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94-508: In a modern context, the word normally refers to one of the provinces ( województwa ) of Poland. As of 2024, Poland has 16 voivodeships. A voi(e)vod(e) (literally, "leader of warriors" or "war leader", equivalent to the Latin " Dux Exercituum ") was originally a military commander who stood, in a state's structure, next to the ruler. Later the word came to denote an administrative official. Words for "voivodeship" in various languages include

188-566: A central government established usually through coercion (on the model of the Roman Empire ). An empire often includes self-governing regions, but these will possess autonomy only at the sufferance of the central government. On the other hand, a political entity that is an empire in name, may comprise several partly autonomous kingdoms organised together in a federation, with the empire being ruled over by an emperor or senior king ( great king , high king , king of kings ...). One example of this

282-625: A constitution . Those that are not specifically identified are called "residual powers". In a decentralized federal system (such as the United States and Australia ) these residual powers lie at the provincial or state level, whereas in a centralized federal system (such as Canada ) they are retained at the federal level. Some of the enumerated powers can be quite important. For example, Canadian provinces are sovereign in regard to such important matters as property , civil rights , education , social welfare and medical services . The growth of

376-754: A country or state . The term derives from the ancient Roman provincia , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions outside Italy . The term province has since been adopted by many countries. In some countries with no actual provinces, "the provinces" is a metaphorical term meaning "outside the capital city ". While some provinces were produced artificially by colonial powers , others were formed around local groups with their own ethnic identities. Many have their own powers independent of central or federal authority, especially in Canada and Pakistan . In other countries, like China or France , provinces are

470-582: A county in the United Kingdom . In China, a province is a sub-national region within a unitary state; this means that a province can be created or abolished by the national people's congress. In some nations, a province (or its equivalent) is a first-level administrative unit of sub-national government—as in the Netherlands —and a large constituent autonomous area, as in Argentina , Canada , South Africa , and

564-463: A federal state and not a confederation , in practice it is among the world's more decentralized federations. Canadian Confederation and the Constitution Act, 1867 conferred considerable power on the provincial governments which they often use to pursue their own goals independently of the federal government. In Canada, local governments have been called "creatures of the province" because

658-647: A region (which is the first-order administrative sub-division of the nation). Italian provinces are mainly named after their principal town and comprise several administrative sub-divisions called comuni (communes). In Chile, they are referred to as comunas . Chile has 15 regions , subdivided into 53 provinces, of which each is run by a governor appointed by the president. Italy has 20 regions , subdivided into 14 metropolitan cities and 96 provinces . Peru has 25 regions , subdivided into 194 provinces. Spain has 17 autonomous communities and 2 autonomous cities, subdivided into 50 provinces . The island of Ireland

752-497: A stronger central government than the US in the wake of the Civil War of the latter, use the term "Confederation" to refer to the formation or joining, not the structure, of Canada. Legal reforms, court rulings, and political compromises have decentralized Canada in practice since its formation in 1867. An empire is a multi-ethnic state, multinational state , or a group of nations with

846-450: A "province" would be a territory or function that a Roman magistrate held control of on behalf of his government. In fact, the word province is an ancient term from public law, which means: "office belonging to a magistrate". This agrees with the Latin term's earlier usage as a generic term for a jurisdiction under Roman law . In France , the expression en province still means "outside

940-450: A broad definition of a basic federalism , there are two or more levels of government that exist within an established territory and govern through common institutions with overlapping or shared powers as prescribed by a constitution. The federal government is the government at the level of the sovereign state. Usual responsibilities of this level of government are maintaining national security and exercising international diplomacy, including

1034-490: 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

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1128-426: A federation is Malaysia , in which Sarawak and Sabah agreed to form the federation on different terms and conditions from the states of Peninsular Malaysia . A federation often emerges from an initial agreement between several separate states. The purpose can be the will to solve mutual problems and to provide for mutual defense or to create a nation-state for an ethnicity spread over several states. The former

1222-485: 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 so-called Cisleithania became federated as Länder of

