Sovereignty and Autonomy of Constituent Units in Federal and Regional Systems. An Empirical Study of Italy

Abstract

When outlining the main features of a classic federation, scholars commonly contend that both the federal government and federated entities are sovereign and autonomous in their own powers, meaning that neither level is subordinate to the other, and they both share the ‘nature of state’, enjoying the whole bundle of functions and state powers (Bin and Falcon 2012, p. 51). This idea of sovereignty ‘divided’ between federal and peripheral units (embedded for the first time in the US constitution of 1787) is regarded as one of the most important elements distinguishing a pure federation not only from unitary states, but also from quasi-federal/regional states. In fact, in regional states sovere..