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Encyclopedia :: encyclopedia : Federation (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-24) |
 | | In a federation, the self-governing status of the component states is constitutionally entrenched and may not be altered by a unilateral decision of the central government. |
 | | While it is common for 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 centralised state agrees to grant autonomy to a region that was previously entirely subordinate. |
 | | A federal upper house may be based on a special scheme of apportionment, as is the case in the senates of the United States and Australia, where each state is represented by an equal number of senators irrespective of the size of its population. |
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