Confederation

Last updated

A confederation (also known as a confederacy or league) is a political union of sovereign states united for purposes of common action. [1] Usually created by a treaty, confederations of states tend to be established for dealing with critical issues, such as defence, foreign relations, internal trade or currency, with the central government being required to provide support for all its members. Confederalism represents a main form of intergovernmentalism, defined as any form of interaction around states that takes place on the basis of sovereign independence or government.

Contents

The nature of the relationship among the member states constituting a confederation varies considerably. Likewise, the relationship between the member states and the general government and their distribution of powers varies. Some looser confederations are similar to international organisations. Other confederations with stricter rules may resemble federal systems.

Since the member states of a confederation retain their sovereignty, they have an implicit right of secession. The political philosopher Emmerich de Vattel said: "Several sovereign and independent states may unite themselves together by a perpetual confederacy without each, in particular, ceasing to be a perfect state.... The deliberations in common will offer no violence to the sovereignty of each member". [2]

Under a confederation, compared to a federal state, the central authority is relatively weak. [3] Decisions made by the general government in a unicameral legislature, a council of the member states, require subsequent implementation by the member states to take effect; they are not laws acting directly upon the individual but have more the character of interstate agreements. [4] Also, decision-making in the general government usually proceeds by consensus (unanimity), not by the majority. Historically, those features limit the union's effectiveness. Hence, political pressure tends to build over time for the transition to a federal system of government, as in the American, Swiss and German cases of regional integration.

Confederated states

In terms of internal structure, every confederal state is composed of two or more constituent states, referred to as confederated states. Regarding their political systems, confederated states can have republican or monarchical forms of government. Those that have a republican form (confederated republics) are usually called states (like states of the American Confederacy, 1861-1865) or republics (like republics of Serbia and Montenegro within the former State Union of Serbia and Montenegro, 2003-2006). [5] Those that have a monarchical form of government (confederated monarchies) are defined by various hierarchical ranks (like kingdoms of Iraq and Jordan within the Hashemite Arab Union in 1958).

Examples

Belgium

Many scholars have claimed that the Kingdom of Belgium, a country with a complicated federal structure has adopted some characteristics of a confederation under the pressure of separatist movements, especially in Flanders. For example, C. E. Lagasse declared that Belgium was "near the political system of a Confederation" regarding the constitutional reform agreements between Belgian Regions and between Communities, [6] and the director of the Centre de recherche et d'information socio-politiques (CRISP) Vincent de Coorebyter [7] called Belgium "undoubtedly a federation...[with] some aspects of a confederation" in Le Soir . [8] Also in Le Soir, Michel Quévit of the Catholic University of Louvain wrote that the "Belgian political system is already in dynamics of a Confederation". [9] [10]

Nevertheless, the Belgian regions and the linguistic communities do not have the autonomy to leave the Belgian state. As such, federal aspects still dominate. Also, for fiscal policy and public finances, the federal state dominates the other levels of government.[ citation needed ]

The increasingly-confederal aspects of the Belgian Federal State appear to be a political reflection of the profound cultural, sociological and economic differences between the Flemish (Belgians who speak Dutch or Dutch dialects) and the Walloons (Belgians who speak French or French dialects). [11] For example, in the last several decades, over 95% of Belgians have voted for political parties that represent voters from only one community, the separatist N-VA being the party with the most voter support among the Flemish population. Parties that strongly advocate Belgian unity and appeal to voters of both communities usually play only a marginal role in nationwide general elections. The system in Belgium is known as consociationalism. [12] [13]

That makes Belgium fundamentally different from federal countries like Switzerland, Canada, Germany and Australia. National parties receive over 90% of voter support in those countries. The only geographical areas comparable with Belgium within Europe are Catalonia, the Basque Country (both part of Spain), Northern Ireland and Scotland (both part of the United Kingdom) and parts of Italy, where a massive voter turnout for regional (and often separatist) political parties has become the rule in the last decades, and nationwide parties advocating national unity draw around half or sometimes less of the votes.

Benelux

The Benelux is a politico-economic union of the states of Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg bound through treaties and based on consensus between the representatives of the member states.

They partially share a common foreign policy, especially in regards to their navies through the BeNeSam. The Dutch defence minister (2010-2012) Hans Hillen even said on Belgian radio that it is not impossible that the three armed forces of the member-states could be integrated into "Benelux Armed Forces" one day.

