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83-641: Politics of the United Arab Emirates take place in a framework of a federal presidential elective constitutional monarchy (a federation of absolute monarchies ). The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is a federation of seven constituent monarchies : the Emirates of Abu Dhabi , Ajman , Dubai , Fujairah , Ras al-Khaimah , Sharjah , and Umm al-Quwain . According to convention, the ruler of Abu Dhabi ( Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan )

166-572: A central government established usually through coercion (on the model of the Roman Empire ). An empire often includes self-governing regions, but these will possess autonomy only at the sufferance of the central government. On the other hand, a political entity that is an empire in name, may comprise several partly autonomous kingdoms organised together in a federation, with the empire being ruled over by an emperor or senior king ( great king , high king , king of kings ...). One example of this

249-671: A federal cabinet . On 23 December 1971, the Emirate of Ras al-Khaimah sent a letter to the Council requesting to join the union. The Council agreed to the request and the Ras al-Khaimah was admitted to the Union on 10 February 1972. The Federal Supreme Council meets four times each year and its meetings are often on an informal basis and attend meetings of the Board, consisting of the seven rulers of

332-404: A federal state ) is an entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a federal government ( federalism ). In a federation, the self-governing status of the component states, as well as the division of power between them and the central government, is constitutionally entrenched and may not be altered by a unilateral decision, neither by

415-505: A stronger central government than the US in the wake of the Civil War of the latter, use the term "Confederation" to refer to the formation or joining, not the structure, of Canada. Legal reforms, court rulings, and political compromises have decentralized Canada in practice since its formation in 1867. An empire is a multi-ethnic state, multinational state , or a group of nations with

498-456: A "tribal autocracy" where the seven constituent monarchies are led by tribal rulers in an autocratic fashion. There are no democratically elected institutions, and there is no formal commitment to free speech. The discovery of oil in Abu Dhabi in 1958 and the country's subsequent oil wealth has defined its politics and economy, as well as shaped its foreign policy behavior. Administratively,

581-688: A Swiss intelligence firm Alp Services the UAE intelligence services received the names of more than 1000 individuals and 400 organizations in 18 European countries, labelling them as part of the Muslim Brotherhood network in Europe. The Economist Intelligence Unit rated the United Arab Emirates an " authoritarian regime " in 2022. [REDACTED] Media related to Politics of the United Arab Emirates at Wikimedia Commons Federation List of forms of government A federation (also called

664-450: A broad definition of a basic federalism , there are two or more levels of government that exist within an established territory and govern through common institutions with overlapping or shared powers as prescribed by a constitution. The federal government is the government at the level of the sovereign state. Usual responsibilities of this level of government are maintaining national security and exercising international diplomacy, including

747-426: A federation is Malaysia , in which Sarawak and Sabah agreed to form the federation on different terms and conditions from the states of Peninsular Malaysia . A federation often emerges from an initial agreement between several separate states. The purpose can be the will to solve mutual problems and to provide for mutual defense or to create a nation-state for an ethnicity spread over several states. The former

830-475: A federation to be brought into being by agreement between a number of formally independent states, in a unitary state self-governing regions are often created through a process of devolution, where a formerly centralized state agrees to grant autonomy to a region that was previously entirely subordinate. Thus, federations are often established voluntarily from "below" whereas devolution grants self-government from "above". A confederation , in modern political terms,

913-604: A large area of territory (such as Russia , the United States , Canada , India , Brazil , Pakistan or Australia ), but neither is necessarily the case (such as Saint Kitts and Nevis or the Federated States of Micronesia ). About 40% of world population live in a federation. Several ancient chiefdoms and kingdoms, such as the 4th-century-BCE League of Corinth , Noricum in Central Europe , and

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996-795: A mediator to de-escalate tensions with the UAE. In early 2007, the United Arab Emirates launched the 'UAE Government Strategy' for the years ahead, which covered twenty-one topics in six different sectors including social development, economic development, public sector development, justice and safety, infrastructure and rural areas development. The initiative is meant to reevaluate and advance these sectors towards top global standards by facilitating better continuous cooperation between federal and local governments with increased efficiency, training, Emiratisation, ministry empowerment, upgrading of services, improving civil service and legislation review. Subsequently, in 2007–2008, Abu Dhabi announced

