federation A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government ( federalism). In a federation, the self-govern ...

s, the balance of power is occasionally used informally to designate the degree to which power is centralized in the federal government or devolved to the subnational governments. The term itself is largely a misnomer of its misapplication from geopolitics in the twentieth century (for example, the Cold War) and European politics in the nineteenth century involved, for example, in the assessment of the conditions of war following the Napoleonic campaigns across Europe (see

Metternich Klemens Wenzel Nepomuk Lothar, Prince of Metternich-Winneburg zu Beilstein ; german: Klemens Wenzel Nepomuk Lothar Fürst von Metternich-Winneburg zu Beilstein (15 May 1773 – 11 June 1859), known as Klemens von Metternich or Prince Metternic ...

) In

confederation A confederation (also known as a confederacy or league) is a union of sovereign groups or states united for purposes of common action. Usually created by a treaty, confederations of states tend to be established for dealing with critical issu ...

s (decentralised federations), it is more likely that the balance of power will be in favour of the sub-national level of government (that is, states or

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman '' provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

s).

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

is an example of such a federation. The

Commonwealth of Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

is an example of a federation in which the balance of power has shifted in favour of the central (federal) government; although the states were constitutionally intended to be preponderant, the federal government has become dominant through various means of this power. The more refined use of the term usually defers to the designation of power at the domestic level using such terms as the separation of powers, or the distribution of powers among the states and institutions contained within a larger federal government.

See also