Because of this the Benelux is sometimes labeled as a "kind of confederation" by, for example, Belgian Minister of State Mark Eyskens. [14] [15]

Canada

Proclamation of Canadian Confederation Proclamation Canadian Confederation.jpg
Proclamation of Canadian Confederation

In Canada, the word confederation has an additional unrelated meaning. [16] "Confederation" refers to the process of (or the event of) establishing or joining the Canadian federal state.

In modern terminology, Canada is a federation, not a confederation. [17] However, to contemporaries of the Constitution Act, 1867 , confederation did not have the same connotation of a weakly-centralized federation. [18] Canadian Confederation generally refers to the Constitution Act, 1867, which formed the Dominion of Canada from three of the colonies of British North America, and to the subsequent incorporation of other colonies and territories. Beginning on 1 July 1867, it was initially a self-governing dominion of the British Empire with a federal structure, whose government was led by Sir John A. Macdonald. The initial colonies involved were the Province of Canada (becoming Quebec from Canada East, formerly the colony of Lower Canada; and Ontario from Canada West, formerly the colony of Upper Canada), Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick. Later participants were Manitoba, British Columbia, Prince Edward Island, Alberta and Saskatchewan (the latter two created in 1905 as federated provinces from parts of the directly federally administered Northwest Territories, first transferred to the Dominion in 1869 and now possessing devolved governments as itself, Yukon and Nunavut), and finally Newfoundland (now Newfoundland and Labrador) in 1949. Canada is an unusually decentralized federal state, not a confederate association of sovereign states, [16] the usual meaning of confederation in modern terms. A Canadian judicial constitutional interpretation, Reference Re Secession of Quebec , and a subsequent federal law, set forth negotiating conditions for a Canadian province (though not a territory) to leave the Canadian federal state (addressed also by a related Quebec law). Importantly, negotiation would first need triggering by referendum and executing by constitutional amendment using a current amending mechanism of Canada's constitution—meaning that, while not legal under the current constitution, it is democratically feasible without resorting to extralegal means or international involvement.

European Union

Its unique nature and the political sensitivities surrounding it cause there to be no common or legal classification for the European Union (EU). However, it bears some resemblance to both a confederation [19] (or a "new" type of confederation) and a federation. [20] The term supranational union has also been applied. The EU operates common economic policies with hundreds of common laws, which enable a single economic market, a common customs territory, (mainly) open internal borders, and a common currency among most member-states. However, unlike a federation, the EU does not have exclusive powers over foreign affairs, defence, taxation, along with the immigration and transit of non-EU nationals. Furthermore, most EU laws, which have been developed by consensus between relevant national government ministers and then scrutinised and approved or rejected by the European Parliament, must be transposed into national law by national parliaments. Most collective decisions by member states are taken by weighted majorities and blocking minorities typical of upper houses in federations. On the other hand, the absolute unanimity typical of intergovernmentalism is required only in respect to the Common Foreign and Security Policy, as well as in situations when ratification of a treaty or of a treaty amendment is required. Such a form may thus be described as a semi-intergovernmental confederation.

However, some academic observers more usually discuss the EU in the terms of it being a federation. [21] [22] As the international law professor Joseph H. H. Weiler (of the Hague Academy and New York University) wrote, "Europe has charted its own brand of constitutional federalism". [23] Jean-Michel Josselin and Alain Marciano see the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg City as being a primary force behind the building of a federal legal order for the EU, [22] with Josselin stating that a "complete shift from a confederation to a federation would have required to straight-forwardly replace the principality of the member states vis-à-vis the Union by that of the European citizens. As a consequence, both confederate and federate features coexist in the judicial landscape". [24] Rutgers political science professor R. Daniel Kelemen said: "Those uncomfortable using the 'F' word in the EU context should feel free to refer to it as a quasi-federal or federal-like system. Nevertheless, the EU has the necessary attributes of a federal system. It is striking that while many scholars of the EU continue to resist analyzing it as a federation, most contemporary students of federalism view the EU as a federal system". [25] Thomas Risse and Tanja A. Börzel claim that the "EU only lacks two significant features of a federation. First, the Member States remain the "masters" of the treaties, i.e., they have the exclusive power to amend or change the constitutive treaties of the EU. Second, the EU lacks a real "tax and spend" capacity, in other words, there is no fiscal federalism". [26]

Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, the chairman of the body of experts commissioned to elaborate a constitutional charter for the European Union, was confronted with strong opposition from the United Kingdom towards including the words "federal" or "federation" in the unratified European Constitution and the word was replaced with either "Community" or "Union". [27]

