In politics, a defector is a person who gives up allegiance to one state or political entity in exchange for allegiance to another. The term is usually used as a synonym for traitor, in documents that support the act of defection/treason (see below).

This act is usually in a manner which violates the laws of the nation or political entity from which the person is seeking to depart, as opposed to a change of citizenship, which does not typically defy the law of any nation.

During the Cold War, the many people escaping across the Berlin Wall to flee from communist East Germany to the West were called defectors. During the Vietnam War, many Army of the Republic of Vietnam forces defected to the National Front for the Liberation of Vietnam, and some U.S. soldiers fragged their officers in protest of the war. One example of a defector is Edward Lee Howard.

The term has been widely used by the media in the United States to denote immigrants from Fidel Castro's Cuba; however, some conservatives object to this characterization, pointing out that the American press never referred to those who left Germany during the Third Reich era as "defectors."

In some cases, defectors remain in the country or with the political entity they are against, functioning as an agent or a double agent. This is a common device in many thriller and spy novels, including those of Tom Clancy, especially The Hunt for Red October, Red Rabbit and The Cardinal of the Kremlin.

Political party defection

The term defection is also used to refer to the departure of a member from a political party to join another political party, typically because of discontent in his existing party. Depending on position of the person, it may be given a different name, such as party switching or crossing the floor.

See also

• Sociological definitions of apostasy
• First MiG behind the Iron Curtain

Defectors | Military terminology | Political terms | Politics