A
federal republic is a
federation of
states with a
republican form of government. A federation is the
central government. The states in a federation also maintain the
federation. Usage of the term
republic is inconsistent
but, as a minimum, it means a state or federation of states that
does not have a
monarchy.
In a federal republic, there is a
division of powers between the national
"federal" government, and the government of the individual
subdivisions. While every nation manages this division of powers
differently, national security and defense, monetary policy, and
other issues of a "national" scope are handled at the "federal"
level while more local issues such as road and infrastructure
maintainance and education policy are handled at the local level.
In other words, while the federal government has ultimate
sovereignty, there is a limited sovereignty granted to the
subdivisions, where the federal government does not have
jurisdiction. This is in contrast to a
unitary republic whereby the national
government has complete soverignty over all aspects of political
life, and subdivisions are purely administrative in nature.
In
English, before the merger of the two German states in 1990, the
phrase "Federal Republic" was often used to refer to West Germany
(within its pre-1990 borders), in contrast with the
German
Democratic Republic
, otherwise called East Germany.
List of federal republics
Contemporary
Historic
See also
(federal republic until 1886; unitary republic after 1886)
(1813-1876)
(Germany 1919-1933)
(République Fédérale du Cameroun)
(1961-1972)
(1969-1992)
(1922-1991)
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