A majority of the Political Groups in the European Parliament, including the EPP, the S&D Group and Renew Europe, support a federal model for the European Union. The ECR Group argues for a reformed European Union along confederal lines. The Brothers of Italy party, led by Giorgia Meloni, campaigns for a confederal Europe. On her election as President of the ECR Party in September 2020 Meloni said, "Let us continue to fight together for a confederate Europe of free and sovereign states". [28] [29]

Indigenous confederations in North America

Map of the Five Nations (from the Darlington Collection) Map of the Country of the Five Nations belonging to the province of New York and of the Lakes near which the Nations of Far Indians live with part of Canada taken from the Map of the Louisiane done 1730.png
Map of the Five Nations (from the Darlington Collection)

In the context of the history of the indigenous peoples of the Americas, a confederacy may refer to a semi-permanent political and military alliance consisting of multiple nations (or "tribes", "bands", or "villages"), which maintained their separate leadership. One of the most well-known is the Haudenosaunee (or Iroquois), but there were many others during different eras and locations across North America, such as the Wabanaki Confederacy, Western Confederacy, Tsenacommacah, Seven Nations of Canada, Pontiac's Confederacy, Pennacook Confederacy, Illinois Confederation, Tecumseh's Confederacy, Muscogee Confederacy, Great Sioux Nation, Blackfoot Confederacy, Warm Springs Confederacy, Manahoac Confederacy, Iron Confederacy and Council of Three Fires.

The Haudenosaunee Confederacy, historically known as the Iroquois League or the League of Five (later Six) Nations, is the country of Native Americans (in what is now the United States) and First Nations (in what is now Canada) that consists of six nations: the Mohawk, the Oneida, the Onondaga, the Cayuga, the Seneca and the Tuscarora. The Six Nations have a representative government known as the Grand Council which is the oldest governmental institution still maintaining its original form in North America. [30] Each clan from the five nations sends chiefs to act as representatives and make decisions for the whole confederation. It has been operating since its foundation in 1142 despite limited international recognition today.

Indigenous confederations in South America

Several of the Pre-Columbian cultures of Colombia, such as the Muisca and Tairona were composed of loose confederations. The Muisca form of government consisted of two different rulers that governed a region in the central Andean highlands in present-day Colombia. The Hoa ruled the northern section of the confederation, while the Zipa ruled the southern portion.

The Andean civilizations consisted of loose confederations, such as the Aymara kingdoms and the Diaguita, with the former being composed of distinct diarchies.

Serbia and Montenegro

In 2003, Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was transformed into the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro, a confederation of the Republic of Montenegro and the Republic of Serbia. The state was constituted as a loose political union, but formally functioned as a sovereign subject of international law, and member of the United Nations. As a confederation, the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro had very few shared functions, such as defense, foreign affairs and a weak common president, ministerial council and parliament. [5]

The two constituent republics functioned separately throughout the period of its short existence, and they continued to operate under separate economic policies and to use separate currencies (the euro was and still is the only legal tender in Montenegro, and the dinar was and still is the legal tender in Serbia). On 21 May 2006, the Montenegrin independence referendum was held. The final official results indicated on 31 May that 55.5% of voters voted in favor of independence. The confederation effectively came to an end after Montenegro's formal declaration of independence on 3 June 2006 and Serbia's formal declaration of independence on 5 June.

Switzerland

Switzerland, officially known as the Swiss Confederation, [31] [32] [33] is an example of a modern country that traditionally refers to itself as a confederation because the official (and traditional) name of Switzerland in German (the majority language of the Swiss) is Schweizerische Eidgenossenschaft (literally "Swiss Comradeship by Oath"), an expression which was translated into the Latin Confoederatio Helvetica (Helvetic Confederation). It had been a confederacy since its inception in 1291 as the Old Swiss Confederacy, which was originally created as an alliance among the valley communities of the central Alps, until it became a federation in 1848 but it retains the name of Confederacy for reasons of historical tradition. The confederacy facilitated management of common interests (such as freedom from external domination especially from the Habsburg Empire, the development of republican institutions in a Europe dominated by monarchies and free trade), and it ensured peace between the different cultural entities of the area.

