url=http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,716441,00.html |access-date=12 March 2017 |magazine=Time}}</ref>
* The [[Socialist Soviet Republic of Byelorussia]] was founded as a buffer state between Soviet Russia and the European powers.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Andrew Wilson |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jZJntMQtkSYC&q=Belarus%20map%201945&pg=PA96 |title=Belarus: The Last European Dictatorship |year=2011 |isbn=978-0-300-13435-3 |pages=96–97| publisher=Yale University Press }}</ref>
* The [[Qasim Khanate]] (1452–1681) may have served as a buffer between [[Principality of Moscow|Muscovy]] and the [[Khanate of Kazan|Kazan Khanate]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Witzenrath |first=Christoph |title=Eurasian Slavery, Ransom and Abolition in World History, 1200–1860 |date=2016 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781317140023 |page=198}}</ref>
* {{Flagicon|Austria}} [[First Austrian Republic|Austria]] acted as a buffer state between Germany and [[Fascist Italy|Italy]] during [[Austria#Interwar period and World War II|the interwar period]].
* {{Flagicon|Second Polish Republic}} [[Second Polish Republic|Poland]] and other states between Germany and the Soviet Union have sometimes been described as buffer states, both as non-communist states before [[World War II]]<ref name="Suvarov01a">{{Cite book |last=Suvorov, Viktor |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EYA4AAAAQBAJ&q=buffer+state&pg=142 |title=The Chief Culprit: Stalin's Grand Design to Start World War II |date=2013 |publisher=[[Naval Institute Press]] |isbn=9781612512686 |page=142 |quote=Chapter 25: Destruction of the Buffer States between Germany and the Soviet Union. |access-date=1 January 2015}}</ref> and later as [[communist state]]s of the [[Eastern Bloc]].<ref name="Stent01a">{{Cite web |last=Stent, Angela E. |author-link=Angela Stent |date=1998 |title=Russia and Germany Reborn: Unification, the Soviet Collapse, and the New Europe |url=http://press.princeton.edu/chapters/s6426.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141018171556/http://press.princeton.edu/chapters/s6426.html |archive-date=18 October 2014 |access-date=1 January 2015 |publisher=[[Princeton University Press]] |quote=Moscow's German Problem before Detente – The Federal Republic – In 1945, the major Soviet preoccupation was to prevent any future German attack; hence the imposition of Soviet-controlled governments in a ring of buffer states between Germany and the USSR.}}</ref>
* {{Flagicon|Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia}} [[Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia|Yugoslavia]], which [[Tito–Stalin split|broke with the Soviet Union]] before the formation of the [[Warsaw Pact]], became a buffer state between [[NATO]] and the Eastern Bloc during the [[Cold War]].
* {{Flagicon|West Germany}} [[West Germany]] and {{Flagicon|East Germany}} [[East Germany]] were also regarded as buffer states between NATO and the Warsaw Pact during the Cold War in Europe.
* During the Cold War, {{Flagicon|Sweden}} [[Sweden]] and {{Flagicon|Finland}} [[Finland]] were sometimes regarded as buffer states between NATO and the Soviet Union.{{By whom|date=November 2023}} More recently, the [[Russo-Ukrainian War]] has helped push both countries into joining NATO.
* {{Flagicon|Cyprus}} [[Cyprus]] was instaured as an buffer state in 1960 as a form to avoid the risk of a war for the island control between [[Greece]] and [[Turkey]]. 

===Oceania===
* {{Flagicon|New Hebrides}} [[New Hebrides]] served as a buffer between the United Kingdom and France in Oceania during the [[New Imperialism]] period.
* {{Flagicon|Papua New Guinea}} [[Papua New Guinea]] served as a buffer state between [[Indonesia]], the [[Solomon Islands]], and [[Vanuatu]]. Indonesia accused both the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu of supporting the [[Free Papua Movement]] during the [[Papua conflict]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Papua Nugini Diharapkan Jadi Bufferzone Indonesia |trans-title=Indonesia Hopes Papua New Guinea to be Indonesia's Buffer Zone |url=https://www.rmol.id/read/2017/10/18/311532/Papua-Nugini-Diharapkan-Jadi-Bufferzone-Indonesia- |access-date=18 October 2017 |language=id}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Indian barrier state]], a British proposal to establish a [[Native Americans in the United States|Native American]] buffer state in the [[Great Lakes region]] of North America during the 18th and early 19th centuries
* [[Limitrophe states]]
* [[Neutral and Non-Aligned European States]]
* [[Puppet state]]
* [[Satellite state]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

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[[Category:Former countries]]
[[Category:Types of countries]]
[[Category:Independence]]
[[Category:Sovereignty]]
[[Category:Borders]]
[[Category:Geopolitical terminology]]