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A confederation (also known as a confederacy or league) is a political union of united for purposes of common action.Oxford English Dictionary 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 international organisations. Other confederations with stricter rules may resemble . These elements of such confederations, the international organization and federalist perspective, has been combined as supranational unions.
Since the member states of a confederation retain their sovereignty, they have an implicit right of secession. The political philosopher Emmerich de Vattel said: "Several sovereign and independent states may unite themselves together by a perpetual confederacy without each, in particular, ceasing to be a perfect state.... The deliberations in common will offer no violence to the sovereignty of each member".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.
Under a confederation, compared to a federal state, the central authority is relatively weak.McCormick, John (2002) Understanding the European Union: a Concise Introduction, Palgrave, Basingstoke, p. 6. Decisions made by the general government in a unicameral legislature, a council of the member states, require subsequent implementation by the member states to take effect; they are not laws acting directly upon the individual but have more the character of interstate agreements.This was the key feature that distinguished the first American union, under the Articles of Confederation of 1781, from the second, under the current 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. Also, decision-making in the general government usually proceeds by consensus (unanimity), not by the majority. Historically, those features limit the union's effectiveness. Hence, political pressure tends to build over time for the transition to a federal system of government, as in the American, Swiss and German cases of regional integration.
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.
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).Le petit Larousse 2013 p1247 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.
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.
In modern terminology, Canada is a federation, not a confederation.P.W. Hogg, Constitutional Law of Canada (5th ed. supplemented), para. 5.1(b). However, to contemporaries of the Constitution Act, 1867, confederation did not have the same connotation of a weakly-centralized federation. Canadian Confederation generally refers to the Constitution Act, 1867, which formed the Canada from three of the colonies of British North America, and to the subsequent incorporation of other colonies and territories. Beginning on 1 July 1867, it was initially a self-governing dominion of the British Empire with a Federalism, whose government was led by Sir John A. Macdonald. The initial colonies involved were the Province of Canada (becoming Quebec from Canada East, formerly the colony of Lower Canada; and Ontario from Canada West, formerly the colony of Upper Canada), Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick. Later participants were Manitoba, British Columbia, Prince Edward Island, Alberta and Saskatchewan (the latter two created in 1905 as federated provinces from parts of the directly federally administered Northwest Territories, first transferred to the Dominion in 1869 and now possessing Devolution governments as itself, Yukon and Nunavut), and finally Newfoundland (now Newfoundland and Labrador) in 1949. A Canadian judicial constitutional interpretation, Reference Re Secession of Quebec, and a subsequent Clarity Act law, set forth negotiating conditions for a Canadian province (though not a territory) to leave the Canadian federal state (addressed also by a related Quebec law). Importantly, negotiation would first need triggering by referendum and executing by constitutional amendment using a current amending mechanism of Canada's constitution—meaning that, while not legal under the current constitution, it is democratically feasible without resorting to extralegal means or international involvement.
However, some academic observers more usually discuss the EU in the terms of it being a federation. (referring to the European Court of Justice). Josselin (U. de Rennes-1/CREM) and Marciano (U. de Reims CA/CNRS). As the international law professor Joseph H. H. Weiler (of the Hague Academy and New York University) wrote, "Europe has charted its own brand of constitutional federalism". Jean-Michel Josselin and Alain Marciano see the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg City as being a primary force behind the building of a federal legal order for the EU, with Josselin stating that a "complete shift from a confederation to a federation would have required to straight-forwardly replace the principality 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". Rutgers political science professor R. Daniel Kelemen said: "Those uncomfortable using the 'F' word in the EU context should feel free to refer to it as a quasi-federal or federal-like system. Nevertheless, 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". Thomas Risse and Tanja A. Börzel claim that the "EU only lacks two significant features of a federation. First, the Member States remain the "masters" of the treaties, i.e., they have the exclusive power to amend or change the constitutive treaties of the EU. Second, the EU lacks a real "tax and spend" capacity, in other words, there is no fiscal federalism".Thomas Risse and Tanja A. Börzel, Who is Afraid of a European Federation? How to Constitutionalise a Multi-Level Governance System, Section 4: The European Union as an Emerging Federal System, Jean Monnet Center at NYU School of Law
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".
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".
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 people, the Oneida people, the Onondaga people, the Cayuga people, the Seneca people and the Tuscarora people. 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.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 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.
The Andean civilizations consisted of loose confederations, such as the Aymara kingdoms and the Diaguita, with the former being composed of distinct diarchies.
The two constituent republics functioned separately throughout the period of its short existence, and they continued to operate under separate economic policies and to use separate currencies (the euro was and still is the only legal tender in Montenegro, and the Serbian dinar was and still is the legal tender in Serbia). On 21 May 2006, the Montenegrin independence referendum was held. The final official results indicated on 31 May that 55.5% of voters voted in favor of independence. The confederation effectively came to an end after Montenegro's formal declaration of independence on 3 June 2006 and Serbia's formal declaration of independence on 5 June.
