Federal republic

A federal republic is a federation of states with a republican form of government. Usage of the term republic is inconsistent^{[citation needed]} but, as a minimum, it means a state or federation of states that does not have a monarch.

In a federal republic, there is a division of powers between the national ("federal") government, and the government of the individual subdivisions. While each federal republic manages this division of powers differently, national security and defense, monetary policy, and other issues of a "national" scope are handled at the "federal" level while more local issues such as road and infrastructure maintenance and education policy are handled at the local level. However, views differ on what issues should be of sub-divisional governmental structures, the subdivisions also have sovereignty in some matters where the federal government does not have jurisdiction. This is in contrast to a unitary republic whereby the national government has complete sovereignty over all aspects of political life. The federal republic is a form of government used by many countries around the world and it can take almost any form- from aristocracies to democracies to tyrannies. As in the United States, many federal republics are Constitutional Republics which seek to ensure the rights of individuals and groups within the republic.

Contemporary[edit]

Nation	Official Name and Style	Subdivisions	Head of state
Argentina	Argentine Republic	Provinces	President
Austria^[1]	Republic of Austria	States	Federal President
Bosnia and Herzegovina^[2]	Bosnia and Herzegovina	Entities	Collective Presidency
Brazil^[3]	Federative Republic of Brazil	States	President of the Republic
Comoros	Federal Republic of the Comoros	Autonomous islands	President
Ethiopia^[4]	Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia	Regions	President
Germany^[5]	Federal Republic of Germany	States	Federal President
India^[6]	Republic of India	States	President
Iraq	Republic of Iraq	Provinces	President
Mexico^[7]	United Mexican States	States	President
Micronesia	Federated States of Micronesia	States	President
Nepal^[8]	Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal	Yet to decide by the constituent assembly	President
Nigeria^[9]	Federal Republic of Nigeria	States	President
Pakistan^[10]	Islamic Republic of Pakistan	Provinces	President
Russia^[11]	Russian Federation	Federal subjects	President
Somalia	Federal Republic of Somalia	States	President
South Sudan	Republic of South Sudan	States	President
Sudan	Republic of the Sudan	States	President
Switzerland^[12]	Swiss Confederation	Cantons	Federal Council
United States^[13]	United States of America	States	President
Venezuela^[14]	Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela	States	President

Historic[edit]

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
Soviet Union	Union of Soviet Socialist Republics	1922-1991	Republics
Yugoslavia^[15]	Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia/Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia	1945-1992	Republics
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^[16]	States
Cameroon	Federal Republic of Cameroon	1961-1972
Czechoslovakia^[15]	Czechoslovak Socialist Republic Czech and Slovak Federative Republic	1969-1990 1990-1993	Socialist Republics Republics