A map displaying current official
federations
A
federation (
Latin:
foedus, foederis, 'covenant'), also known as a
federal state, is a type of
sovereign state characterized by a
union of partially
self-governing states or regions united by a
central (federal) government. In a federation, the self-governing
status of the component states is typically constitutionally
entrenched and may not be altered by a
unilateral decision of the central
government.
The
form of government or
constitutional structure found in a federation is known as
federalism (see also
federalism as a
political philosophy). It can be considered the opposite of
another system, the
unitary state.
The
government of Germany
with sixteen
federated Länder is an example
of a federation, whereas neighboring Austria
and its
Bundesländer was a
unitary state with administrative divisions that became
federated, and neighboring France
by contrast
has always been unitary.
Federations may be
multi-ethnic, or
cover a large area of territory, although neither is necessarily
the case. Federations are most often founded on an original
agreement between a number of
sovereign
states based on mutual concerns or interests. The initial
agreements create a stability that encourages other common
interests, brings the disparate territories closer, and gives them
all even more common ground. At some time this is recognized and a
movement is organized to merge more closely. Other times,
especially when common cultural factors are at play such as
ethnicity and language, some of these steps in this pattern are
expedited and compressed.
The
international council for federal countries, the Forum of Federations, is based in
Ottawa
, Ontario
. It
helps share
best practices amongst
countries with federal systems of government, and currently
includes nine countries as partner governments.
Federations and other forms of state
A map of the United States of America,
showing its fifty constituent states and the Federal District
A map of the United Mexican States
(Mexico), showing its thirty one constituent states and the Federal
District
In a federation the component states are regarded as in some sense
sovereign, insofar as certain powers are reserved to them that may
not be exercised by the central government. However, a federation
is more than a mere loose alliance of independent states. The
component states of a federation usually possess no powers in
relation to foreign policy and so they enjoy no independent status
under
international law.
Some federations are called
asymmetric because some states have
more autonomy than others.
An example of such a federation is Malaysia
, in which
Sarawak
and Sabah
entered the
federation on different terms and conditions to the states of
Peninsular
Malaysia
.
A federation often emerges from an initial agreement between a
number of separate states. The purpose can be the will to solve
mutual problems or to provide for mutual defence, or to create a
nation state for an ethnicity spread
over several states.
The former was the case with the United States
and Switzerland
, the latter with Germany.
However, as the history of countries and nations varies, the
federalism system of a state can be quite different from these
models.
Australia, for instance, is unique
in that it came into existence as a nation by the democratic vote
of the citizens of each State who voted "yes" in referendums to
adopt the Australian Constitution.
Brazil
, otherwise,
has experienced both the federal and the unitary state through its
history; some present day States of the Federation retain the
borders set during Portuguese colonization (i.e. previous to the
very existence of Brazilian state), whereas the latest State
(Tocantins) was created by the
1988 Constitution, chiefly for administrative reasons.
Eight of ten of the World's
largest
countries by area are governed as Federations.
Unitary states
A
unitary state is sometimes one with
only a single, centralised, national tier of government. However,
unitary states often also include one or more self-governing
regions. The difference between a federation and this kind of
unitary state is that in a unitary state the autonomous status of
self-governing regions exists by the sufferance of the central
government, and may be unilaterally revoked. While it is common for
a federation to be brought into being by agreement between a number
of formally independent states, in a unitary state self-governing
regions are often created through a process of
devolution, where a formerly centralised state
agrees to grant autonomy to a region that was previously entirely
subordinate. Thus federations are often established voluntarily
from 'below' whereas devolution grants self-government from
'above'.
It is often part of the philosophy of a unitary state that,
regardless of the actual status of any of its parts, its entire
territory constitutes a single sovereign entity or
nation-state, and that by virtue of this the
central government exercises sovereignty over the whole territory
as of right. In a federation, on the other hand,
sovereignty is often regarded as residing notionally in the
component states, or as being shared between these states and the
central government.
De facto federations
The distinction between a federation and a unitary state is often
quite ambiguous. A unitary state may closely resemble a federation
in structure and, while a central government may possess the
theoretical right to revoke the autonomy of a self-governing
region, it may be politically difficult for it to do so in
practice. The self-governing regions of some unitary states also
often enjoy greater autonomy than those of some federations. For
these reasons, it is sometimes argued that some modern unitary
states are
de facto
federations.