1079-775: A press conference, Louisa Hanoune accused the UAE of ‘collecting money to arm Morocco’ and using their investments in Algeria. Additionally, the Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune claimed to have evidence proving that the UAE bribed Abdelaziz Bouteflika with around US$ 300 million for over 15 years in exchange of economic or political benefits. Meanwhile, the Emirati intelligence services claimed to have compromising files on Algeria’s destabilizing activities in Sahel. Algeria requested Kuwait to be

1162-463: A report highlighting escalating tensions between the UAE and Algeria, which accused the Emirates of collaborating with Morocco and Israel to undermine Algeria’s interest in Western Sahara. The Emirati alliance was also accused of working to destabilize the Sahel region. The association between the UAE, Morocco and Israel was viewed as a part of a broader conspiracy against Algerian interests. In

1245-399: A two-thirds majority vote (five out of seven rulers), which must include Abu Dhabi and Dubai. The Supreme Council also elects the Council of Ministers, while an appointed 40-member Federal National Council, drawn from all the emirates, reviews proposed laws. The Cabinet of United Arab Emirates (also called the Council of Ministers, Arabic : مجلس الوزراء ) is a collegial body presided over by

1328-600: Is a constitutionally completely independent body (under Article 94) and includes the Federal Supreme Court and Courts of First Instance. Supreme Council of Rulers appoints the five judges headed by a president to the Supreme Court. The judges are responsible for deciding if federal laws are constitutional, mediating between inter-emirate disputes. It also possesses the authority to try cases involving cabinet and senior federal officials. Although secular law

1411-588: Is an important challenge. The inability to meet this challenge may lead to the secession of parts of a federation or to civil war, as occurred in the United States (southern states sought to protect the institution of slavery while northern states opposed it, with a catalysis occurring in the then– Kansas Territory ), in Nigeria and in Switzerland . In the case of Malaysia , Singapore was expelled from

1494-630: Is another nation-state that has switched between confederal, federal and unitary rules, since the German Confederation was founded in 1815. The North German Confederation , the succeeding German Empire and the Weimar Republic were federations. Founded in 1922, the Soviet Union was formally a federation of Soviet republics , autonomous republics and other federal subjects, though in practice highly centralized under

1577-486: Is applied, the basis of legislation is Sharia (Islamic Law) and involves three of the four schools including (mainly) Maliki , but also the Hanbali and Shafi'i schools. According to Jim Krane "The UAE’s rulers now maintain power and legitimacy by giving generous subsidies to their citizens, known as Emiratis, essentially buying their support. The majority is happy with this unspoken bargain, which holds sway in most of

1660-599: Is divided into three traditional chiefdoms: Uvea , Sigave , and Alo . The chiefdoms are allowed to have their own legal system which have to be implemented along with French legal system . Under the terms of the Fomboni Accords, signed in December 2001 by the leaders of all three islands, the official name of the country was changed to the Union of the Comoros ; the new state was to be highly decentralised and

1743-425: Is more than a mere loose alliance of independent states. The component states of a federation usually possess no powers in relation to foreign policy and so enjoy no independent status under international law . However, German Länder have that power, which is beginning to be exercised on a European level. Some federations are called asymmetric because some states have more autonomy than others. An example of such

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1826-752: Is opaque." Political parties are banned. The FNC is the main consultative body in the UAE and has both a legislative and supervisory role accorded by the Constitution. Since the council's inception, the following have been selected as speakers: Thani Abdullah Humaid, Taryam Omran Taryam , Hilal bin Ahmed bin Lootah, Al Haj bin Abdullah Al Muhairbi, Mohammed Khalifa Habtour, Saeed Mohammad Al Gandi , Abdul Aziz Al Ghurair , Mohammad Al-Murr , and Amal Al Qubaisi since 2015. The Federal Judiciary

1909-407: Is sometimes one with only a single, centralized, national tier of government. However, unitary states often also include one or more self-governing regions. The difference between a federation and this kind of unitary state is that in a unitary state the autonomous status of self-governing regions exists by the sufferance of the central government, and may be unilaterally revoked. While it is common for

