Q. How is a federation different from a confederation?

Elaborate the major debates over territorial division of

power.

1. Intro

-federalism. Federal system. Federation.

2. Differences between confederation and federation

3. Territorial division of power

Q. How is a federation different from a confederation?

Discuss the historical emergence of confederation and its
contemporary relevance.

1. Intro

-federalism. Federal system. Confederation.

2. Differences between confederation and federation

3. Confederation

-meaning

-origin and development

-contemporary relevance

Sn: confederation

1. Intro

-federalism. Federal system. Confederation.

2. Differences between confederation and federation (very brief)

3. Confederation

-meaning

-origin and development

-contemporary relevance

Introduction

There has been much scholarly debate about the definition of federalism. For the
sake of clarity we may distinguish three terms: "federalism," "federal political
systems," and "federations."

"Federalism" is basically not a descriptive but a normative term and refers to the
advocacy of multi-tiered government combining elements of shared-rule and
regional self-rule.

It is based on the presumed value and validity of combining unity and diversity and
of accommodating, preserving and promoting distinct identities within a larger
political union.

The essence of federalism as a normative principle is the perpetuation of both union

and noncentralization at the same time.

On the other hand,

"Federal political systems" and "federations" are descriptive terms applying to

particular forms of political organization.

The term "federal political system" refers

A ) to a broad category of political systems in which, by contrast to the single central source of
authority in unitary systems, there are two ( or more) levels of government which combine elements
of shared-rule and regional self-rule:

B ) This broad genus encompasses a whole spectrum of more specific non-unitary forms, i.e. species,
ranging from "quasi-federations't.and "federations" to "confederacies" and beyond.

Indeed, Daniel Elazar has identified the following as specific categories:

1. unions,

2. constitutionally decentralized unions,

3. federations,

4. confederations,

5. federacies,

6. associated statehood,

7. condominiums,

8. leagues and

9. joint functional authorities.

Confederation/Federation is one form of federal system.

Differences between federation and confederation

Confederation Federation

1 ) Sovereignty Held by the member states. In a Held by the federal

Confederation, the federal
government is accountable to
the member states, who are
the ultimate authority.
government. In a Federation,
the federal government will
hold the ultimate authority and
the member states will be
subordinate to it.

2 ) Central Authority The central authority of a The central authority of a

confederation is usually a weak federation is a federal
body appointed by the member government which governs the
states. member states.

3 ) Powers of the Central Usually will focus on joint
Authority foreign policy and defense
matters, but rarely will have the
power to do much more than
that.
Determined by the constitution
of the federation, but will
generally have rights to exercise
control over the diplomatic,
military, economic,
and legal spheres of the
 member states.

4 ) Powers of autonomy members of the confederation members of a federation are

maintain a large degree of
autonomy and independence –
and can (almost) freely leave
the union when they decide to
do so
bound to respect the authority
of the central government and
maintain limited powers.

5 ) Decision making Decisions on Decisions on

day-to-day-matters are not
taken by simple majority but by
special majorities or even by
consensus or unanimity
day-to-day-matters can be
taken by simple majority. For
eg, decision making on many
kinds of legislation at the
federal level do not require
ratification from the states

6 )Constitution/treaty Changes of the constitution, Changes of the constitution

usually a treaty, require does not necessarily require
unanimity. unanimity.

Examples Old Swiss Confederacy, Aro Canada, United States of

Confederacy, United States of
America (1781-1789),
America, Mexico, Venezuela,
Brazil, Argentina, Belgium,
Germany, Switzerland, Austria,
Bosnia and Herzegovina,
Estonia, Russia, Iraq, United
Arab Emirates, Pakistan, India,
Nepal, Malaysia, Australia,
Sudan, and many more

Federations

Meaning

A ) Within the genus of federal political systems, federations represent a particular species in which
the federal or the constituent units of government are not constitutionally subordinate to the other,
each has sovereign powers derived from the constitution rather than another level of government

B ) The component states of a federation usually possess no powers in relation to foreign policy and
so enjoy no independent status under international law.
Objective:

A ) The purpose can be the will to solve mutual problems and

B ) to provide for mutual defense or

C ) to create a nation-state for an ethnicity spread over several states. The former was the case with
the United States and Switzerland.

