Federacy

A federacy is a form of government where one or several substate units enjoy considerably more independence than the majority of the substate units. To some extent, such an arrangement can be considered to be similar to asymmetric federalism. A federacy is a form of government with features of both a federation and unitary state. In a federacy, at least one of the constituent parts of the state is autonomous, while the other constituent parts are either not autonomous or comparatively less autonomous. An example of such an arrangement is Finland, where Åland, which has the status of autonomous province, has considerably more autonomy than the other provinces. The autonomous constituent part enjoys a degree of independence as though it was part of federation, while the other constituent parts are as independent as subunits in a unitary state. This autonomy is guaranteed in the country's constitution. The autonomous subunits are often former colonial possessions or are home to a different ethnic group from the rest of the country. These autonomous subunits often have a special status in international relations. Several states are federacies. The exact autonomy of the subunits differs from country to country. Politics of Antigua and Barbuda#Legislative branch and Barbuda Council Barbuda is autonomous within Antigua and Barbuda. Norfolk Island self-government was revoked by the Australian Federal Government in 2015. Its laws were subsumed into the laws of the Australian federal government and be subordinate to them. On 1 July 2016, the federal government increased federal regulations so that federal laws would also apply to Norfolk Island and to make it semi-autonomous. Since then, opposition by several organizations have protested these actions to the United Nations to include the island on its list of "non-self-governing territories". Nakhchivan is an autonomous part of Azerbaijan. One country, two systems and Special administrative regions of China Rotuma#Politics and society and Council of Rotuma Rotuma has the status of dependency in Fiji.