After the Sonderbund War of 1847, when some of the Catholic cantons of Switzerland attempted to set up a separate union (Sonderbund in German) against the Protestant majority, a vote was held and the majority of the cantons approved the new Federal Constitution which changed the political system to one of a federation. [34] [35]

Union State of Russia and Belarus

In 1999, Russia and Belarus signed a treaty to form a confederation, [36] which came into force on 26 January 2000. [37] Although it was given the name Union State, and has some characteristics of a federation, it remains a confederation of two sovereign states. [38] Its existence has been seen as an indication of Russia's political and economic support for the Belarusian government. [39] The confederation was created with the objective of co-ordinating common action on economic integration and foreign affairs. [38] However, many of the treaty's provisions have not yet been implemented. [39] Consequently, The Times , in 2020, described it as "a mostly unimplemented confederation". [40]

Historical confederations

Historical confederations (especially those predating the 20th century) may not fit the current definition of a confederation, may be proclaimed as a federation but be confederal (or the reverse), and may not show any qualities that 21st-century political scientists might classify as those of a confederation.

List

Some have more the characteristics of a personal union, but appear here because of their self-styling as a "confederation":

NamePeriodNotes
Three Crowned Kings 1050 BCEsecond century BCEAs described in the Hathigumpha inscription, On the 11th year, Kharavela broke up a confederacy of Tamil kingdoms, which was becoming a threat to Kalinga Kharavela
Toltec Emblem.svg Toltec Empire 4961122Existed as a confederation between the Toltecs and the Chichimeca, simultaneously as an empire exerting control over places like Cholula.
Banner of the Holy Roman Emperor (after 1400).svg Holy Roman Empire [41] 800/962-1806De jure an empire: it was de facto a multi-ethnic confederation of German, Italian, Czech, Dutch, and French states before 1512; it was de jure a German polity from 1512 until its fall.
Kimek–Kipchak confederation 9th century13th centuryA Turkic confederation in the eastern part of the Eurasian Steppe, between the 9th and 13th centuries. The confederation was dominated by two Turkic nomadic tribes: the Kimeks and the Kipchaks.
Cumania 10th century1242A Turkic confederation in the western part of the Eurasian Steppe, between the 10th and 13th centuries. The confederation was dominated by two Turkic nomadic tribes: the Cumans and the Kipchaks.
League of Mayapan 9871461
Royal Banner of Aragon.svg Crown of Aragon 11371716
Flag of the Iroquois Confederacy.svg Haudenosaunee 1142presentAlso known as the Iroquois Confederacy or the Six (formerly Five) Nations.
Hanseatenwimpel.svg Hanseatic League 13th–17th centuries
Early Swiss cross.svg Old Swiss Confederacy 12911848Officially, the "Swiss Confederation".
Kara Koyunlu 13751468A Turkoman tribal confederation.
Aq Qoyunlu 13791501A Turkoman tribal confederation.
Flag of the Kalmar Union.svg Kalmar Union a13971523 Denmark, Sweden, Norway.
Aztec Triple Alliance.png Aztec Empire 14281521Consisted of the city-states of Tenochtitlan, Texcoco and Tlacopan.
Baltic coat of arms.svg Livonian Confederation 14351561
Kingdom of Poland-flag.svg Pre-Commonwealth Poland and Lithuania a14471492
15011569
Shared a monarch (Grand Duke of Lithuania and King of Poland), parliament ( Sejm ) and currency.
Bandera de la confeferacion muisca.JPG Muisca Confederation ~14501540Consisted of the Southern Muisca of Bacatá led by the Zipazgo and the Northern Muisca of Hunza led by the Zacazgo.
Royal Standard of Denmark (1731-1819).svg Denmark–Norway a15361814
Statenvlag.svg Seven United Provinces of the Netherlands 15811795
Wampanoag Confederacy
Powhatan Confederacy
Illinois Confederation
Green harp flag of Ireland 17th century.svg Confederate Ireland 16411649
New England pine flag.svg New England Confederation 16431684
Kingdom of Lunda
c.1665-1887
Flag of the Aro Confederacy.svg Aro Confederacy 16901902Parts of present-day Nigeria, Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea.
Flag of the Maratha Empire.svg Maratha Confedracy 17131818
Flag of the United States (1777-1795).svg The United States of America 17811789Organization of the United States under the Articles of Confederation
Western Confederacy 17851795
Commemorative Medal of the Rhine Confederation.svg Confederation of the Rhine 18061813Had no head of state nor government.
Flag of the German Confederation (war).svg German Confederation 18151866
Flag of New Granada (1811-1814).svg United Provinces of New Granada 18101816Now part of present-day Colombia.
Union Jack of Sweden and Norway (1844-1905).svg Sweden–Norway a18141905
Bandeira da Confederecao do Equador.svg Confederation of the Equator 1824Located in northeast Brazil.
Flag of the Argentine Confederation.svg Argentine Confederation 18321860
Flag of the Peru-Bolivian Confederation.svg Peru–Bolivian Confederation 18361839
Flag of the Federal Republic of Central America.svg  Federal Republic of Central America 18421844Present-day El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua.
Flag of New Granada.svg Granadine Confederation 18581863
Flag of the Confederate States of America (1865).svg Confederate States of America 18611865Southern US secessionist states during the American Civil War.
Flag of Colombia.svg United States of Colombia 18631886
Flag of Cross of Burgundy.svg Carlist States 18721876 Spanish states.
Flag of the Mountain Republic.svg United Republics of North Caucasus 19171922
Flag of the Republic of the Rif.svg Confederal Republic of the Tribes of the Rif 19211926Also known as the Rif Republic. Short-lived republic in Spanish-occupied northern Morocco during the Rif War.
Flag of the Arab League.svg  Arab League 1945present
Netherlands-Indonesia Union 19491956 Netherlands and Indonesia.
Flag of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland (1953-1963).svg Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland 19531963Also known as the Central African Federation, consisting of the then-British colonies of Southern Rhodesia, Northern Rhodesia, and Nyasaland (current-day Zimbabwe, Zambia, and Malawi.)
Flag of the Arab Federation.svg Arab Federation b1958 Iraq and Jordan.
Flag of the United Arab Republic.svg United Arab Republic b
and the United Arab States b
19581961 Egypt and Syria,
joined by North Yemen.
Flag of the Union of African States (1961-1962).svg Union of African States 19611963 Mali, Ghana and Guinea.
Flag of Syria (1972-1980).svg Federation of Arab Republics b1972 Egypt, Syria and Libya.
Drapeau de la Republique Arabe Islamique (Union tuniso-libyenne).svg Arab Islamic Republic b1974 Libya and Tunisia.
Senegambia 19821989 Senegal and Gambia.
Ejercito Zapatista de Liberacion Nacional, Flag.svg Rebel Zapatista Autonomous Municipalities 1994present
Flag of the African Union.svg  African Union 2002present
Flag of Yugoslavia (1992-2003); Flag of Serbia and Montenegro (2003-2006).svg  Serbia and Montenegro 20032006

