Federated state

Federated states of various types exist within many of the modern federal states (represented in green color)

A federated state (which may also be referred to as a state, a province, a region, a canton, a land, a governorate, an oblast, an emirate or a country) is a territorial and constitutional community forming part of a federation.^[1] Such states differ from fully sovereign states, in that they do not have full sovereign powers, as the sovereign powers have been divided between the federated states and the central or federal government. Importantly, federated states do not have standing as entities of international law. Instead, the federal union as a single entity is the sovereign state for purposes of international law.^[2] Depending on the constitutional structure of a particular federation, a federated state can hold various degrees of legislative, judicial and administrative jurisdiction over a defined geographic territory and is a form of regional government.

In some cases, a federation is created from a union of political entities, which are either independent, or dependent territories of another sovereign entity (most commonly a colonial power).^[A] In other cases, federated states have been created out of the regions of previously unitary states.^[B] Once a federal constitution is formed, the rules governing the relationship between federal and regional powers become part of the country's constitutional law and not international law.

In countries with federal constitutions, there is a division of power between the central government and the component states. These entities - states, provinces, counties, cantons, Länder, etc. - are partially self-governing and are afforded a degree of constitutionally guaranteed autonomy that varies substantially from one federation to another.^[C] Depending on the form the decentralization of powers takes, a federated state's legislative powers may or may not be overruled or vetoed by the federal government. Laws governing the relationship between federal and regional powers can be amended through the national or federal constitution, and, if they exist, state constitutions as well.

In terms of internal politics, federated states can have republican or monarchical forms of government. Those of republican form (federated republics) are usually called states (like states of the USA) or republics (like republics in the former USSR). Those that have monarchical form of government (federated monarchies) are defined by traditional hierarchical ranks and titles of their monarchs (like emirates of the United Arab Emirates).

Differences in terminology[]

Federated states typically, though not necessarily, use differences in the terminology of institutions to which there is an analogous federal-level equivalent. This list is a demonstration of common—though neither exhaustive nor universal—terminology differences between the state and federal levels:

List of constituents by federation[]

The "federated units" in the table below have inherent governmental authority in the federation's constitutional system, while the "other units" are delegated authority by the federal government or are administered directly by it.

