Federation

Is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing states or regions under a central government. The governmental or constitutional structure found in a federation is considered to be federalist, or to be an example of federalism. Several colonies and dominions in the New World consisted of autonomous provinces, transformed to federal states upon independence. Founded in 1922, the Soviet Union was formally a federation of Soviet Republics, autonomous republics of the Soviet Union and other federal subjects, though in practice highly centralized under the Government of the Soviet Union. The Russian Federation has inherited a similar system.