1992-542: Is suggested as one possible de facto federation as it grants more self-government to its autonomous communities than are retained by the constituent entities of most federations. For the Spanish parliament to revoke the autonomy of regions such as Galicia , Catalonia or the Basque Country would be a political near-impossibility, though nothing bars it legally. The Spanish parliament has, however, suspended

2075-429: Is the president of the United Arab Emirates (despite holding the title of president, the country is not governed as a presidential republic ) and the head of state , and the ruler of Dubai is the prime minister of the United Arab Emirates , the head of the government. Within the UAE, emirates have considerable administrative autonomy within themselves. The UAE is an authoritarian state. The UAE has been described as

2158-403: Is the UAE's legislative body and consists of 40 members. The body only has advisory powers. Twenty of the members are indirectly elected by the hand-picked 33% of Emirati citizens who have voting rights through an electoral college , while the other twenty are appointed by the rulers of each emirate . According to Reuters, "the process of selecting the people who can either elect or be elected

2241-454: Is therefore not a de jure federation, although some academic observers conclude that after 50 years of institutional evolution since the Treaties of Rome it is becoming one. The European Union possesses attributes of a federal state. However, its central government is far weaker than that of most federations and the individual members are sovereign states under international law, so it

2324-473: Is usually characterized as an unprecedented form of supra-national union. The EU has responsibility for important areas such as trade, monetary union, agriculture, and fisheries. Nonetheless, EU member states retain the right to act independently in matters of foreign policy and defense, and also enjoy a near-monopoly over other major policy areas such as criminal justice and taxation. Since the Treaty of Lisbon ,

2407-558: Is usually limited to a permanent union of sovereign states for common action in relation to other states. The closest entity in the world to a confederation at this time is the European Union . While the word confederation was officially used when the Canadian federal system was established in 1867, the term refers only to the process and not the resulting state since Canadian provinces are not sovereign and do not claim to be. In

2490-773: The Crown Dependencies of the Isle of Man and the bailiwicks of Guernsey and Jersey in the Channel Islands and the United Kingdom is very similar to a federate relation: the Islands enjoy independence from the United Kingdom, which, via The Crown, takes care of their foreign relations and defense – although the UK Parliament does have overall power to legislate for the dependencies. However,

2573-649: The Iroquois Confederacy in pre-Columbian North America , could be described as federations or confederations . The Old Swiss Confederacy was an early example of formal non-unitary statehood. Several colonies and dominions in the New World consisted of autonomous provinces, transformed into federal states upon independence such as the United States , and various countries in Latin America (see Spanish American wars of independence ). Some of

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2656-486: The United States Constitution having become effective on 4 March 1789, the United States is the oldest surviving federation, while the newest federation is Nepal , after its constitution went into effect on 20 September 2015. The component states are in some sense sovereign, insofar as certain powers are reserved to them that may not be exercised by the central government. However, a federation

2739-594: The government of the Soviet Union . The Russian Federation has inherited a similar system. India , Pakistan , Nigeria and Malaysia (then Federation of Malaya ) became federations on or shortly before becoming independent from the British Empire . In some recent cases, federations have been instituted as a measure to handle ethnic conflict within a state, such as Bosnia and Herzegovina , and Iraq since 2005 as well as Somalia since 2012 . With

2822-514: The prime minister . It consists of 22 members and is also headed by a prime minister (chosen by the president with consultation). The federal cabinet is the executive authority for the federation. Under the supreme control of the president and supreme council, it manages all internal and foreign affairs of the federation under its constitutional and federal laws. The cabinet consists of cabinet's chairman (prime minister of UAE) and two deputies and ministers. The general secretariat shall be handled by

2905-399: The proclaimed Arab federations were confederations de facto . Federal Supreme Council (United Arab Emirates) Trucial States Council was established as an informal consultative body and held its first meeting on 23 March 1952 to bring the rulers closer together with the possibility of their forming some political or economic association in the future. It came into being following

2988-563: The "F" word in the EU context should feel free to refer to it as a quasi-federal or federal-like system. Nevertheless, for the purposes of the analysis here, the EU has the necessary attributes of a federal system. It is striking that while many scholars of the EU continue to resist analyzing it as a federation, most contemporary students of federalism view the EU as a federal system. ( See, for instance, Bednar, Filippov et al., McKay, Kelemen, Defigueido and Weingast ) A more nuanced view has been given by