1316-616: A federation only after the fall of the monarchy , and Venezuela became a federation after the Federal War . Australia and Canada are also federations. Germany is another nation-state that has switched between confederal, federal and unitary rules, since the German Confederation was founded in 1815. The North German Confederation , the succeeding German Empire and the Weimar Republic were federations. Founded in 1922,

1410-475: 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 centralized 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". A confederation , in modern political terms,

1504-413: A growing interest in paradiplomacy , be it performed under a legal framework or as a trend informally admitted as legitimate by the central authorities. In unitary states such as France and China , provinces are subordinate to the national, central government. In theory, the central government can create or abolish provinces within its jurisdiction. On the other hand, although Canada is now considered

1598-592: A half times as large as France —640,679 km (247,368 sq mi). Six provinces, including five of the oldest Canadian provinces— Alberta , Ontario , Quebec , New Brunswick , Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island —have "counties" as administrative sub-divisions. The actual local government form can vary widely. In New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and in 9 of the 18 counties of Nova Scotia, county government has been abolished and has been superseded by another form of local government. New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island also have parishes within counties. Since

1692-467: A referendum), while the province of Alberta still does not impose a provincial sales tax. The evolution of federations has created an inevitable tug-of-war between concepts of federal supremacy versus states' and provinces' rights. The historic division of responsibility in federal constitutions is inevitably subject to multiple overlaps. For example, when central governments, responsible for foreign policy , enter into international agreements in areas where

1786-419: Is administratively divided into four provinces, which are: It also has two autonomous territories: The term "province" is sometimes used to refer to the historic governorates ( guberniyas ) of Russia . This terms also refers to the provinces ( провинции ), which were introduced as the subdivisions of the governorates in 1719 and existed until 1775. In modern parlance, the term is commonly used to refer to

1880-484: Is also divided into counties, albeit they are officially classified as "municipal districts" by the province, though in regular everyday parlance these entities are referred to as a "county". The province of Alberta has some unique local governance schemes formed in response to local conditions. For instance, Sherwood Park is an unincorporated "urban service area" of 72,017 within Strathcona County , which has most of

1974-570: 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 the United States (southern states sought to protect the institution of slavery while northern states opposed it, with a catalysis occurring in the then– Kansas Territory ), in Nigeria and in Switzerland . In the case of Malaysia , Singapore was expelled from

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2068-544: Is divided into four historic provinces (see Provinces of Ireland ), each of which is sub-divided into counties . These provinces are Connacht (in the west), Leinster (in the east), Munster (in the south) and, Ulster (in the north). Nowadays these provinces have little or no administrative function, though they do have sporting significance. From the 19th century, the Portuguese colonies were considered overseas provinces of Portugal . Similarly, some overseas parts of

2162-630: Is divided into three traditional chiefdoms: Uvea , Sigave , and Alo . The chiefdoms are allowed to have their own legal system which have to be implemented along with French legal system . Under the terms of the Fomboni Accords, signed in December 2001 by the leaders of all three islands, the official name of the country was changed to the Union of the Comoros ; the new state was to be highly decentralised and

2256-597: Is necessarily the case (such as Saint Kitts and Nevis or the Federated States of Micronesia ). About 40% of world population live in a federation. Several ancient chiefdoms and kingdoms, such as the 4th-century-BCE League of Corinth , Noricum in Central Europe , and the Iroquois Confederacy in pre-Columbian North America , could be described as federations or confederations . The Old Swiss Confederacy

2350-430: Is not a pair of twin cities on opposite sides of a border, but is actually incorporated by both provinces as a single city with a single municipal administration. The residents objected to the federal government splitting the city in two when it created the two provinces, so the two provinces reunified it by declaring it to be a single city in two provinces, thereby bypassing the limitations of federal boundaries. Pakistan

2444-407: Is sometimes one with only a single, centralized, 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

2538-530: Is suggested as one possible de facto federation as it grants more self-government to its autonomous communities than are retained by the constituent entities of most federations. 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. The Spanish parliament has, however, suspended

