Federacy

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A federacy is a form of government where one or several substate units enjoy considerably more independence than the majority of the substate units.^[1] To some extent, such an arrangement can be considered to be similar to asymmetric federalism.

Description

A federacy is a

.

Federacies

This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (August 2008)

Several states are federacies. The exact autonomy of the subunits differs from country to country.

Antigua and Barbuda

Barbuda is autonomous within Antigua and Barbuda.

Australia and Norfolk Island

Norfolk Island self-government was revoked by the Australian Federal Government in 2015. Its laws were subsumed into the laws of the Australian federal government and be subordinate to them. On 1 July 2016, the federal government increased federal regulations so that federal laws would also apply to Norfolk Island and to make it semi-autonomous. Since then, opposition by several organizations have protested these actions to the United Nations to include the island on its list of "non-self-governing territories".^[2][3]

Azerbaijan and Nakhchivan

Nakhchivan is an autonomous part of Azerbaijan.

China, Hong Kong and Macau ^{[citation needed]}

Fiji and Rotuma

Rotuma has the status of dependency in Fiji.

Finland and Åland

The archipelago of

Kashmir and India/Pakistan

After independence from British rule,

"Kashmir was neither as large nor as old an independent state as Hyderabad; it had been created rather off-handedly by the British after the first defeat of the Sikhs in 1846, as a reward to a former official who had sided with the British. The Himalayan kingdom was connected to India through a district of the Punjab, but its population was 77 per cent Muslim and it shared a boundary with Pakistan. Hence, it was anticipated that the maharaja would accede to Pakistan when the British paramountcy ended on 14–15 August. When he hesitated to do this, Pathan tribesman launched a guerrilla onslaught meant to sway its ruler into their favour and became fugitive leader. Instead the Maharaja appealed to Mountbatten[4] for assistance, and the governor-general agreed on the condition that the ruler accede to India. Indian soldiers entered Kashmir and drove the Pakistani-sponsored irregulars from all but a small section of the state. The United Nations was then invited to mediate the quarrel. The UN mission insisted that the opinion of Kashmiris must be ascertained, while India insisted that no referendum could occur until all of the state had been cleared of irregulars."^[5]

Currently, the region is divided amongst three countries in

Mauritius and Rodrigues

On 20 November 2001, the Mauritius National Assembly unanimously adopted two laws giving Rodrigues its autonomy, creating a decentralised government system. This new legislation has allowed the implementation of a regional assembly in Rodrigues constituting 18 members and an executive council headed by a Chief Commissioner. The council meets every week to make decisions, draw up laws and manage the budget. The Chief Commissioner has the main task of informing the Mauritian Prime Minister of the management of the island's concerns.

Moldova and Gagauzia

In 1994

The Netherlands Antilles was scheduled to be dissolved as a unified political entity on 15 December 2008, so that the five constituent islands would attain new constitutional statuses within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, but this dissolution was postponed until 10 October 2010. Curaçao and Sint Maarten gained autonomy as non-independent countries within the Kingdom, as Aruba did in 1986, and the three remaining islands of Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba became special municipalities of the Netherlands itself.^[6]

New Zealand, Cook Islands and Niue

Nicaragua, North Caribbean Coast Autonomous Region, and South Caribbean Coast Autonomous Region

Papua New Guinea is divided into 20 provinces. Among them Bougainville has an autonomous government.

Philippines and Bangsamoro

The Philippines is divided into 17 regions, with Bangsamoro only the one to have an autonomous region.^[7]

An earlier proposed autonomous region, the Bangsamoro Juridical Entity was "federacy" within the Philippines.^[8]

Saint Kitts and Nevis

Nevis is autonomous within Saint Kitts and Nevis, with its own deputy governor and government.

São Tomé and Príncipe

Príncipe has had self-government from São Tomé since 1995.

Serbia, Vojvodina and Kosovo

Badakhshan is an autonomous region in Tajikistan consisting of 7 local districts. Its government is considered somewhat sovereign to the Tajik government, but the region has from time to time been in militant conflict just as in 2014.^[9]

Tanzania and Zanzibar

Trinidad and Tobago

Tobago has its own House of Assembly, with its Chief Secretary. It handles some of the responsibilities of the Trinidad and Tobago central government.

Ukraine and Crimea

The

The relationship between the United States and Puerto Rico is a federacy.^[11][12]

Puerto Rico residents are United States citizens and may freely travel between the US mainland and Puerto Rico. Residents of Puerto Rico are exempt from some federal taxes. Puerto Rico's autonomy is granted by Congress. Federal taxes do not automatically apply to Puerto Rico unless the Government of Puerto Rico wants them to. Although the US government has full say over its foreign policy, Puerto Rico does maintain direct contacts with its Caribbean neighbors.

Puerto Rico does not have full voting representation in the US Congress, nor do its people vote for electors in US presidential elections.

Uzbekistan and Karakalpakstan

Karakalpakstan is an autonomous republic that occupies the whole western portion of Uzbekistan.

