types of state in W Europe every nation state composed of at least two government tiers central government constituent governments distribution of power between two determines the type of state confederation strong constituent governments sovereign states weak central government not directly elected central government decisions rest on consent of constituent units example historically United Provinces of Netherlands 1579 1795 Switzerland prior to 1789 cid 127 German Bund 1915 1866 federation strong center strong constituent units both tiers have significant powers constitutional distribution of power Ronald Watts strong center strong constituent units both tiers have significant powers constitutional distribution of power representation of regional interest at federal level processes of intergovernmental collaboration an umpire Supreme Court fully federal cid 127 Germany Belgium Switzerland Not fully Austria regionalized state strong center constituent units have some autonomy center determines regional power strong representative institutions at regional levee Examples Spain decentralized unitary state unitary state strong central government regional governments possess very weak powers almost no power at regional levee centralized unitary state unitary state all powerful center Examples Portugal cid 127 Greece Luxembourg unitary states Spain unification federal states cid 127 Germany Prussian leadership unification of existing German states france traditionally almost absolute control over all of its regions Basques and Catalans maintain strong regional identities UK unification of 4 countries under English crown cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 the core components of Hapsburg empire continue under federal structure Austria Switzerland history a military alliance among cantons that became permanent how and when were W European states established why are some unitary and some federal foundations of modern W European nation states set in late Middle Ages first nation states formed at edges of Western Roman Empire empire core strong city states and Catholic Church influence states consolidated first in France Spain UK Scandinavia centralization of power to administrative core nation building followed state building later in Italy and Germany nation building and state bilding simultaneous administrative centralization at core of state building acomplished to different degrees in different states cid 127 most states became unitary highly centralized the Northern League article by Francesco Catavtorta Lega Nord Italian political party asks for more autonomy for Northern Italian regions wants an Italian federation emerged in the new Italian political environment economic claims economies of N and S are fundamentally different Northern Italy is efficient and propserous Southern Italy s economy marred by underdevelopment Southern Italy is holding back the North opposition to financial transfers between regions ethnic and citizenship claims Northern Italians different from Southern italians different ethnic origins different dialects Southerners are lazy different attitudes towards work and civic obligations combinations of economic and political claims contributed to party s longevity emergence political explanation end of Cold War old cleavage between left and right has faded new social cleavage has emerged N vs S cooperative federalism in Spain article by Tanja Boertzel central government and regional government relations transformed less competitive more cooperative what caused the change EU and europeanizationn cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127