Confederation
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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.
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
Since the member states of a confederation retain their sovereignty, they have an implicit right of
Under a confederation, compared to a
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
Examples
Belgium
Many scholars have claimed that the
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
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.
European Union
Its unique nature and the political sensitivities surrounding it cause there to be no common or legal classification for the
However, some academic observers more usually discuss the EU in the terms of it being a federation.
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
In the context of the history of the
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,
The two
Switzerland
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":
Name | Period | Notes |
---|---|---|
Three Crowned Kings | 1050 BCE–second century BCE | As 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 Empire | 496–1122 | Existed as a confederation between the Toltecs and the Chichimeca, simultaneously as an empire exerting control over places like Cholula. |
Holy Roman Empire[41] | 800/962-1806 | De 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. |
Muisca Confederation | c. 800–1540 | Consisted of the Southern Muisca of Bacatá led by the Zipazgo and the Northern Muisca of Hunza led by the Zacazgo. |
Kimek–Kipchak confederation | 9th century–13th century | A 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 century–1242 | A 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 | 987–1461 | |
Crown of Aragon | 1137–1716 | |
Haudenosaunee
|
1142–present | Also known as the Iroquois Confederacy or the Six (formerly Five) Nations. |
Hanseatic League | 13th–17th centuries | |
Old Swiss Confederacy | 1291–1848 | Officially, the "Swiss Confederation". |
Kara Koyunlu
|
1375–1468 | A Turkoman tribal confederation. |
Aq Qoyunlu | 1379–1501 | A Turkoman tribal confederation. |
Kalmar Uniona | 1397–1523 | Denmark, Sweden, Norway. |
Aztec Empire | 1428–1521 | Consisted of the Texcoco and Tlacopan .
|
Livonian Confederation | 1435–1561 | |
Pre- Poland and Lithuania a
|
1447–1492 1501–1569 |
Shared a monarch ( Grand Duke of Lithuania and King of Poland), parliament (Sejm ) and currency.
|
Denmark–Norwaya | 1536–1814 | |
Seven United Provinces of the Netherlands | 1581–1795 | |
Wampanoag Confederacy
|
||
Powhatan Confederacy | ||
Illinois Confederation | ||
Confederate Ireland | 1641–1649 | |
New England Confederation | 1643–1684 | |
Kingdom of Lunda | c. 1665-1887
|
|
Aro Confederacy | 1690–1902 | Parts of present-day Nigeria, Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea. |
Maratha Confedracy | 1713–1818 | |
The United States of America | 1781–1789 | Organization of the United States under the Articles of Confederation |
Western Confederacy
|
1785–1795 | |
Confederation of the Rhine | 1806–1813 | Had no head of state nor government. |
German Confederation | 1815–1866 | |
United Provinces of New Granada | 1810–1816 | Now part of present-day Colombia. |
Sweden–Norwaya | 1814–1905 | |
Confederation of the Equator | 1824 | Located in northeast Brazil. |
Argentine Confederation | 1832–1860 | |
Peru–Bolivian Confederation | 1836–1839 | |
Federal Republic of Central America | 1842–1844 | Present-day El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. |
Granadine Confederation | 1858–1863 | |
Confederate States of America | 1861–1865 | Southern US secessionist states during the American Civil War. |
United States of Colombia | 1863–1886 | |
Carlist States | 1872–1876 | Spanish states. |
United Republics of North Caucasus
|
1917–1922 | |
Confederal Republic of the Tribes of the Rif | 1921–1926 | Also known as the Rif Republic. Short-lived republic in Spanish-occupied northern Morocco during the Rif War. |
Arab League | 1945–present | |
Netherlands-Indonesia Union | 1949–1956 | Netherlands and Indonesia. |
Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland | 1953–1963 | Also 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.) |
Arab Federationb | 1958 | Iraq and Jordan. |
United Arab Republicb and the United Arab Statesb |
1958–1961 | North Yemen .
|
Union of African States | 1961–1963 | Mali, Ghana and Guinea. |
Federation of Arab Republicsb | 1972 | Egypt, Syria and Libya. |
Arab Islamic Republicb | 1974 | Libya and Tunisia. |
Senegambia | 1982–1989 | Gambia .
|
Rebel Zapatista Autonomous Municipalities | 1994–present | |
African Union | 2002–present | |
Serbia and Montenegro | 2003–2006 | |
- a Confederated personal union.