  • a Confederated personal union.
  • b De facto confederation.


See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Federalism</span> Political concept

Federalism is a mode of government that combines a general government with regional governments in a single political system, dividing the powers between the two. Johannes Althusius is considered the father of modern federalism along with Montesquieu. He notably exposed the bases of this political philosophy in Politica Methodice Digesta, Atque Exemplis Sacris et Profanis Illustrata (1603). Montesquieu sees in the Spirit of Laws, examples of federalist republics in corporate societies, the polis bringing together villages, and the cities themselves forming confederations. Federalism in the modern era was first adopted in the unions of states during the Old Swiss Confederacy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Federalisation of the European Union</span> Proposals to federalise the European Union

There is ongoing discussion about the extent to which the European Union (EU) has already turned from a confederation into a federation over the course of decades, and more importantly, to what degree it should continue to evolve into a federalist direction. As of January 2024, the EU has no formal plans to become a federation.

Secession is the formal withdrawal of a group from a political entity. The process begins once a group proclaims an act of secession. A secession attempt might be violent or peaceful, but the goal is the creation of a new state or entity independent of the group or territory from which it seceded. Threats of secession can be a strategy for achieving more limited goals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Federation</span> Political union of partially self-governing territories under a national government

A federation is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a federal government (federalism). In a federation, the self-governing status of the component states, as well as the division of power between them and the central government, is constitutionally entrenched and may not be altered by a unilateral decision, neither by the component states nor the federal political body.

Confederacy or confederate may refer to:

The Constitutional debate of Canada is an ongoing debate covering various political issues regarding the fundamental law of the country. The debate can be traced back to the Royal Proclamation, issued on October 7, 1763, following the signing of the Treaty of Paris (1763) wherein France ceded most of New France to Great Britain in favour of keeping Guadeloupe.

European integration is the process of industrial, economic, political, legal, social, and cultural integration of states wholly or partially in Europe, or nearby. European integration has primarily but not exclusively come about through the European Union and its policies.