3071-476: The "federal nature of Spain's government (a trend that almost no one denies)." Each autonomous community is governed by a Statute of Autonomy ( Estatuto de Autonomía ) under the Spanish Constitution of 1978 . Although South Africa bears some elements of a federal system, such as the allocation of certain powers to provinces, some nevertheless argue that it is functionally a unitary state. On

3154-677: The 1970s. Moreover, although nominally called a federal state, the country's structure already has a number of confederational traits . At present, there is a growing movement to transform the existing federal state into a looser confederation with two or three constitutive states and/or two special regions. A confederation is most likely to feature three differences when contrasted with a federation: (1) No real direct powers: many confederal decisions are externalized by member-state legislation; (2) Decisions on day-to-day-matters are not taken by simple majority but by special majorities or even by consensus or unanimity (veto for every member); (3) Changes of

3237-762: The British recognition of Fujairah as an independent emirate within the Trucial States . The council met twice a year under the chairmanship of the British representative in Dubai and held 30 such meetings between 1952 and 1968. In 1964, Adi Bitar was appointed as a legal adviser to the council. In 1965, the Trucial Coast Development Council was established. In 1966, the British political agency withdrew itself from presiding over

3320-414: The Constitution are to be under the jurisdiction of respective emirates and are reaffirmed by Article 116 which states that: ‘the emirates shall exercise all powers not assigned to the federation by this Constitution’. This is further reiterated by Article 122, which stated that ‘the emirates shall have jurisdiction in all matters not assigned to the exclusive jurisdiction of the federation, in accordance with

3403-803: The German Constitutional Court. Here the EU is defined as 'an association of sovereign national states ( Staatenverbund )'. With this view, the European Union resembles more of a confederation . Constitutionally, the power vested in the special administrative regions of the People's Republic is granted from the Central People's Government , through a decision by the National People's Congress . However, there have been certain largely informal grants of power to

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3486-557: The Gulf. The sheikhs get public backing in return for improvements in living standards, including jobs, homes, health care, and education. Tribal autocracy is one of the oldest ways of organizing society and the only form of governance the UAE has ever known. On 2 April 2021, 91-year-old German philosopher Jürgen Habermas rejected the Sheikh Zayed Book Award worth 750,000 UAE dirhams prize money. Habermas earlier accepted

3569-642: The Member States' right to leave the Union is codified, and the Union operates with more qualified majority voting (rather than unanimity) in many areas. By the signature of this Treaty, the participating Parties give proof of their determination to create the first supranational institution and that thus they are laying the true foundation of an organized Europe. This Europe remains open to all nations. We profoundly hope that other nations will join us in our common endeavor. Europe has charted its own brand of constitutional federalism. Those uncomfortable using

3652-643: The New World federations failed; the Federal Republic of Central America broke up into independent states less than 20 years after its founding. Others, such as Argentina , have shifted between federal, confederal , and unitary systems, before settling into federalism. Brazil became a federation only after the fall of the monarchy , and Venezuela became a federation after the Federal War . Australia and Canada are also federations. Germany

3735-1068: The Tenth Amendment contained in the Bill of Rights and the Eleventh Amendment. However, later amendments, particularly the Fourteenth Amendment, gave the federal government considerable authority over states. Federal government within this structure are the government ministries and departments and agencies to which the ministers of government are assigned. There are 26 federations in the world, with 6 each in Asia and Europe , 5 in Africa , 4 in North America , 3 in South America and 2 in Oceania . Some of

3818-441: The UAE constitution defines the powers of the council's authority in formulation of general policy; legislation on all matters of state; ratification of federal laws and decrees, including those relating to budget and fiscal matters; ratification of international treaties and agreements; and appointment of the prime minister and Supreme Court judges. Decisions are made by majority vote unless relating to substantive issues which require