Spain
Spain
is suggested
as one possible de facto federation as it grants more
self-government to its autonomous communities than most federations
allow their constituent parts. For the Spanish
parliament to revoke the autonomy of regions such as Galicia
, Catalonia
or the Basque
Country
would be a political near-impossibility, though
nothing bars it legally. Additionally, some regions such as Navarra
or the
Basque Country have full control over taxation and spending,
transferring a small payment to the central government for the
common services (army, foreign relations, macroeconomic
policy).
People's Republic of China
In the
People's
Republic of China
, a form of de facto
federation has evolved without formal legislation. This
has occurred as largely informal grants of power to the provinces,
to handle economic affairs and implement national policies. This
has resulted in a system some have termed "de facto federalism with
Chinese characteristics" (in reference to
Deng Xiaoping's policy of
socialism with Chinese
characteristics). Constitutionally, the power vested in the
special
administrative region of the People's Republic is granted from
the
Central People's
Government, through decision by the
National People's Congress.
European Union
The
European Union (EU) is based on
supranational principles which are
neither confederal or federal.
Robert
Schuman the initiator of the European Community system wrote
that a
supranational Community like
the Europe's founding
European Coal and Steel
Community lay midway between an association of States where
they retained complete independence and a federation leading to a
fusion of States in a super-state. The European
Founding Fathers made a
Europe Declaration at the time of the
signing of the
Treaty of Paris on 18
April 1951 saying that the Europe should be organized on a
supranational foundation. They envisaged a
structure quite different from a federation called the
European Political
Community.
The EU is a three pillar structure of the original
supranational European Economic Community and
the nuclear non-poliferation treaty,
Euratom
plus two largely
intergovernmental
pillars dealing with External Affairs and Justice and Home Affairs.
The EU is therefore not a
de
jure federation, although some academic observers conclude
that after 50 years of institutional evolution since the
Treaties of Rome it is
becoming
one. The European Union possesses attributes of a federal state.
However, its central government is far weaker than that of most
federations and the individual members are
sovereign states under international law, so
it is usually characterized as an unprecedented form of
supra-national union. The EU possesses all the elements of a
federal system, but each of the EU states is far more sovereign
than in any other federal system. The EU has responsibility for
important areas such as trade, monetary union, agriculture,
fisheries. Nonetheless, EU
member state retain the
right to act independently in matters of foreign policy and
defense, and also enjoy a near monopoly over other major policy
areas such as criminal justice and taxation. The proposed
Treaty of Lisbon would codify the Member
States' right to leave the Union, but would at the same time also
provide the Union with more
qualified majority voting (rather
than unanimity) in many areas.
A more nuanced view has been given by the German Constitutional
Court. Here the EU is defined as 'an association of sovereign
national states (
Staatenverbund)'. With this view, the
European Union resembles more of a
confederation.
Other forms of governance
The Swiss Confederation and its 26
cantons
Confederation
A
confederation, in modern political
terms, is usually limited to a permanent union of sovereign states
for common action in relation to other states.
In
Belgium
, however, the opposite movement is under
way. Belgium was founded as a centralised state, after the
French model, but has gradually been reformed into a federal state
by consecutive constitutional reforms since the 1970s.
Moreover, although nominally called a federal state, the country's
structure already has a number of
confederational traits (ex.
competences are exclusive for either the federal or the state
level, the treaty-making power of the Federating units without
almost any possible veto of the Federal Government). At present,
there is a growing movement to transform the existing federal state
into a looser confederation with two or three constitutive states
and/or two special regions.
By definition, the difference between a confederation and a
federation is that the membership of the
member states in a confederation is voluntary,
while the membership in a federation is not. A confederation is
most likely to feature these differences over a federation: (1) No
real direct powers: many confederal decisions are externalised by
member-state legislation. (2) Decisions on day-to-day-matters are
not taken by simple majority but by special majorities or even by
consensus or unanimity (veto for every member). (3) Changes of the
constitution, usually a treaty, require unanimity.
Over time these terms acquired distinct connotations leading to the
present difference in definition. An example of this is the United
States under the
Articles of
Confederation. The Articles established a national government
under what today would be defined as a federal system (albeit with
a comparatively weaker federal government).