2632-449: 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

2726-469: Is usually characterized as an unprecedented form of supra-national union. The EU has responsibility for important areas such as trade, monetary union, agriculture, and fisheries. Nonetheless, EU member states 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. Since the Treaty of Lisbon ,

2820-546: Is usually limited to a permanent union of sovereign states for common action in relation to other states. The closest entity in the world to a confederation at this time is the European Union . While the word confederation was officially used when the Canadian federal system was established in 1867, the term refers only to the process and not the resulting state since Canadian provinces are not sovereign and do not claim to be. In

2914-507: The Grands Gouvernements , generally former medieval feudal principalities, or agglomerations of such. Today the expression en province is regularly replaced in the media by the more politically correct en région , région now being the term officially used for the secondary level of government. In Italy , in provincia generally means "outside the biggest regional capitals" (like Rome , Milan , Naples , etc.). For

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3008-683: The British Empire bore the colonial title of "province" (in a more Roman sense), such as the Province of Canada and the Province of South Australia (the latter, to distinguish it from the penal "colonies" elsewhere in Australia ). Likewise, prior to the American Revolution , most of the original Thirteen Colonies in British America were provinces as well, such as the Province of Georgia and

3102-661: The British Empire . In some recent cases, federations have been instituted as a measure to handle ethnic conflict within a state, such as Bosnia and Herzegovina , and Iraq since 2005 as well as Somalia since 2012 . With the United States Constitution having become effective on 4 March 1789, the United States is the oldest surviving federation, while the newest federation is Nepal , after its constitution went into effect on 20 September 2015. The component states are in some sense sovereign, insofar as certain powers are reserved to them that may not be exercised by

3196-626: The Canadian Constitution assigns local government to provincial jurisdiction, the various provinces can create, dissolve, and reorganize local governments freely and they have been described as "creatures of the province". The Western provinces have more varied types of administrative sub-divisions than the Eastern provinces . The province of British Columbia has "regional districts" which function as county-equivalents. Manitoba and Saskatchewan are divided into rural municipalities. Alberta

3290-678: The Crown Dependencies of the Isle of Man and the bailiwicks of Guernsey and Jersey in the Channel Islands and the United Kingdom is 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 defense – although the UK Parliament does have overall power to legislate for the dependencies. However,

3384-582: The Democratic Republic of the Congo . It can also be a constituent element of a federation , confederation , or republic . For example, in the United States , no state may secede from the federal Union without the permission of the federal government . In other nations—such as Belgium , Chile , Italy , Peru , the Philippines , and Spain —a province is a second-level administrative sub-division of

3478-600: The Mauryas , the Gupta Empire gave local areas a great deal of independence and divided the empire into 26 large provinces, styled as Bhukti, Pradesha and Bhoga. In many federations and confederations , the province or state is not clearly subordinate to the national or central government. Rather, it is considered to be sovereign in regard to its particular set of constitutional functions. The central- and provincial-government functions, or areas of jurisdiction, are identified in

3572-558: The Paris region". Equivalent expressions are used in Peru ( en provincias , "outside the city of Lima "), Mexico ( la provincia , "lands outside Mexico City "), Romania ( în provincie , "outside the Bucharest region"), Poland ( prowincjonalny , "provincial"), Bulgaria ( в провинцията , v provincijata , "in the provinces" and провинциален , provincialen , "provincial") and

3666-521: The Philippines ( taga-probinsiya , "from outside Metro Manila ", sa probinsiya , "in the provinces", or "in the countryside"). Before the French Revolution , France comprised a variety of jurisdictions (built around the early Capetian royal demesne ), some being considered "provinces", though the term was also used colloquially for territories as small as a manor ( châtellenie ). Most commonly referred to as "provinces", however, were

3760-665: The Province of Canada . From its separation from Nova Scotia in the 18th century, New Brunswick was known as His/Her Majesty's Province of New Brunswick. After Canadian confederation in 1867, the term provinces continued to be used, in reference to the sub-national governments of Canada . Because Canada is the second-largest country in the world by area , but has only 10 provinces, most Canadian provinces are very large— six of its ten provinces are larger than any country in Europe except Russia , and its largest province Quebec —1,542,056 km (595,391 sq mi)—is almost two and