- b De facto confederation.
See also
- Associated state
- Commonwealth
- Federalism
- Federation
- Supranational union
- Continental union
- NATO
- African Union
- Union State
- Military alliance
- List of confederations
References
- ^ Oxford English Dictionary
- ^ 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.
- ^ McCormick, John (2002) Understanding the European Union: a Concise Introduction, Palgrave, Basingstoke, p. 6.
- 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.
- ^ a b Miller 2005, p. 529–581.
- ISBN 2871277834
- ^ "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.
- ^ 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
- ^ French: Le système institutionnel belge est déjà inscrit dans une dynamique de type cs, Le Soir, 19 September 2008
- ^ 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
- ^ Le petit Larousse 2013 p1247
- ISBN 978-1571817181.
- ISBN 978-0801434334.
- ^ Eyskens, Mark (2 August 2021). "'Een Belgische confederatie leidt onvermijdelijk tot drie onafhankelijke staten'". Site-Knack-NL (in Dutch). Retrieved 13 August 2021.
- ISBN 978-9463712040.
- ^ ISBN 978‑0660044910 Parameter error in {{ISBN}}: invalid character First edition published in 1980.
- ^ P.W. Hogg, Constitutional Law of Canada (5th ed. supplemented), para. 5.1(b).
- ^ Waite, Peter B. (1962). The Life and Times of Confederation, 1864–1867. University of Toronto Press. Pages 37–38, footnote 6.
- ISBN 978-9290794936.
- 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".
- ^ 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.
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(help) - ^ S2CID 153687230. (referring to the European Court of Justice). Josselin (U. de Rennes-1/CREM) and Marciano (U. de Reims CA/CNRS).
- ISBN 0199245002.
Europe has charted its own brand of constitutional federalism. It works. Why fix it?
- ^ 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.
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(help) - ^ Bednar, Jenna (2001). A Political Theory of Federalism. Cambridge University. pp. 223–270.
- NYU School of Law
- ^ 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.
- ^ "The Future of the European Union ECR Statement" (PDF). www.ecrgroup.eu. 8 March 2017. Retrieved 25 June 2022.
- ^ Gehrke, Laurenz (29 September 2020). "Italy's Giorgia Meloni elected president of European Conservatives and Reformists". Politico. Retrieved 28 July 2022.
- ^ 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
- ^ "Startseite". admin.ch. 13 February 2011. Retrieved 19 February 2011.
- ^ "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.
- ^ "The Swiss Confederation Institute". The Swiss Confederation Institute. Archived from the original on 23 January 2011. Retrieved 12 July 2013.
- ^ CH: Confoederatio Helvetica – Switzerland – Information Archived 30 March 2015 at the Wayback Machine. Swissworld.org. Retrieved on 2013-07-12.
- ^ "On the way to becoming a federal state (1815-1848)". admin.ch. 27 November 2017. Retrieved 28 January 2021.
- ^ "Russia and Belarus form confederation". BBC News. 8 December 1999. Retrieved 10 September 2021.
- ISBN 978-0199660681.
- ^ ISBN 978-3540876526.
- ^ ISBN 978-1799819523.
- ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 10 September 2021.
- S2CID 145527513.
Sources
- Miller, Nicholas (2005). "Serbia and Montenegro". Eastern Europe: An Introduction to the People, Lands, and Culture. Vol. 3. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO. pp. 529–581. ISBN 978-1576078006.
External links
- P.-J. Proudhon, The Principle of Federation, 1863.
- The Fathers of Confederation
- Confederation: The Creation of Canada Archived 17 December 2004 at the Wayback Machine
- United Confederation of Taino People