3901-712: The UAE has worked to strengthen its federal institutions. Nonetheless, each emirate still retains substantial autonomy, and progress toward greater federal integration has slowed in recent years. A basic concept in the UAE government's development as a federal system is that a significant percentage of each emirate's revenues should be devoted to the UAE central budget. Although complexity of local government differs depending on size and development of each emirate, most (such as Abu Dhabi , Dubai, Sharjah and Ajman) have their own executive councils chaired by their respective rulers and possessing various departments reflective of federal ministries. Various autonomous agencies also exist such as

3984-439: The UAE is a federation of seven emirates , each with its own ruler. The pace of local government reform in each emirate is set primarily by the ruler. Under the provisional constitution of 1971, each emirate reserves considerable powers, including control over mineral rights (notably oil) and revenues. In this milieu, federal powers have developed slowly as each Emirate already had its own existing institutions of government prior to

4067-723: The United Kingdom, because, in a devolved state, the central government can revoke the independence of the subunits (the Scottish Parliament , the Welsh Parliament and the Northern Ireland Assembly in the case of the United Kingdom) without changing the constitution. In some cases, such as the autonomous communities of Spain , devolution has led to federation in all but name, or "federation without federalism". The relation between

4150-546: The autonomy of Catalonia in response to the Catalan declaration of independence , in the lead-up to the 2017 Catalan election . Additionally, some autonomies such as Navarre or the Basque Country have full control over taxation and spending, transferring a payment to the central government for the common services (military, foreign relations, macroeconomic policy). For example, scholar Enrique Guillén López discusses

4233-415: The autonomy of a self-governing region, it may be politically difficult for it to do so in practice. The self-governing regions of some unitary states also often enjoy greater autonomy than those of some federations. For these reasons, it is sometimes argued that some modern unitary states are de facto federations. De facto federations, or quasi-federations, are often termed " regional states ". Spain

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4316-472: The award, but later called it “a wrong decision,” which he corrected by rejecting it in April 2021. In a critical statement, Habermas cited his previous unawareness of the fact that the awarding institution had close connections with the existing political system of the country, which is a dictatorship as cited in a 2020 report published by Amnesty International . Menas Associates, a risk analysis firm, published

4399-585: The case of Switzerland , while the country is still known officially as the Swiss Confederation, this is now a misnomer since the Swiss cantons lost their sovereign status in 1848. In Belgium, however, the opposite movement is underway. Belgium was founded as a centralized state, after the French model, but has gradually been reformed into a federal state by consecutive constitutional reforms since

4482-417: The central union government would devolve most powers to the new island governments, each led by a president. Certain forms of political and constitutional dispute are common to federations. One issue is that the exact division of power and responsibility between federal and regional governments is often a source of controversy. Often, as is the case with the United States , such conflicts are resolved through

4565-522: The component states nor the federal political body without constitutional amendment. Sovereign power is formally divided between a central authority and a number of constituent regions so that each region retains some degree of control over its internal affairs. Overriding powers of a central authority theoretically can include: the constitutional authority to suspend a constituent state's government by invoking gross mismanagement or civil unrest, or to adopt national legislation that overrides or infringes on

4648-496: The constituent states' powers by invoking the central government's constitutional authority to ensure "peace and good government" or to implement obligations contracted under an international treaty. The governmental or constitutional structure found in a federation is considered to be federalist , or to be an example of federalism . It can be considered in comparison with the unitary state . France and Japan , for example, have been unitary for many centuries. The Austrian Empire

4731-484: The constitution, usually a treaty, require unanimity. Over time these terms acquired distinct connotations leading to the present difference in definition. An example of this is the United States under the Articles of Confederation . The Articles established a national government under what today would be defined as a federal system (albeit with a comparatively weaker federal government). However, Canadians, designed with

4814-410: The country's official foundation. The Constitution of the United Arab Emirates separates powers into executive, legislative, and judicial branches. Additionally, legislative and executive powers are divided into federal and emirate jurisdictions. The constitution of the United Arab Emirates established the positions of president (chief of state) and vice president and elected by the rulers of each of

4897-445: The death of Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan. Under federal authority, responsibilities include foreign affairs, security and defense, nationality and immigration issues, education, public health, currency, postal, telephone and other communications services, air traffic control, licensing of aircraft, labour relations, banking, delimitation of territorial waters and extradition of criminals. Issues excluded from Articles 120 and 121 of