Origin and development

While the United States, which adopted a federal constitution in 1787, is often regarded as the first
modern federation, the history of federalism is much older.

Ancient Israelite tribes: The first documented federal system came into being among the ancient
Israelite tribes over 3200 years ago.

The Roman Republic established asymmetrical arrangements whereby Rome became the federate
power and weaker cities were attached to it as federal partners.

US Federation: Following the American Revolution the newly independent states established a
confederation in 1781. Its deficiencies, however, led to its transformation in 1789, following the
Philadelphia Convention of 1787, into the first modern federation.

Switzerland, after a brief civil war, transformed its confederation into a federation in 1848.

Canada became the third modern federation in 1867. Not long after, in 1901, Australia became a
full-fledged federation.

The second half of the twentieth century has seen a proliferation of federations to unite multi-ethnic
communities in former colonial areas and in Europe.

In South America, Brazil (1946), Venezuela (1947) and Argentina (1949) adopted new federal
constitutions.

Between 1960 and the late 1980s, however, it became increasingly clear that federal systems were
not the panacea that many had imagined them to be. Many of the post-war federal experiments
experienced difficulties and a number of them were temporarily suspended or abandoned outright.
Post 1990s: Despite these developments there has been a revival of interest in federal political
solutions in the 1990s. Belgium (1993), South Africa (1996) and Spain (which as a result of the
operation of the 1978 constitution has in practice become a federation in all but name) have been
moving towards new federal and quasifederal forms.

Contemporary Relevance of Federation

Federalism is far from being an obsolete nineteenth century form of government inappropriate in the
contemporary world. In fact, in the last decade it is the concept of the nation-state, developed in the
seventeenth century, that more and more people have been coming to regard as obsolete.

A ) first, The desire for smaller, self-governing political units has risen from the desire to

- make governments more responsive to the individual citizen

- and to give expression to primary group attachments - linguistic and cultural ties, religious
connections, historical traditions and social practices - which provide the distinctive basis for a
community's sense of identity and yearning for selfdetermination, maintaining their regional
distinctiveness
Common characteristics of all federations

B ) Second, and closely related, is the recognition that an

- increasingly global economy has itself unleashed economic and political forces,
- awakened desires in the smallest and most remote villages around the world
for access to the global marketplace

- As a result, governments have been faced increasirigly with the desires of their
people to be both global consumers and local citizens at the

same time. Tom Courchene has labelled this trend "glocalization."

C ) Third, the spread of market-based economies is creating socioeconomic condi-

tions conducive to support for the federal idea. Among these are the emphasis on

 contractual relationships;

 entrepreneurial self-governance and consumer rights consciousness;

 markets that thrive on diversity rather than homogeneity,

 competition as well as cooperation;

 and the recognition that people do not have to like each other in order to
benefit each other.

D ) Fourth, changes in technology have been generating new and more federal
models of industrial organization with decentralized and "flattened hierarchies"
involving non-centralized interactive networks. This in turn has produced more
favourable attitudes towards non-centralized political organization.

E ) Fifth, increasing public attention, especially in Europe, has been given to the
principle of "subsidiarity," the notion that a "higher" political body should take up
only those tasks that cannot be accomplished by the "lower" political bodies
themselves. "citizen-oriented federalism."

F ) sixth, Yet another factor has been the resilience of the classical federations in
the face of changing conditions. The constitutions of the United States (l 789), Swit-
zerland (1848), Canada (1867) and Australia (1901) are among the longest-surviving
of any in the world today. In spite of problems experienced over the past three
decades, these four federations along with Germany, another federation, have
displayed a degree of flexibility and adaptability; they place high in international
rankings of the most desirable countries in which to live.

common structural characteristics of federations

The generally common structural characteristics of federations as a specific form of federal political
system are the following: 2 CUDIR

1. two orders of government each acting directly on their citizens; 2

2. a formal constitutional distribution of legislative and executive authority and allocation of

revenue resources between the two orders of government ensuring some areas of genuine
autonomy for each order; D

3. provision for the designated representation of distinct regional views within the federal
policy-making institutions, usually provided by the particular form of the federal second
chamber; R