Federation	Federated units	Other units
Argentina[3]	23 provinces:  Buenos Aires  Catamarca  Chaco  Chubut  Córdoba  Corrientes  Entre Ríos  Formosa  Jujuy  La Pampa  La Rioja  Mendoza  Misiones  Neuquén  Río Negro  Salta  San Juan  San Luis  Santa Cruz  Santa Fe  Santiago del Estero  Tierra del Fuego, Antártida e Islas del Atlántico Sur  Tucumán	1 autonomous city:  Buenos Aires[D]
Australia[4]	6 states:  New South Wales  Queensland  South Australia  Tasmania  Victoria  Western Australia	3 internal territories:  Australian Capital Territory[D] Jervis Bay Territory  Northern Territory
		7 external territories: Ashmore and Cartier Islands Australian Antarctic Territory  Christmas Island  Cocos (Keeling) Islands Coral Sea Islands Territory Heard Island and McDonald Islands  Norfolk Island[E]
Austria[5]	9 states:  Vienna[D]  Lower Austria  Upper Austria  Styria  Tyrol  Carinthia  Salzburg  Vorarlberg  Burgenland
Belgium[6]	3 regions:[F]  Flanders  Wallonia  Brussels[D]
	3 communities:[G]  Flemish  French  German-speaking
Bosnia and Herzegovina	2 entities:[E]  Republika Srpska Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina	1 self-governing district: Brčko (officially condominium of both constituents)
	The Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina is itself a federation of 10 cantons: Una-Sana Posavina Tuzla Zenica-Doboj Bosnian Podrinje Central Bosnia Herzegovina-Neretva West Herzegovina Sarajevo[D] Canton 10[7]
Brazil[8]	26 states:  Acre  Amapá  Amazonas  Pará  Rondônia  Roraima  Tocantins  Alagoas  Bahia  Ceará  Maranhão  Paraíba  Pernambuco  Piauí  Rio Grande do Norte  Sergipe  Goiás  Mato Grosso  Mato Grosso do Sul  Espírito Santo  Minas Gerais  Rio de Janeiro  São Paulo  Paraná  Rio Grande do Sul  Santa Catarina
	1 federal district:  Distrito Federal[D][H]
	5,568 municipalities[I]
Canada[9]	10 provinces:  Alberta  British Columbia  Manitoba  New Brunswick  Newfoundland and Labrador  Nova Scotia  Ontario  Prince Edward Island  Quebec  Saskatchewan	3 territories:  Northwest Territories  Nunavut  Yukon
Comoros	3 islands:[E]  Anjouan  Grande Comore  Mohéli
Ethiopia[10]	10 regions: Afar Amhara Benishangul-Gumuz Gambela Harari Oromia Sidama Somali Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region Tigray	2 chartered cities: Addis Ababa[D] Dire Dawa
Germany[11]	16 states:  Baden-Württemberg  Bavaria  Berlin[D]  Brandenburg  Bremen  Hamburg  Hesse  Lower Saxony  Mecklenburg-Vorpommern  North Rhine-Westphalia  Rhineland-Palatinate  Saarland  Saxony  Saxony-Anhalt  Schleswig-Holstein  Thuringia
India[12]	28 states: Andhra Pradesh Arunachal Pradesh Assam Bihar Chhattisgarh Goa Gujarat Haryana Himachal Pradesh Jharkhand Karnataka Kerala Madhya Pradesh Maharashtra Manipur Meghalaya Mizoram Nagaland Odisha Punjab Rajasthan Sikkim Tamil Nadu Telangana Tripura Uttar Pradesh Uttarakhand West Bengal	8 union territories: Andaman and Nicobar Islands Chandigarh Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu Delhi [D] Jammu and Kashmir [J] Ladakh [J] Lakshadweep Puducherry
Iraq[13]	19 governorates: Al Anbar Arbil Babil Baghdad[D] Basra Dhi Qar Diyala Dohuk Halabja Karbala Kirkuk Maysan Muthanna Najaf Nineveh Al-Qādisiyyah Saladin Sulaymaniyah Wasit	1 autonomous region:  Iraqi Kurdistan[E] (region overlaps the area of the governorates)
Malaysia[14]	13 states:  Johor  Kedah  Kelantan  Malacca  Negeri Sembilan  Pahang  Penang  Perak  Perlis  Sabah  Sarawak  Selangor  Terengganu	3 federal territories:  Putrajaya  Kuala Lumpur[D]  Labuan
Mexico[15]	31 states:  Aguascalientes  Baja California  Baja California Sur  Campeche  Chiapas  Chihuahua  Coahuila  Colima  Durango  Guanajuato  Guerrero  Hidalgo  Jalisco  México  Michoacán  Morelos  Nayarit  Nuevo León  Oaxaca  Puebla  Querétaro  Quintana Roo  San Luis Potosí  Sinaloa  Sonora  Tabasco  Tamaulipas  Tlaxcala  Veracruz  Yucatán  Zacatecas
	1 autonomous city:  Mexico City[D]
Micronesia[16]	4 states:  Chuuk  Kosrae  Pohnpei  Yap
Nepal	7 provinces: Province No. 1 Province No. 2 Bagmati Gandaki Karnali Lumbini Sudurpashchim
