A defector is a person who gives up allegiance to one political entity in exchange for allegiance to another.

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. The Cold War was the protracted geostrategic, economic, and ideological struggle that emerged after World War II between the global superpowers of the Soviet Union and the United States, supported by their respective and emerging alliance partners. ... Remnant of the Berlin Wall near Potsdamer Platz, June 2003. ... National motto: none Official languages German Capital East Berlin Largest city East Berlin Area  - Total  - % water Ranked 106th 108,333 km² Negligible Creation -Abolition 7 October 1949 3 October 1990 Currency East German mark Time zone  â€“ in summer CET (UTC+1) CEST (UTC+2) National anthem Auferstanden aus Ruinen Internet... Combatants Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam) United States of America South Korea Thailand Australia New Zealand the Philippines Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam) National Liberation Front (Viet Cong) Strength ~1,200,000 (1968) ~420,000 (1968) Casualties South Vietnamese dead: 1,250,000+ US dead: 58,226 US wounded... [ [ Image:ArmyoftheRepublicofVietnam. ... Viet Cong (NLF) flag The Viet Cong, also known as the National Front for the Liberation of Southern Vietnam (Vietnamese Mặt Trận Dân Tá»™c Giải Phóng Miền Nam), (VC), or the National Liberation Front (NLF), was the primary insurgent (partisan) organization fighting the... Frag is a term from the Vietnam War, most commonly meaning to assassinate an unpopular member of ones own fighting unit by dropping a fragmentation grenade into the victims tent at night. ...

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." Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (pron. ... Conservatism or political conservatism is any of several historically related political philosophies or political ideologies. ... Nazi Germany, or the Third Reich, commonly refers to Germany in the years 1933–1945, when it was under the firm control of the totalitarian and fascist ideology of the Nazi Party, with the Führer Adolf Hitler as dictator. ...

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. An agent is an autonomous entity with an ontological commitment and agenda of its own. ... A double agent pretends to spy on a target organization on behalf of a controlling organization, but in fact is loyal to the target organization. ... Tom Clancy Thomas Leo Clancy Jr. ... Harper Collins 1993 paperback edition The Hunt for Red October, Tom Clancys first novel, was published in 1984. ... Red Rabbit (2002) is a novel by Tom Clancy. ... This article might not be written in the formal tone expected of an encyclopedia entry. ...

Politics is a process by which collective decisions are made within groups. ...

See also

• Sociological definitions of apostasy