Confederate republic

So far are the suggestions of Montesquieu from standing in opposition to a general Union of the States, that he explicitly treats of a CONFEDERATE REPUBLIC as the expedient for extending the sphere of popular government and reconciling the advantages of monarchy with those of republicanism. 

In the Lycian confederacy, which consisted of twenty three CITIES or republics, the largest were intitled to three votes in the COMMON COUNCIL, those of the middle class to two and the smallest to one. The COMMON COUNCIL had the appointment of all the judges and magistrates of the respective cities. This was certainly the most delicate species of interference in their internal administration for if there be any thing, that seems exclusively appropriated to the local jurisdictions, it is the appointment of their own officers. Yet Montesquieu, speaking of this association, says Were I to give a model of an excellent confederate republic, it would be that of Lycia. Thus we perceive that the distinctions... 

Among the advantages of a confederate republic enumerated by Montesquieu, an important one is, that should a popular insurrection happen in one of the States, the others are able to quell it. Should abuses creep into one part, they are reformed by those that remain sound. 

While autonomy already raises governments concerns, federal-type solutions are even more difficult to achieve nowadays. As was noted above, autonomy is often traded for an express renunciation of self-determination and a confirmation of the permanent territorial unity of the state. Where a more elevated status, such as that of a federal republic or constituent unit of a confederation or state union is concerned, the stability of such an arrangement is even more difficult to assure. " In fact, the recent recognition of the doctrine of constitutional self-determination has made this more complicated. The Badinter Commission attached to the EU peace process for the former Yugoslavia had found that ""... 

If federal-type devolution is difficult, additional complications arise where a federal or confederal system is based on the sovereignty of its constituent republics, rather than devolution from the centre. The same applies where a settlement refers expressly to a right to self-determination of the entity. In such cases one might argue, by analogy to association in the colonial context, that the entity concerned might retain an entitlement to constitutionally-based self-determination. 

Among the confederacies of antiquity, the most considerable was that of the Grecian Republics associated under the Amphyctionic Council. From the best accounts transmitted of this celebrated institution, it bore a very instructive analogy to the present confederation of the American States. 

The first question that presents itself on the subject is, whether a confederated government be the best for the United States or not Or in other words, whether the thirteen United States should be reduced to one great republic, governed by one legislature, and under the direction of one executive and judicial or whether they should continue thirteen... 

Defects of small republics not present in the large confederate or compound republic created by the Constitution (Hamilton)... 

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