A puppet ruler is someone who holds a title that indicates they have political authority, but is loyal to or controlled by outside persons or groups. A foreign government can wield such outside control, and the puppet ruler's territory is referred to as a puppet state. Internal factors, such as non-elected officials, may also exert power over the puppet monarch. A figurehead monarch, as a source of legitimacy and perhaps divine reign, has been the used form of government in numerous circumstances and places throughout history.

There are two basic forms of using puppets as monarchs (rulers, kings, emperors): a figurehead in which the monarch is a puppet of another person or a group in the country who rules instead of the nominal ruler; and a puppet government under a foreign power. Examples of the first type are the Emperors who were the puppets of the shōguns of Japan and the kings who were the puppets of the Mayor of Palace in the Frankish kingdom. Client kingdoms under the Roman Republic and Roman Empire and the British Empire's colonial relationship with King Farouk of Egypt in the 1950s are examples of the second type.

A puppet does not have to be a national ruler, or even a person. For example, Oscar K. Allen was widely recognized to be Huey Long's puppet while serving as governor of Louisiana.^[3] The government of Manchukuo was controlled by the Japanese government.