A supranational union is a type of international organization that is empowered to directly exercise some of the powers and functions otherwise reserved to states. A supranational organization involves a greater transfer of or limitation of state sovereignty than other kinds of international organizations.

A central government is the government that is a controlling power over a unitary state. Another distinct but sovereign political entity is a federal government, which may have distinct powers at various levels of government, authorized or delegated to it by the federation and mutually agreed upon by each of the federated states.

A political union is a type of political entity which is composed of, or created from, smaller polities, or the process which achieves this. These smaller polities are usually called federated states and federal territories in a federal government; and prefectures, regions, or provinces in the case of a centralised government. This form of government may be created through voluntary and mutual cession and is described as unionism by its constituent members and proponents. In other cases, it may arise from political unification, characterised by coercion and conquest. The unification of separate states which, in the past, had together constituted a single entity is known as reunification. Unlike a personal union or real union, the individual constituent entities may have devolution of powers but are subordinate to a central government or coordinated in some sort of organization. In a federalised system, the constituent entities usually have internal autonomy, for example in the setup of police departments, and share power with the federal government, for whom external sovereignty, military forces, and foreign affairs are usually reserved. The union is recognised internationally as a single political entity. A political union may also be called a legislative union or state union.

Dual federalism, also known as layer-cake federalism or divided sovereignty, is a political arrangement in which power is divided between the federal and state governments in clearly defined terms, with state governments exercising those powers accorded to them without interference from the federal government. Dual federalism is defined in contrast to cooperative federalism, in which federal and state governments collaborate on policy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Old Swiss Confederacy</span> 1291–1798 confederation of Swiss cantons

The Old Swiss Confederacy, also known as Switzerland, or the Swiss Confederacy was a loose confederation of independent small states, initially within the Holy Roman Empire. It is the precursor of the modern state of Switzerland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Granadine Confederation</span> 1858–1863 federal state in Central and South America

The Granadine Confederation was a short-lived federal republic established in 1858 as a result of a constitutional change replacing the Republic of New Granada. It consisted of the present-day nations of Colombia and Panama and parts of northwestern Brazil. In turn, the Granadine Confederation was replaced by the United States of Colombia after another constitutional change in 1863.

Paradiplomacy is the involvement of non-central governments in international relations. The phenomenon includes a variety of practices, from town twinning to transnational networking, decentralized cooperation, and advocacy in international summits. Following the movement of globalisation, non-central governments have been playing increasingly influential roles on the global scene, connecting across national borders and developing their own foreign policies. Regions, states, provinces and cities seek their way to promote cooperation, cultural exchanges, trade and partnership, in a large diversity of ways and objectives depending on their decentralization, cultural, and socio-economical contexts. This trend raises new questions concerning public international law and opened a debate on the global governance regime, and the evolution of the nation-led system that has provided the grounds for the international political order in the last centuries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Republic of Serbia (1992–2006)</span> State of the FR Yugoslavia then Serbia and Montenegro

The Republic of Serbia was a constituent state of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia between 1992 and 2003 and the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro from 2003 to 2006. With Montenegro's secession from the union with Serbia in June 2006, both became sovereign states in their own right for the first time in nearly 88 years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">European Federation</span> Speculative future European federation

The European Federation, also referred to as the United States of Europe (USE), European State, or Federal Europe, is a hypothetical scenario of European integration leading to the formation of a sovereign superstate, organised as a federation of the member countries of the European Union (EU), as contemplated by political scientists, politicians, geographers, historians, futurologists and fiction writers. At present, while the EU is not a federation, various academic observers regard it as having some of the characteristics of a federal system.

Staatenverbund is a neologism for a system of multi-level governance in which states work more closely together than in a confederation but, unlike a federal state, retain their own sovereignty. The concept is used in Germany to describe the European Union but has no direct equivalent in other languages. In German jurisprudence, a Staatenverbund is a supranational institution that may exercise sovereign acts but may not independently fix areas where it may exercise this power.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Federalism in the United Kingdom</span> Proposed constitutional reform of a division of powers

Federalism in the United Kingdom aims at constitutional reform to achieve a federal UK or a British federation, where there is a division of legislative powers between two or more levels of government, so that sovereignty is decentralised between a federal government and autonomous governments in a federal system.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Proposed United Kingdom confederation</span> Proposed constitutional reform of a confederation of sovereign states

A British confederation or a confederal UK has been proposed as a concept of constitutional reform of the United Kingdom, in which the countries of the United Kingdom; England, Scotland, Wales, as well as Northern Ireland become separate sovereign states that pool certain key resources within a confederal system with a central authority. Under the system, the central authority exists with the consensus of the constituent countries, which also maintain a right to secession, if they wish.

