The difference between a federation and a confederation
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They’re broadly the same kind of governmental system, in that there’s a central authority running the group of con/federated entities, as well as authorities in those entities that exert a degree of local control and governance.
The only real substantive difference is in the strength of those entities relative to each other. In federations, the central government has a lot more power to override the local governments, whereas in confederacies the central government is much weaker and has a much more explicitly defined role.
The US would be a textbook example of a federation. (True) confederacies broadly don’t exist all that long (as a weak central government tends to cause problems), but the best modern example would actually be the European Union, which is a confederacy in all but name.
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