3854-407: The Province of New Hampshire . The constituent entities of Canada are known as provinces . Prior to confederation, the term province was used in reference to several British colonies situated in Canada; such as the colonial Province of Quebec . In 1791, Quebec split into two separate colonies, the provinces of Lower Canada , and Upper Canada . The two colonies were later merged in 1841 to form

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3948-451: 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

4042-510: The Soviet Union was formally a federation of Soviet republics , autonomous republics and other federal subjects, though in practice highly centralized under the government of the Soviet Union . The Russian Federation has inherited a similar system. India , Pakistan , Nigeria and Malaysia (then Federation of Malaya ) became federations on or shortly before becoming independent from

4136-574: The Thirteen Colonies that eventually formed the United States were called provinces. All declared themselves "states" when they became independent. The Connecticut Colony , the Delaware Colony , Rhode Island and the Colony of Virginia never used the title "province". The British colonies further north, which remained loyal to Britain and later confederated to form the original Canada , retained

4230-877: The Ukrainian : воєводство ; the Polish : województwo ; the Romanian : voievodat ; the Bulgarian : voivoda (войвода); the Serbian : vojvodina (војводина), vojvodstvo (војводство) or vojvodovina (војводовина); the Hungarian : vajdaság ; the Belarusian : ваяводства ( vajаvodstva ); the Lithuanian : vaivadija . Some of these words, or variants of them, may also be used in English. Named for

4324-562: The United Kingdom use of the word is often pejorative, assuming a stereotype of the denizens of the provinces to be less culturally aware than those in the capital. The historic European provinces—built up of many small regions, called pays by the French and " cantons " by the Swiss, each with a local cultural identity and focused upon a market town —have been depicted by Fernand Braudel as

4418-594: The Voivodeship of Salan (9th–10th centuries), Voivodeship of Sermon (11th century), and Voivodeship of Syrmia of Radoslav Čelnik (1527–1530). A voivodeship called Serbian Vojvodina was established in 1848–1849; this was transformed into the Voivodeship of Serbia and Temes Banat , a land within the Austro-Hungarian Empire from 1849 to 1860. This is the origin of the name of the present-day Serbian autonomous province of Vojvodina . For more information about

4512-409: The oblasts and krais of Russia. Federation List of forms of government 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

4606-560: The "F" word in the EU context should feel free to refer to it as a quasi-federal or federal-like system. Nevertheless, for the purposes of the analysis here, 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. ( See, for instance, Bednar, Filippov et al., McKay, Kelemen, Defigueido and Weingast ) A more nuanced view has been given by

4700-467: The "federal nature of Spain's government (a trend that almost no one denies)." Each autonomous community is governed by a Statute of Autonomy ( Estatuto de Autonomía ) under the Spanish Constitution of 1978 . Although South Africa bears some elements of a federal system, such as the allocation of certain powers to provinces, some nevertheless argue that it is functionally a unitary state. On

4794-464: The 16 Regions into which New Zealand is divided, and also the 21 District Health Boards. Sometimes the term the provinces is used to refer collectively to rural and regional parts of New Zealand, that is, those parts of the country lying outside some or all of the "main centres"— Auckland , Wellington , Christchurch , Hamilton and Dunedin . In many countries, a province is a relatively small non-constituent level of sub-national government, such as

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4888-677: The 1970s. Moreover, although nominally called a federal state, the country's structure already has a number of confederational traits . 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. A confederation is most likely to feature three differences when contrasted with a federation: (1) No real direct powers: many confederal decisions are externalized 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

4982-408: The Canadian government introduced a Goods and Services Tax (GST) to share the revenues, which proved unpopular both with provincial governments and taxpayers. The Canadian government has tried to harmonize the two levels of sales taxes, but three provinces continue to impose a separate sales tax (British Columbia after harmonizing it, and shortly thereafter de-harmonizing it after it was struck down by

