Confederation

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 217.112.178.84 (talk) at 22:12, 10 October 2008. The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

The monarchs of the member states of the German Confederation meet at Frankfurt in 1863.

A confederation is a group of empowered states or communities, usually created by treaty but often later adopting a common constitution. Confederations tend to be established for dealing with critical issues, such as defense, foreign affairs, foreign trade, and a common currency, with the central government being required to provide support for all members. A confederation, in modern political terms, is usually limited to a permanent union of sovereign states for common action in relation to other states.[1] By definition, the difference between a confederation and a federation is that the membership of the member states in a confederation is voluntary, while the membership in a federation is not. A confederation is most likely to feature these differences over a federation: (1) No real direct powers: many confederal decisions are externalised 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 the constitution, usually a treaty, require unanimity.

The nature of the relationship between the entities constituting a confederation varies considerably. Likewise, the relationship between the member states and the central government, and the distribution of powers among them, is highly variable. Some looser confederations are similar to international organizations, while tighter confederations may resemble federations.

In a non-political context, confederation is used to describe a type of organization which consolidates authority from other semi-autonomous bodies. Examples include sports confederations or confederations of Pan-European trades unions.

The noun confederation refers to the process of (or the event of) confederating; i.e., establishing a confederation (or by extension a federation). In Canada, Confederation generally refers to the British North America Act, 1867 which initially united four colonies of British North America (Province of Upper Canada, Province of Lower Canada, Province of New Brunswick and Province of Nova Scotia), and to the subsequent incorporation of other colonies and territories. Despite this use of the word "confederation", Canada is a federal state.

Today

Iroquois Confederacy

Main article: Iroquois Confederacy

The Iroquois Confederacy (also known as the "League of Peace and Power", the "Five Nations"; the "Six Nations"; or the "People of the Longhouse") is a group of First Nations/Native Americans that consist of six nations: the Mohawk, the Oneida, the Onondaga, the Cayuga, the Seneca and the Tuscarora. The Iroquois have a representative government known as the Grand Council. The Grand Council is the oldest governmental institution still maintaining its original form in North America.[2] Each tribe sends chiefs to act as representatives and make decisions for the whole nation.

European Union

The EU is not de jure a confederation – but some academic observers conclude that it has elements of a confederation or a federation.[3] [4]

Europe has charted its own brand of constitutional federalism.(Joseph H. H. Weiler)

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, 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).(R. Daniel Kelemen)


Belgium

Many authors are now speaking of Belgium as a country with some aspects of a Confederation. C.E. Lagasse wrote it about the agreements between Belgian Region and Communities : We are near the political system of a Confederation [5]. Vincent de Coorebyter, Director of the CRISP [6] wrote in Le Soir Belgian is undoubtely a federation... [but] has some aspects of a confederation[7] Michel Quévit, Professor ath the Université Catholique de Louvain wrote also in Le Soir The Belgian political system is already in dynamics of a Confederation [8]. The same author wrote already about this issue in 1984 with other Professors [9]

Historic confederations

Note that historical confederations, especially those predating the 20th century, may not fit the current definition of a confederation, may be proclaimed as a federation but be confederal(or the reverce), and may not show any qualities that are today recognized as those of a federation.

Some have more the characteristics of a personal union, but they are st listed here because of their own self-styling.

Fictional confederations

See also

References

  1. ^ Oxford English Dictionary
  2. ^ Jennings, p.94
  3. ^ Josselin, Jean Michel; Marciano, Alain (2006), The political economy of European federalism (PDF), Series : Public Economics and Social Choice, Centre for Research in Economics and Management, University of Rennes 1, University of Caen, p. 12, WP 2006-07; UMR CNRS 6211, A complete shift from a confederation to a federation would have required to straightforwardly replace the principalship 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.
  4. ^ How the court made a federation of the EU [1].Josselin (U de Rennes-1/CREM) and Marciano (U de Reims CA/CNRS).
  5. ^ French Le confédéralisme n'est pas loin Charles-Etienne Lagasse, Les nouvelles institutions politiques de la Belgique et de l'Europe, Erasme, Namur 2003, p. 405 ISBN 2-87127-783-4
  6. ^ Belgian research center whose activities are devoted to the study of decision-making in Belgium and in Europe
  7. ^ French La Belgique est (...) incontestablement, une fédération : il n’y a aucun doute (...) Cela étant, la fédération belge possède d’ores et déjà des traits confédéraux qui en font un pays atypique, et qui encouragent apparemment certains responsables à réfléchir à des accommodements supplémentaires dans un cadre qui resterait, vaille que vaille, national Vincent de Coorebyter "La Belgique (con)fédérale" in Le Soir 24 june 2008
  8. ^ French Le système institutionnel belge est déjà inscrit dans une dynamique de type confédéral Michel Quévit Le confédéralisme est une chance pour les Wallons et les Bruxellois, Le Soir, 19 september 2008
  9. ^ Robert Deschamps, Michel Quévit, Robert Tollet, Vers une réforme de type confédéral de l'État belge dans le cadre du maintien de l'union monétaire, in Wallonie 84, n°2, pp. 95-111.

Sources and external links

Look up confederation in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Confederation&oldid=244457688"