4980-466: The elite. Often, this forum is held by the emirate rulers as well as senior family members. This open majlis , or consultation, is held periodically; however, a ruler may also appoint an emir, or wali , to whom concerns may be directed by the general population when necessary. This individual is often considered a leading tribal figure whose trust is placed by his tribe as well as the ruler. The Federal National Council ( al-Majlis al-Watani al-Ittihadi )

5063-480: The emirate rulers and partially elected; and an independent judiciary which includes the Federal Supreme Court. Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan was president of the UAE from its foundation until his death on November 2, 2004. His oldest son, Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan , was president until his death May 13, 2022. On 14 May 2022, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan was elected as the UAE's new president after

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5146-566: The emirates from within (the seven rulers comprise the Federal Supreme Council , which also has an elected chairman and a vice chairman each serving five-year terms); a Council of Ministers (cabinet), led by a prime minister (head of government); a supreme council of rulers; and a 40-member National Assembly (known as the Federal National Council ), a consultative body whose members are partially appointed by

5229-510: The emirates or those acting in their emirate in the case of their absence. Each has one vote in the council's resolutions. The Supreme Council of the Union has the following functions: The Federal Supreme Council consists of the seven rulers of each emirate : a. ^ The Constitution provides that the Emirs of Abu Dhabi and Dubai have a veto تاريخ الإمارات العربية المتحدة المجلس الأعلى للاتحاد Supreme Council/ Politics of

5312-461: The entire jurisdiction is relatively homogeneous, and each constituent state resembles a miniature version of the whole; this is known as 'congruent federalism'. On the other hand, incongruent federalism exists where different states or regions possess distinct ethnic groups. The ability of a federal government to create national institutions that can mediate differences that arise because of linguistic, ethnic, religious, or other regional differences

5395-549: The environment, tourism, culture and health agencies. Some emirates such as Abu Dhabi may also be divided into two municipalities (the Western and Eastern regions) and its main cities of Abu Dhabi and Al Ain are also administered by their own municipalities with a municipal council. Abu Dhabi and Sharjah also have their own national consultative councils with similar local duties and role as the Federal National Council. It has long been regional tradition for rulers to hold open discussions with their people, be they common, merchants or

5478-426: The federal and the unitary state during its history. Some present-day states of the Brazilian federation retain borders set during the Portuguese colonization (before the very existence of the Brazilian state), whereas the latest state, Tocantins , was created by the 1988 Constitution for chiefly administrative reasons. Seven of the top eight largest countries by area are governed as federations. A unitary state

5561-542: The federation because of rising racial tension. In some cases, internal conflict may lead a federation to collapse entirely, as occurred the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland , the Gran Colombia , the United Provinces of Central America , and the West Indies Federation . The federal government is the common government of a national or supranational federation. A federal government may have distinct powers at various levels authorized or delegated to it by its member states. The structure of federal governments varies. Based on

5644-524: The implementation of its own policy to modernise public administration practices and government performance. Plans for reevaluation were laid out in areas including economy, energy, tourism, health, education, labour, civil services, culture and heritage, good control, urban planning , transport, environment, health and safety , municipal affairs , police and emergency services, electronic government , women and legislative reform. Abu Dhabi hopes advancements towards global standards in these areas will improve

5727-407: The initiator of the European Community system, wrote that a transnational Community like the founding of the European Coal and Steel Community lay midway between an association of States where they retained complete independence and a federation leading to a fusion of States in a super-state . The Founding Fathers of the European Union wrote the Europe Declaration (Charter of the Community) at

5810-515: The islands are neither an incorporated part of the United Kingdom nor are they considered to be independent or associated states. The islands do not have a monarch, per se ; rather in the Isle of Man the British Monarch is, ex officio , Lord of Mann , and in the Bailiwicks of Guernsey and Jersey, the British Monarch rules as the Duke of Normandy . Dependent territories , such as the British overseas territories , are vested with varying degrees of power; some enjoy considerable independence from

5893-403: The judicial system, which delimits the powers of federal and local governments. The relationship between federal and local courts varies from nation to nation and can be a controversial and complex issue in itself. Another common issue in federal systems is the conflict between regional and national interests, or between the interests and aspirations of different ethnic groups. In some federations

