Talk: Confederation
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"The European Union ... is a confederation of sovereign states without a central government"
Is this true? There's the Parliament, the Court of Justice, the Commission (which has a President and executive powers), and the Central Bank. What else do you need to form a government?
- No, it's not true. The EU does have a central government, but it's not a state. Defence, Currency, Foreign Affairs, etc. fall largely under the auspices of the individual state.
- At the most it is the early stages of a confederation, but not a conferation propre.
Here is an exert removed from the main article:
- Traditional confederation style government has been rare in modern history, although many countries have identifed themselves as such (ie: Confederate States of America, German Confederation, Canadian Confederation, etc). The term "confederation" is thus used as a synonym of "federation." Confederations can be unstable, as was the case with the early United States in which dissatisfaction with the loose Articles of Confederation led to a much stronger central government under the Constitution of the United States.
It was replace by:
- Sometimes confederation is erroneously used in the place of federation. This can be a simple slip in expression or can come from a belief that they mean the exact same thing. This can also arise from Confederations that became Federations(the German Confederacy became the Federal Republic of Germany,) or when the status of a state is ambiguous such as the United States of America, (which although has a stronger central government than when it started, still has one much weaker than that of most federations.)
I don't know who wrote it, but Canada is a federation and has never considered itself a confederation. The Confederation of Canada never existed. It has always been more properly called the Dominion of Canada, or earlier the Canadas (Upper and Lower Canada). Just because it has a Confederation Day doesn't mean it has ever called itself a confederation.
Also, Germany is known as the Federal Republic of Germany, if it has ever called itself a confederation, it was back when it was a confederation. Much like the United States of America could very well be called a federation now, but started out as a confederacy. Whether or not it is a federation or confederation is up to debate.
Before it is used as a rebutal, the only time states tried to seperate from the union, the war was described as a war on slavery, not a war to prevent succession. Although most other languages and many other cultures call it a successionary war the American public usually considers it simply for abolitionism. It could therefore be considered (and is implied by the way the union goverment described the war at the time,) as a sovereign entity attacking a de facto sovereign entity for the imposition of moral values (propre emancipation or abolitionism,) and annexation of territory.
Canada is officially called the Confederation of Canada and even though it is now a federation it was originally a confederation of British colonies. --Numerousfalx 12:34, 12 Oct 2004 (UTC)
Does the Kingdom of the Netherlands count as a confederation? It doesn't meet the "many regions" criterion. But if it's not a confederation, what is it exactly? Peking Duck 20:57, 26 Aug 2004 (UTC)
- It could be called a commonwealth or an empire, similar to the British Commonwealth/Empire. Of course, I'm not sure about this. Weatherman667
I removed the part about the Confederate States of America not being a Confederation as it was deliberately organized on the basis of the Articles of Confederation. The result being their subsequent loss to the Union due to their disorganization of their war effort. --Numerousfalx 12:31, 12 Oct 2004 (UTC)
Jeez.
I find this article extremely butchered. Looking at this page, the definition of what is a Confederacy is ridiculously vague. It's completely indistinguishable from a Federation. Mind trying to clean it up? - Kade 00:40, 9 Dec 2004 (UTC)