However, Canada
, designed
with a stronger central government than the U.S. in the
wake of the Civil War of the latter, has always been called a
Confederation by Canadians (also a Dominion
and/or a Realm, but these do not
bear on the current discussion). Ironically, legal reforms,
court rulings, and political compromises have greatly
decentralised Canada in practice since its formation in
1867.
Empire
An
empire is a multi-ethnic state or group of
nations with a central government established usually through
coercion (on the model of the
Roman Empire). An empire will often include
self-governing regions but these will possess autonomy only at the
sufferance of the central government. The term
empire,
except where used metaphorically, is usually reserved for an entity
headed by an
emperor, although his or her
constitutional role may be purely ceremonial. One example of this
was the
British Empire. On the other
hand, an empire may simply consist of multiple
kingdom organised together in a federation with a
high king designated as an emperor.
One
example of this was Imperial Germany
.
Russian Federation
The
Russian
Federation
has inherited its structure from the Russian Soviet
Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR) that was one of the 15
republics of the Soviet
Union
and itself was considered a federation of
national territories. The RSFSR consisted of
autonomous
republics, which had a certain degree of autonomy, at least
de jure, and of other types of
administrative units (
oblasts and
krais), whose status was the same as
that of oblasts in other – mostly unitary –
Soviet Socialist Republics.
Today's
Russia is defined as a federation in its Constitution (Article 5),
and Russia's federal
subjects, i.e., the constituent republics, oblasts, krais, the federal-level cities of Moscow
and Saint
Petersburg
, as well as one autonomous oblast and four
autonomous
okrugs, are equal in legal terms, save for some
symbolic features allowed to republics (constitution, president,
national language). Some regions (
Yakutia) have concluded agreements with the
Federation so as to modify the degree of their autonomy.
According to an amendment passed in December 2004, governors and
presidents of Russia's constituent regions, who were previously
elected by popular vote, are now proposed by the
President of Russia for the approval of
the local parliament Local parliaments theoretically have the
authority to reject the candidate, but if this occurs three times,
the parliament may be dissolved by the President and new
parliamentary elections held.
This lets some argue that the Russian Federation is not a federation in the strictest sense and that
it has centralized features similar to a unitary system.
Soviet Union (USSR)
The
constitutions of
the Soviet Union (USSR) adopted since 1924 theoretically
provided for a voluntary federation or union of
Soviet Socialist Republics
(SSR). Each was notionally governed by its own
Supreme Soviet (
parliament) and had the right to secede from the
Union. Furthermore, some republics themselves possessed nominally
self-governing units –
Autonomous Soviet
Socialist Republics (ASSR) or
autonomous oblast.
Two of the USSR republics,
Byelorussian SSR and
Ukraine SSR,
were even members of the
United
Nations in recognition of their role in
World War II.
In practice, the system of one-party
government found in the Soviet Union meant that governance of the
Union was highly centralised, with important decisions taken by the
leaders of the Communist Party in
Moscow and merely
'rubber stamped' by local institutions. Nonetheless, with
the introduction of free, competitive elections in the final years
of the Soviet Union, the Union's theoretically federal structure
became a reality in practice. This occurred only for a brief
interim period, as the elected governments of many republics
demanded their right to secede and became independent states in
1991–1992. The Soviet Union's
de
jure federal structure played a key role in its
dissolution.
Myanmar
Myanmar
(formerly Burma
) is claimed
to have adopted federation status (the country's official name is
"Union of Myanmar"). However, after General
Ne Win seized power Burma in 1962 and abolished the
Constitution of the
Union of Burma, the country adopted a
unitary system under his
military dictatorship.
Constitutional structure
Division of powers
In a federation, the division of power between federal and regional
governments is usually outlined in the
constitution. It is in this way that the right
to self-government of the component states is usually
constitutionally entrenched. Component states often also possess
their own constitutions which they may amend as they see fit,
although in the event of conflict the federal constitution usually
takes precedence.
In almost all federations the central government enjoys the powers
of foreign policy and national defense. Were this not the case a
federation would not be a single sovereign state, per the UN
definition.
