Concept
Federation
Overview
A federation (also called a federal state) is an 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 without constitutional amendment.
Sovereign power is formally divided between a central authority and a number of constituent regions so that each region retains some degree of control over its internal affairs.
Overriding powers of a central authority theoretically can include the constitutional authority to suspend a constituent state's government by invoking gross mismanagement or civil unrest, or to adopt national legislation that overrides or infringes on the constituent states' powers by invoking the central government's constitutional authority to ensure "peace and good government" or to implement obligations contracted under an international treaty.
The governmental or constitutional structure found in a federation is considered to be federalist, or to be an example of federalism. It can be considered in comparison with the unitary state. France and Japan, for example, have been unitary for many centuries.
The Austrian Empire was a unitary state with crown lands; after the transformation into the Austria-Hungary monarchy, the remaining crown lands of Cisleithania became federated as Länder of the Republic of Austria through the implementation of its constitution. Germany, with its 16 states, or Länder, and Nigeria, with its 36 states and federal capital territory, are examples of federations. Federations are often multi-ethnic and cover a large area of territory (such as Russia, the United States, Canada, India, Brazil, Pakistan or Australia), but neither is necessarily the case (such as Saint Kitts and Nevis or the Federated States of Micronesia). About 40% of the world population, or approximately 3.2 billion people, lives in a federation.
Overview adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0; see the article history for authors).
In the original texts
Passages from public-domain books where Federation is discussed.
In America, the experiment of a federation on this principle broke down in the first few years of its existence, happily while the men of enlarged knowledge and acquired ascendancy who founded the independence of the Republic were still alive to guide it through the difficult transition. The "Federalist," a collection of papers by three of these eminent men, written in explanation and defense of the new federal…
John Stuart Mill, Considerations on Representative Government
names the idea; opens on it
Ever wider burns the flame of Federation; ever wider and also brighter. Thus the Brittany and Anjou brethren mention a Fraternity of _all_ true Frenchmen; and go the length of invoking “perdition and death” on any renegade: moreover, if in their National-Assembly harangue, they glance…
Thomas Carlyle, The French Revolution
names the idea
The practicability or objective reality of this idea of federation which is to extend gradually over all states and so lead to perpetual peace can be shewn. For, if Fortune ordains that a powerful and enlightened people should form a republic,—which by its very nature is inclined to perpetual peace—this would serve as a centre of federal union for other states wishing to join, and thus secure conditions of freedom…
Immanuel Kant, Perpetual Peace
names the idea
(A) 21/2 percent of the receipts shall be deposited in an escrow account managed by an independent administrator jointly appointed by copyright owners of sound recordings and the American Federation of Musicians (or any successor entity) to be distributed to nonfeatured musicians (whether or not members of the American Federation of Musicians) who have performed on sound recordings. (B) 21/2 percent of the receipts…
United States, Copyright Law of the United States of America and Related Laws Contained in Title 17 of the United States Code, Circular 92
names the idea; opens on it
{205} Upon the ability of each particular order or society to maintain its own powers, privileges, and immunities, against the encroachments of every other, depends the stability of that particular constitution. That particular constitution is necessarily more or less altered, whenever any of its subordinate parts is either raised above or depressed below whatever had been its former rank and condition. All those…
Adam Smith, The Essays of Adam Smith
states what it is
Philosophers who discussed Federation
Related ideas
- Ethnicity
- Federalism
- Germany
- German Empire
- Galicia (Spain)
- City-state
- German Confederation
- India
- Indonesia
- Power (social and political)
- Japan
- South Africa
- Latin America
- Argentina
- Mexico City
- Spanish American wars of independence
- North America
- Nation state
- Unitary state
- Oceania
- Pakistan
- Russia
- Roman Empire
- Spain
Place in the tradition
Part of American philosophy.