Symmetric federalism refers to a federal system of
government in which each
constituent state to the
federation possess equal powers. In a symmetric federalism no distinction is made between constituent states. This is in contrast to
asymmetric federalism, where a distinction is made between constituent states.
Examples
Australia
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
is a symmetric federation, as each of the 6
states are given equal levels of autonomy and representation in the
Parliament, aside from differences in their representation in the
House of Representatives that are due to their different populations.
United States
The
United States is a symmetric federation, as each of the 50
states in the Union has the same
standing and powers under the
United States Constitution
The Constitution of the United States is the Supremacy Clause, supreme law of the United States, United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, in 1789. Originally comprising seven ar ...
. This was affirmed in
Coyle v. Smith
''Coyle v. Smith'', 221 U.S. 559 (1911), was a Supreme Court of the United States case that held that the newly created state of Oklahoma was permitted to move its capital city from Guthrie to Oklahoma City, notwithstanding the Enabling Act provi ...
when the
U. S. Supreme Court declared a provision of the
Oklahoma Enabling Act which required the State capital be located in
Guthrie, Oklahoma
Guthrie is a city and county seat in Logan County, Oklahoma, United States, and a part of the Oklahoma City Metroplex. The population was 10,191 at the 2010 census, a 2.7 percent increase from the figure of 9,925 in the 2000 census.
First kno ...
until at least 1913, as being unconstitutional. However, the U.S. has a number of
insular areas directly under the control of the
U. S. federal government, with various degrees of
autonomy
In developmental psychology and moral, political, and bioethical philosophy, autonomy, from , ''autonomos'', from αὐτο- ''auto-'' "self" and νόμος ''nomos'', "law", hence when combined understood to mean "one who gives oneself one's ...
. The
District of Columbia is not an insular area, but it is also directly controlled by the federal government with limited autonomy.
References
{{Autonomous types of first-tier administration
Federalism
Federalism in the United States