How does a confederation and federation differ?

Question

Also, please give examples of both + how does a confederation government structure work?

Like let’s say some federal country turned into a confederation, how would the government work?

Who is in charge of what? Which authority?

In: 1

Answer 1

Federation has a strong central power.
Confederation has stronger individual states, with weaker central power structure. By definition,

Federation would be like the modern US government(the US started out as a confederation of the 13 colonies, but after a bunch of issues turned into a Federation). There is a very clear and well established Federal government with central authority to do many things. Like California cannot sign a treaty with Japan, only an arm of the Federal Government can. It is literally written into the Constitution that Federal Laws supersede State law in the US.

A modern confederacy people would be familiar with would be like the EU. It’s not a perfect example since it has some federal aspects with it, but it is a collection of states that all have autonomous power. Member states can make its own laws and diplomacy. Benelux(Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxembourg) are another example. They are 3 independent and sovereign states, but work together on common goals and often as a cohesive unit, but there is not one centralized command government.

If you’re down with Prequel Star Wars, The CIS(*Confederacy* of Independent States) that was made up of well… independent states, working together against the Republic. The different clans all had different purposes and their own governments, laws, and diplomacy.
While the Republic had a strong centralized power with the Senate and Emperor.

>Like let’s say some federal country turned into a confederation, how would the government work?

Hypothetical question with no real way to answer because this sub after objective explanations, and a government can be setup pretty much however the people running it want. Federations and Confederations can have so many variations and power dynamics that it is nearly impossible to make answer every aspect.