Notably, the states of Germany retain the right to act
on their own behalf at an international level, a condition
originally granted in exchange for the Kingdom of Bavaria's agreement to join
the German
Empire
in 1871. Beyond this the
precise division of power varies from one nation to another.The
constitutions of
Germany and the
United States provide
that all powers not specifically granted to the federal government
are retained by the states. The
Constitution of Canada, on the other
hand, states that powers not explicitly granted to the provincial
governments are retained by the federal government. Much like the
US system, the Australian Constitution allocates to the Federal
government (the Commonwealth of Australia) the power to make laws
about certain specified matters which were considered too difficult
for the States to manage, so that the States retain all other areas
of responsibility. Under the division of powers of the European
Union in the Lisbon Treaty, powers are not either exclusively of
European competence or shared between EU and state are retained by
the constituent states.
Where every component state of a federation possesses the same
powers, we are said to find 'symmetric federalism'.
Asymmetric federalism exists where
states are granted different powers, or some possess greater
autonomy than others do. This is often done in recognition of the
existence of a distinct culture in a particular region or regions.
In Spain,
"historical communities" such as Navarre
, Galicia, Catalonia, and the Basque
Country have more powers than other autonomous communities,
partly to deal with their distinctness and to appease nationalist
leanings, partly out of respect of privileges granted earlier in
history.
It is common that during the historical evolution of a federation
there is a gradual movement of power from the component states to
the centre, as the federal government acquires additional powers,
sometimes to deal with unforeseen circumstances. The acquisition of
new powers by a federal government may occur through formal
constitutional amendment or simply through a broadening of the
interpretation of a government's existing constitutional powers
given by the courts.
Usually, a federation is formed at two levels: the central
government and the regions (states, provinces, territories), and
little to nothing is said about second or third level
administrative political entities.
Brazil is an
exception, because the 1988 Constitution included the
municipalities as autonomous political entities making the
federation tripartite, encompassing the Union, the States, and the
municipalities. Each state is divided into municipalities
(
municípios) with their own legislative council
(
câmara de vereadores) and a mayor (
prefeito),
which are partly autonomous from both Federal and State Government.
Each municipality has a "little constitution", called "organic law"
(
lei orgânica).
Mexico
is an
intermediate case, in that municipalities are granted full-autonomy
by the federal constitution and their existence as autonomous
entities (municipio libre, "free municipality") is
established by the federal government and cannot be revoked by the
states' constitutions. Moreover, the federal constitution
determines which powers and competencies belong exclusively to the
municipalities and not to the
constituent states. However,
municipalities do not have an elected legislative assembly.
Federations often employ the
paradox of
being a union of states, while still being states (or having
aspects of
statehood) in themselves.
For example, James Madison (author of the
US Constitution) wrote in
Federalist Paper No. 39 that the US Constitution "is in
strictness neither a national nor a federal constitution; but a
composition of both. In its foundation, it is federal, not
national; in the sources from which the ordinary powers of the
Government are drawn, it is partly federal, and partly national..."
This paradox stems from the fact that states in a federation
maintain all
sovereignty that they do
not yield to the federation by their own consent. This paradox was
corrected by
Tenth
Amendment to the United States Constitution, which reserves
some powers and rights to the people that even the states can't
alienate. The sharing of sovereignty between a federation and its
constituent states sometimes makes it difficult to differentiate
between a sovereign state and a
non-sovereign state.
Organs of government
The structures of most federal governments incorporate mechanisms
to protect the rights of component states. One method, known as
'
intrastate federalism', is to
directly represent the governments of component states in federal
political institutions. Where a federation has a
bicameral legislature the
upper house is often used to represent the
component states while the
lower house
represents the people of the nation as a whole. A federal upper
house may be based on a special scheme of
apportionment, as is the case in
the
senates of the United States and
Australia, where each state is represented by an equal number of
senators irrespective of the size of its population.
Alternatively, or in addition to this
practice, the members of an upper house may be indirectly elected
by the government or legislature of the component states, as
occurred in the United States prior to 1913, or be actual members
or delegates of the state governments, as, for example, is the case
in the German
Bundesrat
and in the Council of the European
Union. The lower house of a federal legislature is
usually directly elected, with apportionment in proportion to
population, although states may sometimes still be guaranteed a
certain minimum number of seats.