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. CH: Confoederatio Helvetica – Switzerland – Information . Swissworld.org. Retrieved on 2013-07-12.
| 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 | 800/962–1806 | De jure an empire, de facto a multi-ethnic Christian state of German, Italian, Czech, Dutch, and French states. |
| Muisca Confederation | –1540 | Consisted of the Southern Muisca of Bacatá led by the Zipazgo and the Northern Muisca of Tunja led by the Zacazgo. |
| Tui Manuʻa Confederacy | ||
| Kimek–Kipchak confederation | 9th century–13th century | A Turkic peoples 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 | Parts of present-day Balearic Islands, France, Italy, Malta, and Spain. |
| Haudenosaunee | 1142–present | Also known as the Iroquois Confederacy or the Six (formerly Five) Nations. |
| Hanseatic League | 13th–17th centuries | Member cities located in present-day Belgium, Estonia, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Poland, Russia, and Sweden. |
| Old Swiss Confederacy | 1291–1848 | Officially, the "Swiss Confederation". |
| Qara Qoyunlu | 1374–1468 | A Turkoman tribal confederation. |
| Aq Qoyunlu | 1378–1503 | A Turkoman tribal confederation. |
| Kalmar Union | 1397–1523 | Parts of present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. |
| Aztec Empire | 1428–1521 | Consisted of the of Tenochtitlan, Texcoco, and Tlacopan. |
| Livonian Confederation | 1435–1561 | |
| Pre-Commonwealth Poland and Lithuania | 1447–1492 1501–1569 | Shared a monarch (Grand Duke of Lithuania and King of Poland), parliament ( Sejm), and currency. |
| Denmark–Norway | 1536–1814 | Parts of present-day Denmark and Norway. |
| Dutch Republic | 1581–1795 | |
| Wampanoag people | ||
| Powhatan | ||
| Illinois Confederation | ||
| Confederate Ireland | 1641–1649 | |
| New England Confederation | 1643–1684 | |
| Kingdom of Lunda | ||
| Aro Confederacy | 1690–1902 | Parts of present-day Nigeria, Cameroon, and Equatorial Guinea. |
| 1713–1818 | ||
| The United States of America | 1781–1789 | Organization of the United States under the Articles of Confederation. |
| Western Confederacy | 1785–1795 | |
| Tecumseh's confederacy | ||
| Confederation of the Rhine | 1806–1813 | of the French Empire; had no head of state nor government. |
| German Confederation | 1815–1866 | |
| United Provinces of New Granada | 1810–1816 | Parts of present-day Colombia. |
| Sweden–Norway | 1814–1905 | Parts of present-day Norway and Sweden. |
| Confederation of the Equator | 1824 | Located in northeastern Brazil. |
| Argentine Confederation | 1832–1860 | |
| Peru–Bolivian Confederation | 1836–1839 | Parts of present-day Bolivia and Peru. |
| 1842–1844 | Parts of present-day El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. | |
| Granadine Confederation | 1858–1863 | |
| Confederate States of America | 1861–1865 | 11 Southern U.S. secessionist states during the American Civil War. |
| United States of Colombia | 1863–1886 | |
| Carlism | 1872–1876 | Parts of present-day Spain. |
| United Republics of North Caucasus | 1921–1926 | Rif War. |
| 1945–present | ||
| Netherlands-Indonesia Union | 1949–1956 | Parts of present-day Indonesia and Netherlands. |
| Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland | 1953–1963 | Also known as the Central African Federation, consisting of the then-British colonies of Northern Rhodesia, Southern Rhodesia, and Nyasaland (present-day Malawi, Zambia, and Zimbabwe). |
| Arab Federation | 1958 | Parts of present-day Iraq and Jordan. |
| United Arab Republic and the United Arab States | 1958–1961 | Parts of present-day Egypt and Syria, joined by the former Kingdom of Yemen. |
| Union of African States | 1961–1963 | Parts of present-day Mali, Ghana, and Guinea. |
| Federation of Arab Republics | 1972 | Parts of present-day Egypt, Libya, and Syria. |
| Arab Islamic Republic | 1974 | Parts of present-day Libya and Tunisia. |
| Senegambia | 1982–1989 | Parts of present-day Gambia and Senegal. |
| 1992–present | ||
| Rebel Zapatista Autonomous Municipalities | 1994–2023 | De facto autonomous territories, formerly located in the Mexico of Chiapas. |
| 2002–present | ||
| 2003–2006 | Parts of present-day Montenegro and Serbia. |
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