Federal republic
 |
The Federal Republic of Germany and its sixteen Bundesländer (federal states) |
A
federal republic is a
federation of
states with a
republican form of government. A federation is composed of a number of self-governing states united by a federal government. In a federation, unlike in a
unitary state, the self-governing status of autonomous regions is constitutionally entrenched and cannot be revoked by a unilateral decision of the central government. The states in a federation also maintain all
political sovereignty that they do not yield to the federation. Usage of the term
republic is inconsistent but, as a minimum, it means a state or federation of states that does not have a
monarch as
head of state.
Three states explicitly describe themselves as federal republics. These are the
Federal Republic of Germany, the
Federal Republic of Nigeria, and the
Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia. A close variant is the term
federative republic, which appears in the full official title of
Brazil. Not every federation is a republic; for example
Canada,
Australia, and
Malaysia are each governed under a form of federal
constitutional monarchy.
Contemporary
Historic
*
United Provinces of Central America (1824-1840)
* "
Great Colombia" (1819-1831), later
Colombia (federal republic until 1886; unitary republic after 1886)
*
Czechoslovakia (1969-1992)
*
Yugoslavia (1945-2003)
*
Serbia and Montenegro (2003-2006)
Fictional
*
Galactic Republic (Star Wars)*
New Republic (Star Wars)*
United Federation of Planets (Star Trek)
*
Form of government