In Canada, the provincial governments represent regional interests
and negotiate directly with the central government. A
First Ministers conference of the
prime minister and the provincial premiers is the
de facto highest political forum in the land,
although it is not mentioned in the constitution.
Federations often have special procedures for amendment of the
federal constitution. As well as reflecting the federal structure
of the state this may guarantee that the self-governing status of
the component states cannot be abolished without their consent. An
amendment to the constitution of the United States must be ratified
by three-quarters of either the state legislatures, or of
constitutional conventions specially elected in each of the states,
before it can come into effect. In referendums to amend the
constitutions of Australia and Switzerland it is required that a
proposal be endorsed not just by an overall majority of the
electorate in the nation as a whole, but also by separate
majorities in each of a majority of the states or cantons. In
Australia, this latter requirement is known as a
double
majority.
Some federal constitutions also provide that certain constitutional
amendments cannot occur without the unanimous consent of all states
or of a particular state. The US constitution provides that no
state may be deprived of equal representation in the senate without
its consent. In Australia, if a proposed amendment will
specifically impact one or more states, then it must be endorsed in
the referendum held in each of those states. Any amendment to the
Canadian constitution that would modify the role of the
monarchy would require unanimous consent
of the provinces. The
German Basic
Law provides that no amendment is admissible at all that would
abolish the federal system.
Other technical terms
- Fiscal federalism – federalism
involving the transfer of funds between different levels of
government.
- Formal federalism (or
'constitutional federalism') – the delineation of powers is
specified in a written constitution.
- Executive federalism (also
known as 'administrative federalism').
Federalism as a political philosophy
The meaning of
federalism, as a political movement, and of
what constitutes a 'federalist', varies with country and historical
context. Movements associated with the establishment or development
of federations can be either centralising or decentralising. For
example, at the time those nations were being established, factions
known as 'federalists' in the United States and Australia were
those who advocated the creation of strong central government.
Similarly, in European Union politics, federalists are mostly those
who seek greater EU integration. In contrast, in Spain and post-war
Germany, federal movements have sought decentralisation: the
transfer of power from central authorities to local units. In
Canada, where Quebec separatism has been a political force for
several decades, the 'federalist' force is dedicated to keeping the
federation intact and adapting the federal structure to better suit
Quebec interests.
Internal controversy and conflict
Certain forms of political and constitutional dispute are common to
federations. One issue is that the exact division of power and
responsibility between federal and regional governments is often a
source of controversy. Often, as is the case with the United
States, such conflicts are resolved through the judicial system,
which delimits the powers of federal and local governments. The
relationship between federal and local courts varies from nation to
nation and can be a controversial and complex issue in
itself.
Another common issue in federal systems is the conflict between
regional and national interests, or between the interests and
aspirations of different ethnic groups. In some federations the
entire jurisdiction is relatively homogeneous and each constituent
state resembles a miniature version of the whole; this is known as
'congruent federalism'. On the other hand,
incongruent federalism exists where
different states or regions possess distinct ethnic groups.
The ability of a federal government to create national institutions
that can mediate differences that arise because of linguistic,
ethnic, religious, or other regional differences is an important
challenge. The inability to meet this challenge may lead to the
secession of parts of a federation or to
civil
war, as occurred in United States and Switzerland.
In the case of
Malaysia, Singapore
was expelled from the federation because of rising
racial tension. In some cases internal conflict may lead a
federation to collapse entirely, as occurred in Nigeria
, the Federation of Rhodesia and
Nyasaland, the United Provinces of Central
America and the West Indies
Federation. Somalia
, despite its Transitional Federal Charter,
Transitional Federal
Parliament, and Transitional Federal
Government, has a weak central government: federal institutions
control only parts of Mogadishu
(though this is changing) and the Somaliland
region in the northwestern part of the country is
autonomous.