5076-410: The Canadian government introduced an income tax during World War I , and since it is a direct tax it also became a major revenue generator for provinces. In most provinces, the federal government now collects income tax for both levels of government and transfers to the provincial governments whatever surcharge they ask for. The sales tax also become a major revenue generator for provinces, so in 1991

5170-587: The Constitution provided for stronger provincial powers. This provided an opportunity for forum shopping for provinces who opposed federal laws. Until appeals from Canada to the Privy Council were abolished in 1949, in legal disputes the provincial governments tended to win powers at the expense of the federal government. In addition, while the Canadian federal government has unlimited taxing power while province governments are restricted to imposing direct taxes ,

5264-767: 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 . Constitutionally, the power vested in the special administrative regions of the People's Republic is granted from the Central People's Government , through a decision by the National People's Congress . However, there have been certain largely informal grants of power to

5358-635: The Member States' right to leave the Union is codified, and the Union operates with more qualified majority voting (rather than unanimity) in many areas. By the signature of this Treaty, the participating Parties give proof of their determination to create the first supranational institution and that thus they are laying the true foundation of an organized Europe. This Europe remains open to all nations. We profoundly hope that other nations will join us in our common endeavor. Europe has charted its own brand of constitutional federalism. Those uncomfortable using

5452-1013: The Tenth Amendment contained in the Bill of Rights and the Eleventh Amendment. However, later amendments, particularly the Fourteenth Amendment, gave the federal government considerable authority over states. Federal government within this structure are the government ministries and departments and agencies to which the ministers of government are assigned. There are 26 federations in the world, with 6 each in Asia and Europe , 5 in Africa , 4 in North America , 3 in South America and 2 in Oceania . Some of

5546-688: The United Kingdom, because, in a devolved state, the central government can revoke the independence of the subunits (the Scottish Parliament , the Welsh Parliament and the Northern Ireland Assembly in the case of the United Kingdom) without changing the constitution. In some cases, such as the autonomous communities of Spain , devolution has led to federation in all but name, or "federation without federalism". The relation between

5640-524: The approval of local voters. Not all first-level political entities are termed "provinces." In Arab countries, the first administrative level of government—called a muhafazah —is usually translated as a " governorate ." In Poland , the equivalent of "province" is " województwo ," sometimes rendered in English as " voivodeship ." Historically, New Zealand was divided into provinces , each with its own Superintendent and Provincial Council, and with considerable responsibilities conferred on them. However,

5734-512: The authority of a local government derives solely from the provincial government. Provinces can create, merge, and dissolve local governments without the consent of the federal government or the people in the affected locality. Alberta in particular dissolved and merged hundreds of local governments during the 1940s and 1950s as a consequence of the Great Depression . Other provinces have arbitrarily merged and annexed independent suburbs to major Canadian cities such as Toronto or Montreal without

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5828-428: The autonomy of Catalonia in response to the Catalan declaration of independence , in the lead-up to the 2017 Catalan election . Additionally, some autonomies such as Navarre or the Basque Country have full control over taxation and spending, transferring a payment to the central government for the common services (military, foreign relations, macroeconomic policy). For example, scholar Enrique Guillén López discusses

5922-415: 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. De facto federations, or quasi-federations, are often termed " regional states ". Spain

6016-409: The case of Switzerland , while the country is still known officially as the Swiss Confederation, this is now a misnomer since the Swiss cantons lost their sovereign status in 1848. In Belgium, however, the opposite movement is underway. Belgium was founded as a centralized state, after the French model, but has gradually been reformed into a federal state by consecutive constitutional reforms since

6110-406: 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

6204-471: 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 enjoy no independent status under international law . However, German Länder have that power, which is beginning to be exercised on a European level. Some federations are called asymmetric because some states have more autonomy than others. An example of such

6298-417: The central union government would devolve most powers to the new island governments, each led by a president. 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