4. a supreme written constitution not unilaterally amendable and requiring the consent of a
significant proportion of the constituent units; C

5. an umpire (in the form of courts or provision for referendums) to rule on disputes between
governments; U

6. processes and institutions to facilitate intergovernmental collaboration for those areas where
governmental responsibilities are shared or inevitably overlap. I

Variations in federations

There is no single ‘ideal’ or pure form of federation. Among the variations among federations are
those in: DDARCCC

1. the character of the constituent units in terms of their number, absolute and relative sizes, and
absolute and relative wealth C

2. the distribution of functions in terms of the following:

-the allocation of legislative and administrative responsibilities

-the allocation of financial resources D

3. degrees of decentralization and non-centralization D

4. degrees of autonomy or interdependence of governments A

5. special provisions for proportionate representation of constituent units in the federal

executive, legislative (particularly second chambers), public service and agencies R

6. the role of the courts and judicial review C

7. Presence of constitution as supreme law C

1. Difference between constitutional form and. operational reality

  there is an important distinction between constitutional form and. operational reality. In
many political systems political practice has transformed the way the constitution operates.

In Canada and India, for example, the initial constitution was quasi-federal containing some central
overriding powers more typical of unitary systems.

But in Canada these powers have fallen into disuse and in India they have been moderated so that in
both cases operational reality comes closer to that of a full-fledged federation.

2. Importance of the structure and processes

 Second, while knowledge about the structural character of a federal political system or a
federation is important to gain an understanding of its character, equally important is the nature
of its political processes. Significant characteristics of federal processes include the operation of
checks and balances to avoid the concentration of political power, and a respect for
constitutionalism.

3. Territorial or consociational federal processes

 Third, federal processes may be territorial or consociational or both. While there are some
examples of federations in which there are non territorial constituent units recognized in the
constitution, the most notable example being the Belgian Communities, the constitutional
distribution of power among territorial units is by far the most common pattern among
federations.

4. Asymmetries

 In many federations the constitutional powers are distributed equally among the main category
of constituent units but it is noteworthy that in some federations there is some asymmetry in
the relationship of the main constituent units (e.g. Canada, Malaysia, India, Spain and Russia).
for eg, the special preference given to the state of Jammu and Kashmir through Article 35 A.

Federations can be categorised into various models:

A ) republican presidential model:

of which are the USA, switzerland, russia etc. These systems tend to have strong institutions of
‘legislative federalism’ via the federal second chamber, executive presidency and judicial review.

B ) parliamentary federations, in the british commonwealth political tradition.

- These are illustated by canada and australia, with some variations in india, south africa.
- The institutional hallmarks are ‘executive federalism’ as the dominant mode of conducting
intergovernmental relations, secondary role of the federal second chamber, and judicial restraint.

C ) parliamentary federations of western and southern europe.

- Eg, austria, germany, spain, belgium, portugal etc. Distinctive institutional features are a separate
category of constitutional courts and kelsenian judicial review.

- parliamentary devolutionary decentrralisation in scotlandd and sri lanka, on the one hand, and the
EU on the other.

Confederation

Definition

Hall says, “A confederation is a

- union strictly of independent states

- which consent to forgo only a part of their liberty of action for certain specific objects.”

According to Oppenheim, a confederation consists

- of a number of full sovereign states

- linked together for the maintenance of their external and internal independence

- by a recognised international treaty into a union..”

Motive:

confederations of states tend to be established for

- dealing with critical issues,

- such as defense,

- foreign relations,
- internal trade or currency,

with the general government being required to provide support for all its members.

Origin and historical context

In ancient history, many examples of confederations are available. The reasons for this is that for
Common Defence and for other common purposes the neighbouring countries join together. Many
examples of confederations are available in ancient Greece which include Delian, Lycian.

in ancient India: References of confederations in ancient India are also available. Thirty-six republics
of the Eastern India established a confederation in order to protect themselves against the attack of
Ajat Satru, the ruler of Magadha.

The medieval period saw self-governing cities in (now) northern Italy and Germany,

The Holy Roman Empire of 1526 to 1806 A. D. was one of the most important confederations before
the nineteenth century.

