(Histoire) Régime donnant autorité ŕ un État sur un autre.
ETYM Cf. French protectorat.
A territory controlled by (but not a possession of) a stronger state.
Formerly in international law, a small state under the direct or indirect control of a larger one. The 20th-century equivalent was a trust territory. In English history the rule of Oliver and Richard Cromwell 1653–59 is referred to as the Protectorate.