Nigeria[17]	36 states: Abia Adamawa Akwa Ibom Anambra Bauchi Bayelsa Benue Borno Cross River Delta Ebonyi Edo Ekiti Enugu Gombe Imo Jigawa Kaduna Kano Katsina Kebbi Kogi Kwara Lagos Nasarawa Niger Ogun Ondo Osun Oyo Plateau Rivers Sokoto Taraba Yobe Zamfara	1 territory: Federal Capital Territory[D]
Pakistan[18]	4 provinces:  Balochistan  Khyber Pakhtunkhwa  Punjab  Sindh	2 autonomous territories:[E]  Azad Jammu and Kashmir[J]  Gilgit-Baltistan[J]
		1 federal territory:  Islamabad Capital Territory[D]
Russia[19][20]	46 oblasts:  Amur  Arkhangelsk  Astrakhan  Belgorod  Bryansk  Chelyabinsk  Irkutsk  Ivanovo  Kaliningrad  Kaluga  Kemerovo  Kirov  Kostroma  Kurgan  Kursk  Leningrad  Lipetsk  Magadan  Moscow Oblast  Murmansk  Nizhny Novgorod  Novgorod  Novosibirsk  Omsk  Orenburg  Oryol  Penza  Pskov  Rostov  Ryazan  Sakhalin  Samara  Saratov  Smolensk  Sverdlovsk  Tambov  Tomsk  Tver  Tula  Tyumen  Ulyanovsk  Vladimir  Volgograd  Vologda  Voronezh  Yaroslavl
	22 republics:[E]  Adygea  Altai Republic  Bashkortostan  Buryatia  Chechnya  Chuvashia  Crimea[J]  Dagestan  Ingushetia  Kabardino-Balkaria  Kalmykia  Karachay-Cherkessia  Karelia  Khakassia  Komi  Mari El  Mordovia  North Ossetia-Alania  Sakha  Tatarstan  Tuva  Udmurtia
	9 krais:  Altai Krai  Kamchatka  Khabarovsk  Krasnodar  Krasnoyarsk  Perm  Primorsky  Stavropol  Zabaykalsky
	4 autonomous okrugs:[E]  Chukotka  Khanty–Mansi  Nenets  Yamalo-Nenets
	3 federal cities:  Moscow[D]  Saint Petersburg  Sevastopol[J]
	1 autonomous oblast:  Jewish Autonomous Oblast
Saint Kitts and Nevis	2 islands:[K] Saint Kitts  Nevis
Somalia[21][22]	6 federal member states:[L]  Galmudug Hirshabelle  Jubaland  Puntland  Somaliland South West[E]
South Sudan	10 states: [23] Northern Bahr el Ghazal Western Bahr el Ghazal Lakes Warrap Western Equatoria Central Equatoria Eastern Equatoria Jonglei Unity Upper Nile	3 administrative areas: [24] Abyei [J] Pibor Ruweng
Sudan[25]	18 states: Al Jazirah Blue Nile Sennar White Nile Central Darfur East Darfur North Darfur South Darfur West Darfur Kassala Al Qadarif Red Sea Khartoum[D] North Kurdufan South Kurdufan West Kurdufan Northern River Nile	1 special administrative status area: [26] Abyei [J]
Switzerland[27]	26 cantons:  Aargau  Appenzell Ausserrhoden  Appenzell Innerrhoden  Basel-Landschaft  Basel-Stadt  Bern  Fribourg  Geneva  Glarus  Grisons  Jura  Lucerne  Neuchâtel  Nidwalden  Obwalden  Schaffhausen  Schwyz  Solothurn  St. Gallen  Thurgau  Ticino  Uri  Valais  Vaud  Zug  Zürich
United Arab Emirates[28]	7 emirates:  Abu Dhabi  Ajman  Dubai  Fujairah  Ras Al Khaimah  Sharjah  Umm al-Quwain
United States[29]	50 states:  Alabama  Alaska  Arizona  Arkansas  California  Colorado  Connecticut  Delaware  Florida  Georgia  Hawaii  Idaho  Illinois  Indiana  Iowa  Kansas  Kentucky  Louisiana  Maine  Maryland  Massachusetts  Michigan  Minnesota  Mississippi  Missouri  Montana  Nebraska  Nevada  New Hampshire  New Jersey  New Mexico  New York  North Carolina  North Dakota  Ohio  Oklahoma  Oregon  Pennsylvania  Rhode Island  South Carolina  South Dakota  Tennessee  Texas  Utah  Vermont  Virginia  Washington  West Virginia  Wisconsin  Wyoming	1 federal district:  District of Columbia[D]
		1 incorporated territory:   Palmyra Atoll
		13 unincorporated territories:  American Samoa  Guam  Northern Mariana Islands  Puerto Rico  U.S. Virgin Islands Baker Island Howland Island Jarvis Island Johnston Atoll Kingman Reef Midway Atoll Navassa Island Wake Island Bajo Nuevo Bank[J] Serranilla Bank[J]
Venezuela[30]	23 states: Amazonas  Anzoátegui  Apure  Aragua  Barinas  Bolívar  Carabobo  Cojedes  Delta Amacuro  Falcón  Guárico  Lara  Mérida  Miranda  Monagas  Nueva Esparta  Portuguesa  Sucre  Táchira  Trujillo  Vargas  Yaracuy  Zulia	1 capital district: Distrito Capital[D]
		1 federal dependency:  Federal Dependencies of Venezuela

See also[]

• Associated state
• Constituent state
• Federal district
• Federal territory
• Federation
• List of autonomous areas by country
• List of sovereign states
• Supranational union
• List of administrative divisions by country

Notes[]

References[]