CONFEDERATION

Centripetal Federalism, Asymmetrical Federalism

Confederation is the joining together of territories with separate political systems into a political union that establishes a Federal government.

The Federal government in a Confederation is constitutionally permitted to exercise specific powers, while others are reserved for the exclusive jurisdiction of provincial or state governments.

Confederations are created by treaty usually adopting a common constitution. Confederations are established for dealing with critical issues such as defense, foreign affairs, or a common currency, with the central government being required to provide support for all members.

A confederation, in modern political terms, is generally limited to a permanent union of sovereign states for common action in relation to other states.

There are confederations which consolidate authority from other semi-autonomous bodies, like sports confederations or employees confederations.

The Swiss Confederation, is a classic modern example of a confederation. It has been a confederacy since 1291. Iroquois Confederacy is a group of First Nations or Native Americans that consist of six nations: the Mohawk, the Oneida, the Onondaga, the Cayuga, the Seneca and the Tuscarora.

Other notable confederations are:
Aro Confederacy, (1690-1902),
Confederate Ireland (1641-1649)
Confederation of the Rhine (1806–1813)
German Confederation (1815–1866)
North German Confederation (1866–1871) - became German Empire in 1871
Confederation of the Equator (1824)
Confederation of Central America (1842–1844)
Argentine Confederation (1832–1860)

The European Union: confederation, federation or association of compound states?
Charles B. Blankart (charles@blankart.net)
Abstract: The European Union of today is neither a confederation nor a federation, but rather an association of compound states. It is shown that this mixture of two forms of constitutional contracts implies inconsistencies prone to political deadlocks. A Buchanan/Tullock/Rawls approach to a reform suggests a clear choice between either a confederation or a federation. In this paper, however, it is proposed to follow a Hayekian approach in which issue fields are allocated to a confederation or to a federation, respectively depending on the revealed homogeneity of preferences of the citizens across the Member States. Hence both, Council and European Parliament, would remain the central decision makers but with separate tasks. Suggestions are made how to improve their election and their decision rules. The paper should contribute to the debate on reforming the European institutions which emerged after the rejection of the constitutional draft by the French and Dutch voters in 2005.

Asymmetrical Federalism

Federalism is asymmetrical where a federal system of government does not accord precisely the same legal powers and areas of jurisdiction to all its constituent states or provinces.

Centripetal Federalism

Centripetal federalism: federal system where there is a strong federal government and weaker provincial governments. Its opposite is centrifugal federalism, where power would be dispersed from the centre to the provincial governments.

Federalism

This term could be called also the federal principle or the federal idea. It explains more than just the legalistic and institutional aspects of this political method.

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