Comparison to other systems of autonomy

Associated states

A federacy also differs from an associated state, such as the Federated States of Micronesia, the Marshall Islands, and Palau (in free association with the United States) and the Cook Islands and Niue (which form part of the Realm of New Zealand). There are two kinds of associated states: in the case of the Federated States of Micronesia, the Marshall Islands, and Palau, association is concluded by treaty between two sovereign states; in the case of the Cook Islands and Niue, association is concluded by domestic legal arrangements.

Asymmetric federations

In an asymmetric federation one of the substates has more independence than the others. Examples of this are Canada where Quebec has been given political deference to craft independent language and education policies.

Some unitary states, such as Spain and the United Kingdom, may also be regarded as asymmetric federations. For example, in Spain, the Basque Country, Catalonia and Galicia (later also Andalusia, Aragon, Balearic Islands, Canary Islands, Navarre, Valencia, etc.) have been granted greater autonomy and political deference than the rest of the Spanish autonomous communities (see: nationalities and regions of Spain).

The difference between an asymmetric federation and federacy is indistinct; a federacy is essentially an extreme case of an asymmetric federation, either due to large differences in the level of autonomy, or the rigidity of the constitutional arrangements.

British Overseas Territories

The British Overseas Territories are vested with varying degrees of power; some enjoy considerable independence from the United Kingdom, which only takes care of their foreign relations and defence. However, they are neither considered to be part of the United Kingdom, nor recognised as sovereign or associated states.

Crown Dependencies

The relations between the United Kingdom and the Crown Dependencies, i.e. the Isle of Man and the bailiwicks of Guernsey and Jersey in the Channel Islands, are very similar to a federate relation: the Islands enjoy independence from the United Kingdom, which, via The Crown, takes care of their foreign relations and defence – although the UK Parliament does have overall power to legislate for the dependencies. However, the islands are neither an incorporated part of the United Kingdom nor are they considered to be independent or associated states. The Isle of Man does not have a monarch but Charles III holds the position of Lord of Mann.

Devolution

A federacy differs from a

Jaime Lluch has critiqued the classification and description of "federacy" as used by Elazar and Watts. Lluch argues that the category of "federacy" is misapplied to the case of Puerto Rico (and to other comparable cases), and that it is an example of "conceptual stretching". He finds that "federacies" is in the end not a helpful category to understanding the types of institutional arrangements referred and recommends that scholars of comparative federalism find a more nuanced category to describe contemporary actually-existing autonomies such as Puerto Rico. Lluch shows that federacies have little to do with federalism, and are in fact distinct status arrangements that are more properly seen as "autonomies," of which there is a wide variety. This variety includes autonomies which are classified along a continuum that would take several "federacies" and reclassify them thus:

• Autonomies in Unitary States: Corsica, Åland Islands, Faroe Islands, Crimea and Gagauzia.
• Non-federal autonomies in "federal political systems" (which he defines as systems having two (or more) levels of government, which combine elements of shared-rule through common institutions and regional self-rule for the governments of the constituent units. This broad category includes a spectrum of polities including unions, constitutionally decentralized unions, federations, confederations and associated states): Puerto Rico, the Northern Marianas, Guam, Nunavut, Isle of Man, Jersey, Guernsey.
• Devolutionary autonomies in federal political systems: Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, South Tyrol, Valle d'Aosta, Sardinia, Sicily and Friuli-Venezia Giulia.
• Semi-federal autonomies in federal political systems: Catalonia, Basque Country and Galicia.^[13]

The case of Puerto Rico

In examining the Puerto Rico case, Lluch notes that although Elazar has mischaracterized the nature of the Puerto Rico–US relationship, it is still cited as the prototype of a "federacy". Lluch defines Puerto Rico as a non-federal autonomy, which is officially an unincorporated territory belonging to the federal political system that is the US, and subject to the plenary powers of the US Congress under the Territorial Clause of the US Constitution and states that it is not a "free-associated" state.^[13] Similar conclusions were made by three Presidential Task Forces on Puerto Rico's Status in 2005, 2007 and 2011. In particular, Lluch notes that contrary to Elazar's assertions in his 1987 and 1991 works, the power to terminate or modify the Puerto Rico–US relationship rests squarely on the US Congress and that the US government contends that sovereignty over Puerto Rico resides solely in the United States and not in the people of Puerto Rico.^[13]

Lluch notes that both Watts and Elazar define a "federacy" as "political arrangements where a large unit is linked to a smaller unit or units, but the smaller unit retains considerable autonomy and has a minimum role in the government of the larger one, and where the relationship can be dissolved only by mutual agreement". However contrary to this definition he notes that far from having a minimum role in the government of the United States, Puerto Rico has no effective representation in Congress, except for a token representative that has no right to vote there. Nor do the residents of Puerto Rico vote for the US president. However, Puerto Ricans are eligible to join US political parties, and both major parties conduct primary elections for national positions in Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico thus has no direct representation in the institutions of the central state. He notes that essentially the Puerto Rico–US relationship exhibits some elements of empire, and nearly none of federalism. Puerto Rico is better conceptualized as an exemplar of autonomism with the category of "federacy" being less helpful to explain it.^[13]

See also

• Commonwealth realm
• Compact of Free Association
• Confederation
• Dominion
• Mainland
• One country, two systems
• Special administrative regions of China
• Unincorporated territory

References