6392-429: The colony (as it then was) never developed into a federation; instead, the provinces were abolished in 1876. The old provincial boundaries continue to be used to determine the application of certain public holidays . Over the years, when the central Government has created special-purpose agencies at a sub-national level, these have often tended to follow or approximate the old provincial boundaries. Current examples include

6486-429: 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, Canadians, designed with

6580-471: The creation of central government, with very little autonomy. The English word province is attested since about 1330 and derives from the 13th-century Old French province , which itself comes from the Latin word provincia , which referred to the sphere of authority of a magistrate , in particular, to a foreign territory. A popular etymology is from Latin pro- ("on behalf of") and vincere ("to triumph" or "to take control of"). Thus

6674-406: The divisions of Polish lands in particular periods, see Administrative divisions of Poland ("Historical") . Voivodeships in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (1569–1795): Voivodeships in Congress Poland 1816–37. Voivodeships of Poland, 1921–1939: Voivodeships of Poland, 1945–1975: Voivodeships of Poland, 1975–1998: Province A province is an administrative division within

6768-461: 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

6862-531: The federal and the unitary state during its history. Some present-day states of the Brazilian federation retain borders set during the Portuguese colonization (before the very existence of the Brazilian state), whereas the latest state, Tocantins , was created by the 1988 Constitution for chiefly administrative reasons. Seven of the top eight largest countries by area are governed as federations. A unitary state

6956-771: The federation because of rising racial tension. In some cases, internal conflict may lead a federation to collapse entirely, as occurred the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland , the Gran Colombia , the United Provinces of Central America , and the West Indies Federation . The federal government is the common government of a national or supranational federation. A federal government may have distinct powers at various levels authorized or delegated to it by its member states. The structure of federal governments varies. Based on

7050-689: The heads of the Supreme Court of Canada to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in London . As well, provinces could bypass the Supreme Court and go directly to London from any Provincial Court . The Canadian Supreme Court tended to support the view that the Canadian Constitution was intended to create a powerful central government, but the Privy Council in London held the distinctly opposite view that

7144-635: The initiator of the European Community system, wrote that a transnational Community like the founding of the 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 Founding Fathers of the European Union wrote the Europe Declaration (Charter of the Community) at

7238-767: The islands are neither an incorporated part of the United Kingdom nor are they considered to be independent or associated states. The islands do not have a monarch, per se ; rather in the Isle of Man the British Monarch is, ex officio , Lord of Mann , and in the Bailiwicks of Guernsey and Jersey, the British Monarch rules as the Duke of Normandy . Dependent territories , such as the British overseas territories , are vested with varying degrees of power; some enjoy considerable independence from

7332-403: 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

7426-646: The modern welfare state has resulted in these functions, assigned to the provinces , becoming more important compared to those assigned to the federal government and thus provincial governments have become more important than the Fathers of Confederation originally intended. Canada's status as a federation of provinces under the Dominion of the British Empire rather than an independent country also had certain legal implications. Provinces could appeal court rulings over

7520-544: The oil refining capacity in Western Canada; Fort McMurray was once a city but dissolved itself and became an "urban service area" of 70,964 people within the Regional Municipality (R.M.) of Wood Buffalo , which has several multibillion-dollar oil sands plants; and Lloydminster , a city of 31,483 which sits directly astride the provincial border between Alberta and Saskatchewan. Unlike most such cases, Lloydminster

7614-540: The optimum-size political unit in pre-industrial Early Modern Europe . He asks, "Was the province not its inhabitants' true ' fatherland '?" Even centrally-organized France, an early nation-state , could collapse into autonomous provincial worlds under pressure, as during the sustained crisis of the French Wars of Religion (1562–98). The British colonies in North America were often named provinces. Most (but not all) of

7708-447: The other hand, if federation is defined as the constitutional entrenchment of the powers of subcentral units (provinces, etc.) that is not unilaterally changeable or revocable by the central authority, South Africa does qualify, formally, as a federal state. The European Union (EU) is a sui generis political union or confederation (the assemblage of societies or an association of two or more states into one state). Robert Schuman ,

