Federal Republic

A Federal Republic is a nation-state with federal structure (combining republican government with federated units).

• AKA: Federal State System, Federal Democratic Republic.
• Context:
  • It can (typically) have a Federal Government, with central authority (managing national affairs and interstate relations).
  • It can (typically) have a Federal Constitution, with legal framework (defining power distribution and state rights).
  • It can (typically) have a Federal Legislature, with bodies (including national assembly and state councils).
  • It can (typically) have a Federal Court, with judicial powers (resolving constitutional disputes).
  • It can (typically) have a Federal Executive, with administrative power (implementing national policy).
  • It can (often) have a Federal Structure, with territorial divisions (including states and federal districts).
  • It can (often) have a Federal Election, with voting systems (selecting national representatives).
  • It can (often) have a Federal Law, with legal hierarchy (above state legislation).
  • It can (often) have a Federal Budget, with resource allocation (between federal levels).
  • ...
  • It can range from being a Weak Federal System to being a Strong Federal System, depending on its central power.
  • It can range from being a Symmetric Federation to being an Asymmetric Federation, depending on its state rights.
  • It can range from being a Loose Federation to being a Tight Federation, depending on its integration level.
  • ...
• Examples:
  • Contemporary Federal Republics, such as:
    • North American Federal Republics, such as:
      • United States (1776-present), with state system and sovereign status
      • Mexico (1810-present), with state system and presidential government
    • South American Federal Republics, such as:
      • Brazil (1822-present), with state system and presidential democracy
      • Argentina (1816-present), with provincial system and presidential model
    • European Federal Republics, such as:
      • Germany (1848-present), with land system and parliamentary model
      • Austria (1918-present), with state system and parliamentary democracy
    • Asian Federal Republics, such as:
      • India (1947-present), with state system and parliamentary democracy
      • Nepal (2006-present), with provincial system and parliamentary model
  • Historical Federal Republics, such as:
    • Weimar Republic (1919-1933), with german state system
    • First Austrian Republic (1919-1934), with austrian land system
  • Failed Federal Republics, such as:
    • United States of Central America (1823-1838), due to regional conflicts
    • Senegambia (1982-1989), due to integration challenges
  • ...
• Counter-Examples:
  • Unitary Republic, which lacks federal divisions but can be a Nation-State.
  • Federal Monarchy, which combines federal system with monarchical head.
  • Confederation, which maintains higher state sovereignty than a Nation-State.
  • Empire, which uses centralized control.
• See: Forum of Federations, Division of Powers, Federal Constitution, Parliamentary Democracy, Nation-State, State Sovereignty, National Political System.

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References

2024

• (Wikipedia, 2024) ⇒ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/federal_republic Retrieved:2024-11-20.
  • A federal republic is a federation of states with a republican form of government. At its core, the literal meaning of the word republic when used to reference a form of government means a country that is governed by elected representatives and by an elected leader, such as a president, rather than by a monarch or any hereditary aristocracy.

    In a federal republic, a division of powers exists between the federal government and the government of the individual subdivisions. While each federal republic manages this division of powers differently, common matters relating to international affairs and treaties, security and defense, inter-state relations, and monetary policy are usually handled at the federal level, while matters such as infrastructure maintenance and education policy are usually handled at the regional or local level; however, views differ on what issues should be a federal competence, and subdivisions usually have sovereignty in some matters where the federal government does not have jurisdiction. A federal republic is thus best defined in contrast to a unitary republic, whereby the central government has complete sovereignty over all aspects of political life. This more decentralized structure helps to explain the tendency for more populous countries to operate as federal republics.

    Most federal republics codify the division of powers between orders of government in a written constitutional document. The political differences between a federal republic and other federal states, especially federal monarchies under a parliamentary system of government, are largely a matter of legal form rather than political substance, as most federal states are democratic in structure if not practice with checks and balances; however, some federal monarchies, such as the United Arab Emirates, are based upon principles other than democracy.

    Federal states primarily contrast with unitary states, where the central government retains many of the powers that are delegated to the subdivisions in federal republics. While there are exceptions, the overall tendency is for federal republics to be larger, more populous, and more internally heterogeneous than unitary states, with such larger size and internal heterogeneity being more manageable in a federal system than in a unitary one.

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