A protectorate is a state or dependent territory that gives up an independent foreign policy, and often its own defense, in favor of a treaty with a protecting power, in exchange for guaranteed defense against regional aggressors. It retains self-government over most of its internal affairs while recognizing the suzerainty of a more powerful sovereign state, without being a full possession of that state, and it accepts treaty obligations binding it to the protecting power in foreign policy. Protectorates are formally established by treaty between the powers involved, though a state can also be considered a de facto or veiled protectorate under certain conditions, as with Egypt under British rule from 1882 to 1914. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
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Client states and protectorates are closely related institutions of asymmetric interstate dependency, the client state retaining nominal sovereignty while the protectorate formally cedes control of external affairs to a protecting power.
Protectorates were commonly administered as a weaker-sovereignty tier within a larger empire own system of indirect rule.
Protectorate and vassalage are both asymmetric-sovereignty relationships in which a weaker polity submits to a stronger power protection or overlordship while retaining nominal internal rule.
Sources
Protectorate (Wikipedia)
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A protectorate, in the context of international relations, is a state or dependent territory that foregoes an independent foreign policy and often defence in favour of treaty with a protecting power, in order to ensure its defence against regional aggressors.
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