7802-584: The overall European Union umbrella. Spain after Francisco Franco has been a "State of Autonomies", formally unitary but in fact functioning as a federation of Autonomous Communities , each exercising different powers. (See Politics of Spain .) While Serbia , the rump of former Yugoslavia , fought the separatists in the province of Kosovo , the United Kingdom , under the political principle of " devolution ", produced (1998) local parliaments in Scotland , Wales and Northern Ireland . In ancient India , unlike

7896-566: The provinces, to handle economic affairs and implement national policies, resulting in a system some have termed federalism " with Chinese characteristics ". Constitutionally a unitary state , the political system in Myanmar bears many elements of federalism. Each administrative division has its own cabinets and chief ministers, making it more like a federation rather than a unitary state. The French overseas collectivity Wallis and Futuna maintains some quasi-federation attributes. The territory

7990-480: The right to sign binding treaties. Basically, a modern federal government, within the limits defined by its constitution, has the power to make laws for the whole country, unlike local governments. As originally written, the United States Constitution was created to limit the federal government from exerting power over the states by enumerating only specific powers. It was further limited by the addition of

8084-410: The sovereign state, which only takes care of their foreign relations and defense. However, they are neither considered to be part of it nor recognized as sovereign or associated states. 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

8178-608: The state or province is sovereign, such as the environment or health standards, agreements made at the national level can create jurisdictional overlap and conflicting laws. This overlap creates the potential for internal disputes that lead to constitutional amendments and judicial decisions that alter the balance of powers. Though foreign affairs do not usually fall under a province's or a federal state's competency, some states allow them to legally conduct international relations on their own in matters of their constitutional prerogative and essential interest. Sub-national authorities have

8272-595: The time of the signing of the Treaty of Paris on 18 April 1951 saying that Europe should be organized on a transnational 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 energy cooperation and non-proliferation treaty, Euratom , plus two largely intergovernmental pillars dealing with External Affairs and Justice and Home Affairs. The EU

8366-426: The title of "province" and are still known as such to the present day. To 19th- and 20th-century historians, in Europe, centralized government was a sign of modernity and political maturity. In the late 20th century, as the European Union drew nation-states closer together, centripetal forces seemed simultaneously to move countries toward more flexible systems of more localized, provincial governing entities under

8460-576: The word for "voivodeship" is the autonomous Serbian province of Vojvodina . Though the word "voivodeship" (other spellings are "voievodship" and "voivodship") appears in English dictionaries such as the OED and Webster's , it is not in common general usage, and voivodeships in Poland and elsewhere are frequently referred to as " provinces ". Depending on context, historic voivodeships may also be referred to as "duchies", "palatinates" (the Latin word " palatinatus "

8554-823: Was an early example of formal non-unitary statehood. Several colonies and dominions in the New World consisted of autonomous provinces, transformed into federal states upon independence such as the United States , and various countries in Latin America (see Spanish American wars of independence ). Some of the New World federations failed; the Federal Republic of Central America broke up into independent states less than 20 years after its founding. Others, such as Argentina , have shifted between federal, confederal , and unitary systems, before settling into federalism. Brazil became

8648-492: Was the German Empire (1871–1918). A federacy is a unitary state that incorporates one or more self-governing autonomous areas . It is distinguished from a federation in that the constitutional structure of the state is still unitary, but incorporates federalist principles. Some federacies, notably Åland , were established through international treaty . A federation differs from a devolved state , such as Indonesia and

8742-500: Was the case with the United States and Switzerland. However, as the histories of countries and nations vary, the federalist 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, on the other hand, has experienced both

8836-475: Was used for a voivodeship in Poland), "administrative districts" or "regions". In the territory of modern Romania and Moldova , the regions of Wallachia , Moldavia and Transylvania were formerly voivodeships. The region of Maramureș , now split between Romania and Ukraine , also used to be its own voivodeship, the Voivodeship of Maramureș . Historical voivodeships in the territory of modern Serbia include

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