List of federations
Contemporary
| Federation |
Federating Units |
Major Federating Units |
Minor Federating Units |
|
Provinces of
Argentina |
23 provinces |
1 federal district |
|
States and
territories of Australia |
6 states |
1 federal district/territory, 1 major territory, several minor
territories |
|
States of Austria |
9 Länder or Bundesländer |
|
|
Divisions of
Belgium |
2 Communities, 2 Regions and 1 merged Community and Region |
|
|
Divisions of
Bosnia and Herzegovina |
2 entities (out of which one is itself a federation, consisting
of 10 cantons) |
1 district |
|
States of Brazil |
26 states |
1 federal district and 5,561 municipalities |
|
Provinces and
territories of Canada |
10 provinces |
3 territories |
|
|
3 islands |
|
|
Regions of Ethiopia |
9 regions |
2 chartered cities |
|
|
States of Germany |
16 Länder or Bundesländer |
|
Republic of India |
States and
territories of India |
27 states |
7 union territories including a national capital territory |
The
disputed territory of
Jammu and
Kashmir is not recognised by Pakistan and China |
|
Governorates of Iraq |
18
governorates, including the autonnmous region of Kurdistan . |
|
|
States of Malaysia |
13 states |
3 federal territories |
|
States of Mexico |
31 states |
1 federal district |
|
|
4 states |
|
|
States of Nigeria |
36 states |
1 territory |
|
Provinces and
territories of Pakistan |
4 provinces |
4 federal territories including a federal capital
territory |
|
Federal subjects of
Russia |
21 republics, 46 oblasts, 9 krais, 1
autonomous oblast, 4 autonomous okrugs, 2
federal-level cities |
|
Islands/parishes
of Saint Kitts and Nevis |
2 islands/14 parishes |
|
|
States of Sudan |
26 states |
|
|
Cantons of
Switzerland |
26 cantons |
|
|
Emirates of the
UAE |
7 emirates |
|
|
The 50 states |
50 states |
1 federal district; 1 incorporated territory, 13 unincorporated
territories |
|
States of Venezuela |
23 states |
1 federal district, 1 federal dependency |
Long form titles
- Federal Republic of: Brazil, Germany, Nigeria.
- Federation:
Russia, Saint Kitts
and Nevis
- Republic of: Argentina
, Austria, India
also called
as Indian Union, Iraq
, Sudan
.
- Others:
- None: Bosnia and
Herzegovina
, Malaysia, Canada
("Dominion" had been used
originally, but that has fallen into disuse).
Defunct
Some of the
proclaimed Arab federations were confederations
de facto.
See also
Footnotes
- Forum of
Federations
- Economic Warlords by Gregory H. Fuller
- La Communaute du Charbon et de l'Acier, p7 Paul Reuter
with preface by Robert Schuman. Paris 1953.
- How the court made a federation of the
EU.[1] Josselin (U de Rennes-1/CREM) and Marciano
(U de Reims CA/CNRS).
- BVerfG, 2 BvE 2/08 vom 30.6.2009, Absatz-Nr. (1
- 421)
- Oxford English Dictionary
- One of the most important recent books about the Belgian
institutions, written by one of the leading French-speaking jurists
concludes : Vers le confédéralisme (Toward a
Confederation). See: Charles-Etienne Lagasse, Les nouvelles
institutions politiques de la Belgique et de l'Europe, Erasme,
Namur 2003, p.
603 ISBN 2-87127-783-4
- Many Flemings would prefer two states, Flanders and Wallonia,
and two special regions, Brussels and the German-speaking region.
In Wallonia, there is a wider support for three states : Flanders,
Wallonia and Brussels.
- Constitutional definition of Russia as a federation
Article 5 of Russian Constitution.
- YAKUTIA: AUTONOMY AND DIAMONDS, December 1,
1996
- Yakutia (Russia) CRW Flags
- Amendments to the law on appointment of heads of
Russia's federal subjects, 11 December 2004.
- Russia's year of shrinking liberties BBC News
- Federal structure of Russia, Article 65 of Russian
Constitution.
- The USSR was a federation according to the letter of its
constitution, but, at least until its final years in the late
eighties and early nineties of the 20th century, its governance was
highly centralised in practice. See: Soviet Union section.
- The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was officially
proclaimed in 1963. Prior to this, the communist Yugoslav state was
named Democratic Federal Yugoslavia in 1943 and then Federal
People's Republic of Yugoslavia in 1946. See: Socialist Federal
Republic of Yugoslavia.
- Gained independence in 1957, joined with Sabah, Sarawak, and Singapore to form Malaysia in 1963.
)
)
)
)
)
)
(1943–1992)
(1992–2003)
(1896–1946)
(1948–1963)
(1961–1972)
(1969–1992)
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