References

  1. Oxford English Dictionary
  2. Vattel, Emmerich (1758) The Law of Nations, cited in Wood, Gordon (1969) The Creation of the American Republic 1776–1787, University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, p.355.
  3. McCormick, John (2002) Understanding the European Union: a Concise Introduction, Palgrave, Basingstoke, p. 6.
  4. This was the key feature that distinguished the first American union, under the Articles of Confederation of 1781, from the second, under the current US Constitution of 1789. Alexander Hamilton, in Federalist 15, called the absence of directly-effective law in the Articles a "defect" and the "great and radical vice" in the initial system. Madison, James, Hamilton, Alexander and Jay, John (1987) The Federalist Papers, Penguin, Harmondsworth, p. 147.
  5. 1 2 Miller 2005, p. 529–581.
  6. French Le confédéralisme n'est pas loin Charles-Etienne Lagasse, Les Nouvelles institutions politiques de la Belgique et de l'Europe, Erasme, Namur 2003, p. 405 ISBN   2871277834
  7. "Belgian research center whose activities are devoted to the study of decision-making in Belgium and in Europe". Archived from the original on 3 February 2007.
  8. French: "La Belgique est (...) incontestablement, une fédération : il n'y a aucun doute (...) Cela étant, la fédération belge possède d'ores et déjà des traits confédéraux qui en font un pays atypique, et qui encouragent apparemment certains responsables à réfléchir à des accommodements supplémentaires dans un cadre qui resterait, vaille que vaille, national." Vincent de Coorebyter "La Belgique (con)fédérale" in Le Soir 24 June 2008
  9. French: Le système institutionnel belge est déjà inscrit dans une dynamique de type cs, Le Soir, 19 September 2008
  10. Robert Deschamps, Michel Quévit, Robert Tollet, "Vers une réforme de type confédéral de l'État belge dans le cadre du maintien de l'union monétaire," in Wallonie 84, n°2, pp. 95-111
  11. Le petit Larousse 2013 p1247
  12. Wolff, Stefan (2004). Disputed Territories: The Transnational Dynamics of Ethnic Conflict Settlement. Berghahn Books. pp. 30–31. ISBN   978-1571817181.
  13. Wippman, David (1998). "Practical and Legal Constraints on Internal Power Sharing". In Wippman, David (ed.). International Law and Ethnic Conflict. Cornell University Press. p. 220. ISBN   978-0801434334.
  14. Eyskens, Mark (2 August 2021). "'Een Belgische confederatie leidt onvermijdelijk tot drie onafhankelijke staten'". Site-Knack-NL (in Dutch). Retrieved 13 August 2021.
  15. VRG-Alumni (2020). Recht in beweging – 27ste VRG-Alumnidag 2020 (in Dutch). Gompel&Svacina. ISBN   978-9463712040.
  16. 1 2 Eugene Forsey, How Canadians Govern Themselves , 9th ed. (Ottawa: Library of Parliament / Bibliothèque du Parlement, Catalogue No. X9‑11/2016E, 2016‑03), ISBN   978-0660044897, pp. 7, 29. French version published as Les Canadiens et leur système de gouvernement , no de catalogue X9‑11/2016F, ISBN   978‑0660044910  Parameter error in {{ISBN}}: invalid character First edition published in 1980.
  17. P.W. Hogg, Constitutional Law of Canada (5th ed. supplemented), para. 5.1(b).
  18. Waite, Peter B. (1962). The Life and Times of Confederation, 1864–1867. University of Toronto Press. Pages 37–38, footnote 6.
  19. Kiljunen, Kimmo (2004). The European Constitution in the Making. Centre for European Policy Studies. pp. 21–26. ISBN   978-9290794936.
  20. Burgess, Michael (2000). Federalism and European union: The building of Europe, 1950–2000. Routledge. p. 49. ISBN   0415226473. "Our theoretical analysis suggests that the EC/EU is neither a federation nor a confederation in the classical sense. But it does claim that the European political and economic elites have shaped and moulded the EC/EU into a new form of an international organization, namely, a species of "new" confederation".