In the late sixteenth century an independent confederation, the United Provinces of the Netherlands,
was established during a revolt against Spain.

Transformation from confederation to federation:

U.S.A. Following the American Revolution the newly independent states established a confederation
in 1781. Its deficiencies, however, led to its transformation in 1789, following the Philadelphia
Convention of 1787, into the first modern federation.

Confederations flourished in Switzerland from 1291 to 1798 and 1803 to 1818 A. D.

Switzerland, after a brief civil war, transformed its confederation into a federation in 1848.

During 1907, five Central American States, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Honduras, Nicaragua and Salvador
established a confederation.

In the contemporary world.the European Union is primarily a confederation although it has

increasingly incorporated some features of a federation.
Contemporary Relevance

Confederalism is far from being an obsolete nineteenth century form of government inappropriate in
the contemporary world. In fact, in the last decade it is the concept of the nation-state, developed in
the seventeenth century, that more and more people have been coming to regard as obsolete.

Just one of many examples is the European Union where individual federations, unions and unitary
states have "pooled their sovereignty"

A)

First, modern developments in transportation, social communications, technology and industrial

organization have produced pressures at one and the same time for larger political organizations and
for smaller ones.

The pressure for larger political units has been generated by the goals shared by most Western and
non-Western societies today: influence in the world arena, and advanced technology which makes
both mass destruction and mass construction possible.

B)

Because of the development of the world market economy, the old-fashioned nation-state can no
longer deliver many of the benefits its citizens value, such as rising living standards and job security.
Self-sufficiency of the nation-state is widely recognized as unattainable

C ) Third, the spread of market-based economies is creating socioeconomic conditions conducive to

support for the federal idea.

Among these are the emphasis on

- contractual relationships;

- entrepreneurial self-governance and consumer rights consciousness;

- markets that thrive on diversity rather than homogeneity,

- on interjurisdictional mobility and on competition as well as cooperation;

- and the recognition that people do not have to like each other in order to benefit each other.
Characteristics. T S T F I I/ SIT FIT

1 ) sovereign states establish a joint centre for common purposes and transfer some powers to it
willingly.

2) The sovereignty of the states forming a federation is not in any way hampered.

Since the member states of a confederation retain their sovereignty, they have an implicit right
of secession.

3 ) Usually created by a treaty,

4 ) The states joining the union can contribute funds at will at the time of need.

5 ) They also implement its decisions.

6 ) Some looser confederations are similar to international organisations.

7 ) how it is diff from federation

Case study: the articles of confderation in the US

Formation of a confederation:

- the colonists who settled America banded together into separate, but cooperative colonies

- their leaders recognized a need to put up a show of unity and strength in order to separate
themselves from England’s tyrannical rule. The founders of the new nation felt it important to have a
written constitution, and a formal declaration of independence from Britain’s rule.

- the United States established its independence as a confederate entity, with a document called
the Articles of Confederation.

- U.S.A. from 1781 to 1787 A.D.

Shift towards a federation:

- In order to shift the nation’s global reputation from that of a bunch of outlaw hooligans to a
legitimate independent people, it needed to be taken seriously by international allies. This meant
having the ability to make assurances that the United States would be steadfast trading partners.
Understanding this, the Founding Fathers made a fundamental change in the new government,
changing it from a confederation, to a federation.

- The provisions of the Constitution pulled together the band of colonies under the umbrella of a
single, formidable and unifying governmental entity.
Case study: Switzerland

Establishment of a confederation:

Confederations flourished in Switzerland from 1291 to 1798 and 1803 to 1818 A. D.

- It had been a confederacy since its inception in 1291 as the Old Swiss Confederacy, originally
created as an alliance among the valley communities of the central Alps.

- The confederacy facilitated management of common interests

freedom from external domination

free trade

ensured peace between the different cultural entities in the central alpine area.

Transition to a federation:

After the Sonderbund War, when some of the Catholic cantons of Switzerland tried to set up a
separate union (Sonderbund in German) against the Protestant majority, the resulting political system
established by the victorious Protestant cantons acquired all the characteristics of a federation

But it retains nowadays the name of Confederacy for reasons of historical tradition.

For aII these reasons, the federal idea is now more popular internationally than at any time in history.