Indirect Rule

Indirect rule is a term used by historians and political scientists to describe a system of government that was developed in certain British non-colonial dependencies (particularly in parts of Africa and Asia) often called "Protectorates" or "Trucial states". By this system, the day-to-day government and administration of areas both small and large was left in the hands of traditional rulers, who gained prestige and the stability and protection afforded by the Pax Britannica, at the cost of losing control of their external affairs, and often of taxation, communications, and other matters, usually with a small number of European "advisors" effectively overseeing the government of large numbers of people spread over extensive areas.

Read more about Indirect Rule:  British African Empire, Britain's Asian Empire, Practical Implementation of Indirect Rule, Interpretations

Famous quotes containing the words indirect and/or rule:

    God knows, my son,
    By what by-paths and indirect crooked ways
    I met this crown.
    William Shakespeare (1564–1616)

    Great statesmen seem to direct and rule by a sort of power to put themselves in the place of the nation over which they are set, and may thus be said to possess the souls of poets at the same time they display the coarser sense and the more vulgar sagacity of practical men of business.
    Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924)