  21. Josselin, Jean Michel; Marciano, Alain (2006). "The Political Economy of European Federalism" (PDF). Series: Public Economics and Social Choice. Centre for Research in Economics and Management, University of Rennes 1, University of Caen: 12. WP 2006–07; UMR CNRS 6211. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 August 2008. A complete shift from a confederation to a federation would have required to straightforwardly replace the principalship of the member states vis-à-vis the Union by that of the European citizens. As a consequence, both confederate and federate features coexist in the judicial landscape.{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  22. 1 2 Josselin, Jean-Michel; Marciano, Alain (2007). "How the court made a federation of the EU". The Review of International Organizations. 2: 59–75. doi:10.1007/s11558-006-9001-y. S2CID   153687230. (referring to the European Court of Justice). Josselin (U. de Rennes-1/CREM) and Marciano (U. de Reims CA/CNRS).
  23. J.H.H. Weiler (2003). "Chapter 2, Federalism without Constitutionalism: Europe's Sonderweg". The federal vision: legitimacy and levels of governance in the United States and the European Union . Oxford University Press. ISBN   0199245002. Europe has charted its own brand of constitutional federalism. It works. Why fix it?
  24. Josselin, Jean Michel; Marciano, Alain (2006). "The political economy of European federalism" (PDF). Series: Public Economics and Social Choice. Centre for Research in Economics and Management, University of Rennes 1, University of Caen: 12. WP 2006-07; UMR CNRS 6211. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 August 2008.{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  25. Bednar, Jenna (2001). A Political Theory of Federalism. Cambridge University. pp. 223–270.
  26. Thomas Risse and Tanja A. Börzel, Who is Afraid of a European Federation? How to Constitutionalise a Multi-Level Governance System, Section 4: The European Union as an Emerging Federal System, Jean Monnet Center at NYU School of Law
  27. Evans-Pritchard, Ambrose (8 July 2003). "Giscard's "federal" ruse to protect Blair". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 14 January 2013. Retrieved 15 October 2008.
  28. "The Future of the European Union ECR Statement" (PDF). www.ecrgroup.eu. 8 March 2017. Retrieved 25 June 2022.
  29. Gehrke, Laurenz (29 September 2020). "Italy's Giorgia Meloni elected president of European Conservatives and Reformists". Politico. Retrieved 28 July 2022.
  30. Jennings, F. (1984). The Ambiguous Iroquois Empire: The Covenant Chain Confederation of Indian Tribes with English Colonies from Its Beginnings to the Lancaster Treaty of 1744. United Kingdom: Norton., p.94
  31. "Startseite". admin.ch. 13 February 2011. Retrieved 19 February 2011.
  32. "Federal Chancellery – The Swiss Confederation – a brief guide". Bk.admin.ch. 1 March 2010. Archived from the original on 14 May 2013. Retrieved 19 February 2011.
  33. "The Swiss Confederation Institute". The Swiss Confederation Institute. Archived from the original on 23 January 2011. Retrieved 12 July 2013.
  34. CH: Confoederatio Helvetica – Switzerland – Information Archived 30 March 2015 at the Wayback Machine . Swissworld.org. Retrieved on 2013-07-12.
  35. "On the way to becoming a federal state (1815-1848)". admin.ch. 27 November 2017. Retrieved 28 January 2021.
  36. "Russia and Belarus form confederation". BBC News. 8 December 1999. Retrieved 10 September 2021.
  37. Romano, Cesare; Alter, Karen; Shany, Yuval (2014). The Oxford Handbook of International Adjudication. OUP Oxford. p. 251. ISBN   978-0199660681.
  38. 1 2 Kembayev, Zhenis (2009). Legal Aspects of the Regional Integration Processes in the Post-Soviet Area. Springer Science & Business Media. pp. 98, 100–101. ISBN   978-3540876526.
  39. 1 2 Lagutina, Maria (2019). Regional Integration and Future Cooperation Initiatives in the Eurasian Economic Union. IGI Global. p. 180. ISBN   978-1799819523.
  40. O'Reilly, Johnny; Luhn, Alec (17 August 2020). "Belarus protests: Putin threatens to intervene as 200,000 gather to oppose Lukashenko". The Times. ISSN   0140-0460 . Retrieved 10 September 2021.
  41. Heinz H. F. Eulau (1941). "Theories of Federalism under the Holy Roman Empire". The American Political Science Review. 35 (4): 643–664. doi:10.2307/1948073. JSTOR   1948073. S2CID   145527513.

Sources