Encyclopedia of Early Modern History Online

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Federal state
(900 words)

The federal state, with a uniform territory, national citizenry, and centralized state administration - that is, a permanent association of member states (e.g., cantons, provinces, etcetera) that individually lack subjectivity under international law - had neither existed in practice nor been discussed in theory in legal-political literature until the end of the 18th century [3]; [4]. The USA in 1787 and Switzerland in 1848 were the first modern federal states. In Germany, in contrast, the Holy Roman Empire was first succeeded by confederations (States, confederation of), nam…

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Härter, Karl, “Federal state”, in: Encyclopedia of Early Modern History Online, Editors of the English edition: Graeme Dunphy, Andrew Gow. Original German Edition: Enzyklopädie der Neuzeit. Im Auftrag des Kulturwissenschaftlichen Instituts (Essen) und in Verbindung mit den Fachherausgebern herausgegeben von Friedrich Jaeger. Copyright © J.B. Metzlersche Verlagsbuchhandlung und Carl Ernst Poeschel Verlag GmbH 2005–2012. Consulted online on 19 March 2024 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/2352-0272_emho_SIM_017881>
First published online: 2015
First print edition: 20180126



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