Federal republic

A federal republic is a federation of states with a democratic form of government. Usage of the term republic is inconsistent.^[1] At its core, the literal meaning of the word republic when used to reference a form of government means: "a state where sovereignty rests with the people or their representatives, rather than with a monarch or emperor; a country with no monarchy".^[2]

In a federal republic, there is a division of powers 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 security and defense, 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. As in the United States,^[3] 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. However, some federal monarchies, such as the United Arab Emirates are based upon principles other than democracy.

Contemporary

Federal State	Official Name and Style	Subdivisions	Head of state
Argentina	Republic of Argentina	Provinces and one autonomous city	President
Austria[4]	Republic of Austria	States	President
Bosnia and Herzegovina[5]	Bosnia and Herzegovina	Entities, Cantons and one federal District	Collective Presidency
Brazil[6]	Federative Republic of Brazil	States and one federal district	President
Comoros	Union of the Comoros	Autonomous islands	President
Ethiopia[7]	Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia	Regions	President
Germany[8]	Federal Republic of Germany	States	President
India[9]	Republic of India	States and territories	President
Iraq	Republic of Iraq	Provinces	President
Mexico[10]	United Mexican States	States and one federal district	President
Micronesia	Federated States of Micronesia	States	President
Nepal[11]	Federal Parliamentary Republic of Nepal	Development Regions	President
Nigeria[12]	Federal Republic of Nigeria	States and one federal territory	President
Pakistan[13]	Islamic Republic of Pakistan	Provinces	President
Russia[14]	Russian Federation	Federal subjects	President
Somalia	Federal Republic of Somalia	Regions	President
South Sudan	Republic of South Sudan	States	President
Sudan	Republic of the Sudan	States	President
Switzerland[15]	Swiss Confederation	Cantons	Federal Council
United States[16]	United States of America	States and one federal district	President
Venezuela[17]	Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela	States, one capital district and federal dependencies	President

Historic

Federation	Official Name and Style	Period	Subdivisions
Dutch Republic	Republic of the Seven United Netherlands	1581–1795	Provinces
Colombia	Republic of Colombia United States of Colombia	1819–1831 1863–1886	States
Federal Republic of Central America	United Provinces of Central America Federal Republic of Central America	1823–1838
Germany	German Reich (Weimar Republic)	1919–1933	States
Russian SFSR	Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic	1917–1991	Federal Subjects
Soviet Union	Union of Soviet Socialist Republics	1922–1991	Republics
Yugoslavia[18]	Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia	1945–1992	Republics
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia  Serbia and Montenegro	Federal Republic of Yugoslavia State Union of Serbia and Montenegro	1992–2003 2003–2006	Republics
Burma	Union of Burma	1948–1962	States
Indonesia	Republic of the United States of Indonesia	1949–1950[19]	States
Cameroon	Federal Republic of Cameroon	1961–1972
Czechoslovakia[18]	Czechoslovak Socialist Republic Czech and Slovak Federative Republic	1969–1990 1990–1993	Socialist Republics Republics

See also

• Form of government
• List of republics
• Federal monarchy

Notes and references

1. Merriam Webster Dictionary: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/republic
2. http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/republic
3. Forum of Federations: , Schram, Sanford. Handbook of Federal Countries: United States, pg 373-391, 2005.
4. CIA World Factbook: Austria, 14 May 2009
5. CIA World Factbook: Bosnia and Herzegovina, 14 May 2009
6. CIA World Factbook: Brazil, 14 May 2009
7. CIA World Factbook: Ethiopia, 14 May 2009
8. CIA World Factbook: Germany, 14 May 2009
9. CIA World Factbook: India, 14 May 2009
10. CIA World Factbook: Mexico, 14 May 2009
11. CIA World Factbook: Nepal, 14 May 2009
12. CIA World Factbook: Nigeria, 14 May 2009
13. CIA World Factbook: Pakistan, 14 May 2009
14. CIA World Factbook: Russia, 14 May 2009
15. CIA World Factbook: Switzerland, 14 May 2009
16. CIA World Factbook: United States, 14 May 2009
17. CIA World Factbook: Venezuela, 14 May 2009
18. The CIA World Factbook officially dated October 15, 1991
19. The states lived on until a final treaty in 1956 in which Republic of South Maluku and the State of Eastern Sumatra agreed to devolve into the Republic of Indonesia.