Government-in-exile

A government-in-exile is a political group that claims to be the legitimate government of a sovereign state or semi-sovereign state, but is unable to exercise power and resides in a country distinct from its origin. Governments-in-exile usually plan to one day return to their native country and regain formal power. A government in exile differs from a rump state in the sense that the latter controls at least part of its remaining territory. For example, during World War I, nearly all of Belgium was occupied by Germany, but Belgium and its allies held on to a small slice in the country's west. A government in exile, in contrast, has lost all its territory. However, in practice, the distinction may be unclear; in the above example, the Belgian government at Sainte-Adresse was located in French territory and acted as a government in exile for most practical purposes. Governments-in-exile and associated organisations employ strategies such as investigative reporting and diaspora mobilisation to sustain political visibility, engage supporters, and address ethical and operational challenges.
Governments-in-exile tend to occur during wartime occupation or in the aftermath of a civil war, revolution, or military coup. For example, during German expansion and advance in World War II, some European governments sought refuge in the United Kingdom, rather than face destruction at the hands of Nazi Germany. On the other hand, the Provisional Government of Free India proclaimed by Subhas Chandra Bose sought to use support from the invading Japanese to gain control of the country from what it viewed as British occupiers, and in the final year of WWII, after Nazi Germany was driven out of France, it maintained the remnants of the Nazi-sympathising Vichy government as a French government in exile at the Sigmaringen enclave.
A government in exile may also form from widespread belief in the illegitimacy of a ruling government. Due to the outbreak of the Syrian Civil War in 2011, for instance, the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces was formed by groups whose members sought to end the rule of the ruling Ba'ath Party.
The governments-in-exile may have little or no recognition from other states. The effectiveness of a government in exile depends primarily on the amount of support it receives, either from foreign governments or from the population of its own country. Some exiled governments come to develop into a formidable force, posing a serious challenge to the incumbent regime of the country, while others are maintained chiefly as a symbolic gesture.
Governments in exile predate the formal use of the term. In periods of monarchical government, exiled monarchs or dynasties sometimes set up exile courts, as the House of Stuart did when driven from their throne by Oliver Cromwell and again at the Glorious Revolution. The House of Bourbon would be another example because it continued to be recognised by other countries at the time as the legitimate government of France after it was overthrown by the populace during the French Revolution. This continued through the rule of Napoleon Bonaparte and the Napoleonic Wars from 1803–04 to 1815. With the spread of constitutional monarchy, monarchical governments which were exiled started to include a prime minister, such as the Dutch government during World War II headed by Pieter Sjoerds Gerbrandy.
The capital of a government-in-exile is known as a capital-in-exile, located outside the government's proclaimed territory. This differs from a temporary capital, which is located somewhere inside the government's controlled territory.

Current Governments-in-exile

Current governments regarded by some as a "government-in-exile"

These governments once controlled all or most of their claimed territory, but continue to control a smaller part of it while also continuing to claim legitimate authority of the entire territory they once fully controlled.

Name

Year of exile

Territory that
the government
still controls

Government presently controlling claimed territory

Notes

Refs.

Deposed governments-in-exile

Deposed governments of current states

These governments-in-exile were founded by deposed governments or rulers who continue to claim legitimate authority of the state they once controlled.

Name

Exile since

State controlling its claimed territory

Notes

Refs.

|1991

Deposed governments of de facto states

These governments in exile were founded by deposed governments or rulers who continue to claim legitimate authority of the state they once controlled, even if their claimed territory is now controlled by another country.

Name

Exile since

State controlling its claimed territory

Notes

Refs.

Deposed governments of subnational territories

These governments in exile claim legitimacy of autonomous territories of another state and have been founded by deposed or inactive governments or rulers, who do not claim independence as a separate state.

Alternative governments in exile

Alternative governments of current states

These governments have been founded in exile by political organisations and opposition parties, aspire to become actual governing authorities or claim to be legal successors to previously deposed or inactive governments, and have been founded as alternatives to incumbent governments.

Alternative separatist governments of current subnational territories

These governments have been founded in exile by political organisations, opposition parties, and separatist movements, and desire to become the governing authorities of their territories as independent states, or claim to be the successor to previously deposed or inactive governments, and have been founded as alternatives to incumbent governments.

Exiled governments of non-self-governing or occupied territories

These governments-in-exile are governments of non-self-governing or occupied territories. They claim legitimate authority over a territory they once controlled, or claim legitimacy of a post-decolonisation authority. The claim may stem from an exiled group's election as a legitimate government.
The United Nations recognises the right of self-determination for the population of these territories, including the possibility of establishing independent sovereign states.

Name

Exile since

Government presently controlling claimed territory

Notes

Refs.

Palestinian Authority

Former governments in exile

World War II

Many countries established a government in exile after loss of sovereignty in connection with World War II.

Governments in London

A large number of European governments-in-exile were set up in London.

Name

Leaders

Governments-in-exile in Asia

The Philippine Commonwealth established a government in exile, initially located in Australia and later in the United States. Earlier, in 1897, the Hong Kong Junta was established as a government in exile by the Philippine revolutionary Republic of Biak-na-Bato.
While formed long before World War II, the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea continued in exile in China until the end of the war.
At the fall of Java, and the surrender by the Dutch on behalf of Allied forces on 8 March 1942, many Dutch-Indies officials managed to flee to Australia in March 1942, and on 23 December 1943, the Royal Government decreed an official Netherlands East Indies government-in-exile, with Dr van Mook as Acting Governor General, on Australian soil until Dutch rule was restored in the Indies.

Axis-aligned governments in exile

In the later stages of World War II, with the German Army increasingly pushed back and expelled from various countries, Axis-aligned groups from some countries set up "governments-in-exile" under the auspices of the Axis powers, in the remaining Axis territory - even though internationally recognised governments were in place in their home countries. The main purpose of these was to recruit and organise military units composed of their nationals in the host country.

Name

Exiled or founded since

Defunct, reestablished or integrated since

State that controlled its claimed territory

Notes

References

Azad Hind

Persian Gulf War

Following the Ba'athist Iraqi invasion and occupation of Kuwait, during the Persian Gulf War, on 2 August 1990, Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah and senior members of his government fled to Saudi Arabia, where they set up a government-in-exile in Ta'if. The Kuwaiti government in exile was far more affluent than most other such governments, having full disposal of the very considerable Kuwaiti assets in western banks—of which it made use to conduct a massive propaganda campaign denouncing the Ba'athist Iraqi occupation and mobilising public opinion in the Western world in favor of war with Ba'athist Iraq. In March 1991, following the defeat of Ba'athist Iraq at the hands of coalition forces in the Persian Gulf War, the Sheikh and his government were able to return to Kuwait.

Municipal councils in exile

Following the Turkish Invasion of Cyprus in 1974 and the displacement of many Greek Cypriots from North Cyprus, displaced inhabitants of several towns set up what are in effect municipal councils in exile, headed by mayors in exile. The idea is the same as with a national government in exile—to assert a continuation of legitimate rule, even though having no control of the ground, and working towards restoration of such control. Meetings of the exiled Municipal Council of Lapithos took place in the homes of its members until the Exile Municipality was offered temporary offices at 37 Ammochostou Street, Nicosia. The current Exile Mayor of the town is Athos Eleftheriou. The same premises are shared with the Exile Municipal Council of Kythrea.
Also in the Famagusta District of Cyprus, the administration of the part retained by the Republic of Cyprus, based in Paralimni, considers itself as a "District administration in exile", since the district's capital Famagusta had been under Turkish control since 1974.