5976-688: The meetings and Sheikh Saqr al-Qasimi was elected as the president. He was soon replaced by Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan , the ruler of Abu Dhabi . After the Union in 1971 , the Trucial States Council consisted of the six rulers of the Emirates who signed the Constitution and was renamed as the Federal Supreme Council. It elected Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan , emir of Abu Dhabi , as president and appointed

6059-447: The other hand, if federation is defined as the constitutional entrenchment of the powers of subcentral units (provinces, etc.) that is not unilaterally changeable or revocable by the central authority, South Africa does qualify, formally, as a federal state. The European Union (EU) is a sui generis political union or confederation (the assemblage of societies or an association of two or more states into one state). Robert Schuman ,

6142-571: The provinces, to handle economic affairs and implement national policies, resulting in a system some have termed federalism " with Chinese characteristics ". Constitutionally a unitary state , the political system in Myanmar bears many elements of federalism. Each administrative division has its own cabinets and chief ministers, making it more like a federation rather than a unitary state. The French overseas collectivity Wallis and Futuna maintains some quasi-federation attributes. The territory

6225-603: The provision of the preceding two articles’. The Federal Supreme Council consists of the individual rulers of the seven emirates. The president and vice-president are elected by the Supreme Council every five years. Although unofficial, the presidency is de facto hereditary to the Al Nahyan clan of Abu Dhabi and the prime minister post de facto is hereditary to the Al Maktoum clan of Dubai. Article 47 of

6308-582: The quality of services for its residents as well as attract future investment towards further modernising the Emirate. As of 2011, the country did not see the type of trouble other Arab countries saw during the Arab spring . There were minor protests, during which some people were arrested. The 2023 international investigation series Abu Dhabi Secrets revealed United Arab Emirates ’ influence strategy to spy on citizens of 18 countries in Europe and beyond. Using

6391-491: The right to sign binding treaties. Basically, a modern federal government, within the limits defined by its constitution, has the power to make laws for the whole country, unlike local governments. As originally written, the United States Constitution was created to limit the federal government from exerting power over the states by enumerating only specific powers. It was further limited by the addition of

6474-432: The secretary general of the cabinet. The relative prestige and financial influence of each emirate is reflected in the allocation of positions in the federal government. The ruler of Abu Dhabi , whose emirate is the UAE's major oil producer, is president of the UAE. The ruler of Dubai, which is the UAE's commercial center and a former oil producer, is vice president and prime minister. Since achieving independence in 1971,

6557-410: The sovereign state, which only takes care of their foreign relations and defense. However, they are neither considered to be part of it nor recognized as sovereign or associated states. The distinction between a federation and a unitary state is often quite ambiguous. A unitary state may closely resemble a federation in structure and, while a central government may possess the theoretical right to revoke

6640-607: The time of the signing of the Treaty of Paris on 18 April 1951 saying that Europe should be organized on a transnational foundation. They envisaged a structure quite different from a federation called the European Political Community . The EU is a three-pillar structure of the original supranational European Economic Community and the nuclear energy cooperation and non-proliferation treaty, Euratom , plus two largely intergovernmental pillars dealing with External Affairs and Justice and Home Affairs. The EU

6723-574: Was a unitary state with crown lands , after the transformation into the Austria-Hungary monarchy the remaining crown lands of so-called Cisleithania became federated as Länder of the Republic of Austria through the implementation of its constitution . Germany , with its 16 states, or Länder , and Nigeria , with its 36 states and federal capital territory , are examples of federations. Federations are often multi-ethnic and cover

6806-499: Was the German Empire (1871–1918). A federacy is a unitary state that incorporates one or more self-governing autonomous areas . It is distinguished from a federation in that the constitutional structure of the state is still unitary, but incorporates federalist principles. Some federacies, notably Åland , were established through international treaty . A federation differs from a devolved state , such as Indonesia and

6889-510: Was the case with the United States and Switzerland. However, as the histories of countries and nations vary, the federalist system of a state can be quite different from these models. Australia, for instance, is unique in that it came into existence as a nation by the democratic vote of the citizens of each state, who voted "yes" in referendums to adopt the Australian Constitution . Brazil, on the other hand, has experienced both

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