Editing Defection (section)

==International politics==
{{More citations needed section|date=October 2020}}
[[File:Checkpoint Charlie Memorial.JPG|thumb|A memorial to those who died trying to cross the [[Berlin Wall]] stood for ten months in 2004 and 2005 near [[Checkpoint Charlie]].]]
The physical act of defection is usually in a manner which violates the laws of the nation or political entity from which the person is seeking to depart. By contrast, mere changes in [[citizenship]], or working with allied militia, usually do not violate any law(s).

For example, in the 1950s, [[East German]]s were increasingly prohibited from traveling to the western [[West Germany|Federal Republic of Germany]] where they were automatically regarded as citizens according to [[Exclusive mandate]]. The [[Berlin Wall]] (1961) and fortifications along the [[Inner German border]] (1952 onward) were erected by the Communist [[German Democratic Republic]] to enforce the policy. When people tried to "defect" from the GDR they were to be shot on sight. Several hundred people [[List of deaths at the Berlin Wall|were killed along that border]] in their [[Republikflucht]] attempt. Official crossings did exist, but permissions to leave temporarily or permanently were seldom granted. On the other hand, the GDR citizenship of some "inconvenient" East Germans was revoked, and they had to leave their home on short notice against their will. Others, like singer [[Wolf Biermann]], were prohibited from returning to the GDR.

[[File:CIA, Conrad Schumanns Sprung in die Freiheit, August 1961 (cropped) 1.jpg|thumb|right| East German border guard [[Konrad Schumann]] jumping the border in 1961]]

During the [[Cold War]], the many people illegally emigrating from the [[Soviet Union]] or [[Eastern Bloc]] to [[Western world|the West]] were called defectors. Westerners defected to the Eastern Bloc as well, often to avoid prosecution as spies. Some of the more famous cases were British spy [[Kim Philby]], who defected to the USSR to avoid exposure as a [[KGB]] mole, and [[List of American and British defectors in the Korean War|22 Allied POWs]] (one Briton and twenty-one Americans) who declined repatriation after the [[Korean War]], electing to remain in China.

When an individual leaves their country and provides information to a foreign intelligence service, they are considered a [[Clandestine HUMINT#Defector|HUMINT source defector]]. In some cases, defectors remain in the country or with the political entity they were against, functioning as a [[Clandestine HUMINT#Defector in place|defector in place]]. Intelligence services are always concerned when debriefing defectors with the possibility of a [[fake defection]].

Entire militaries can defect and choose not to follow orders from a state's leaders. During the [[Arab Spring]] protests, militaries in Egypt and Tunisia refused orders to fire upon protesters or use other methods to disperse them.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=Brooks|first=Risa A.|date=2019-05-11|title=Integrating the Civil–Military Relations Subfield|journal=Annual Review of Political Science|language=en|volume=22|issue=1|pages=379–398|doi=10.1146/annurev-polisci-060518-025407|issn=1094-2939|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Grewal|first=Sharan|date=2019-06-01|title=Military Defection During Localized Protests: The Case of Tataouine|url=https://academic.oup.com/isq/article/63/2/259/5438330|journal=International Studies Quarterly|language=en|volume=63|issue=2|pages=259–269|doi=10.1093/isq/sqz003|issn=0020-8833|url-access=subscription}}</ref> The decision to defect can be driven by the desire to prevent insubordination: if a military leader judges that lower officers will disobey orders to fire upon protesters, they could be more likely to defect.<ref name=":0" />