A federal republic is a federation of states with a republic as a form of government. At its core, the literal meaning of the word republic when used to reference a form of government means a country that is governed by elected representatives and by an elected leader, such as a president, rather than by a monarch or any hereditary aristocracy.
In a federal republic, a division of powers exists between the federal government and the governments of the individual subdivisions. While each federal republic manages this division of powers differently, common matters relating to international affairs and treaties, security and defense, inter-state relations, and monetary policy are usually handled at the federal level, while matters such as infrastructure maintenance and education policy are usually handled at the regional or local level; however, views differ on what issues should be a federal competence, and subdivisions usually have sovereignty in some matters where the federal government does not have jurisdiction. A federal republic is thus best defined in contrast to a unitary republic, whereby the central government has complete sovereignty over all aspects of political life. This more decentralized structure helps to explain the tendency for more populous countries to operate as federal republics.
Most federal republics codify the division of powers between orders of government in a written constitutional document. The political differences between a federal republic and other federal states, especially federal monarchies under a parliamentary system of government, are largely a matter of legal form rather than political substance, as most federal states are democratic in structure if not practice with checks and balances; however, some federal monarchies, such as the United Arab Emirates, are based upon principles other than democracy.
Federal states primarily contrast with unitary states, where the central government retains many of the powers that are delegated to the subdivisions in federal republics. While there are exceptions, the overall tendency is for federal republics to be larger, more populous, and more internally heterogeneous than unitary states, with such larger size and internal heterogeneity being more manageable in a federal system than in a unitary one.
Contemporary
| Country | Official name and style | Administrative divisions | Form of government | Head of state | Head of government |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Argentina | Argentine Republic | Provinces (23) and autonomous city (1) | Presidential system | Javier Milei | |
 Austria | Republic of Austria | States (9) | Semi-presidential system | Alexander Van der Bellen | Christian Stocker |
 Bosnia and Herzegovina | Bosnia and Herzegovina | Entities (2) and self-governing district (1) | Parliamentary republic | Željka Cvijanović Denis Bećirović Željko Komšić | Borjana Krišto |
 Brazil | Federative Republic of Brazil | States (26) and federal district (1) | Presidential system | Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva | |
 Comoros | Union of the Comoros | Autonomous islands (3) | Presidential system | Azali Assoumani | |
 Ethiopia | Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia | Regions (10) and chartered cities (2) | Parliamentary republic | Taye Atske Selassie | Abiy Ahmed |
 Germany | Federal Republic of Germany | States (16) | Parliamentary republic | Frank-Walter Steinmeier | Friedrich Merz |
 India | Republic of India | States (28) and union territories (8) | Parliamentary republic | Droupadi Murmu | Narendra Modi |
 Iraq | Republic of Iraq | Governorates (19) | Parliamentary republic | Abdul Latif Rashid | Mohammed Shia' Al Sudani |
 Mexico | United Mexican States | States (31) and autonomous entity (1) | Presidential system | Claudia Sheinbaum | |
 Micronesia | Federated States of Micronesia | States (4) | Presidential system | Wesley Simina | |
 Nepal | Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal | Provinces (7) | Parliamentary republic | Ram Chandra Poudel | Balendra Shah |
 Nigeria | Federal Republic of Nigeria | States (36) and federal territory (1) | Presidential system | Bola Tinubu | |
 Pakistan | Islamic Republic of Pakistan | Provinces (4), autonomous territories (2), and federal territory (1) | Parliamentary republic | Asif Ali Zardari | Shehbaz Sharif |
 Russia | Russian Federation | Federal subjects (83) | Semi-presidential system | Vladimir Putin | Mikhail Mishustin |
 Somalia | Federal Republic of Somalia | Federal member states (7) | Parliamentary republic | Hassan Sheikh Mohamud | Hamza Abdi Barre |
 South Sudan | Republic of South Sudan | States (10), administrative areas (2), and areas with special administrative status (1) | Presidential system | Salva Kiir Mayardit | |
 Sudan | Republic of the Sudan | States (18) | Military junta | Abdel Fattah al-Burhan | Osman Hussein |
 Switzerland | Swiss Confederation | Cantons (26) | Directorial Parliamentary republic | Federal Council (2026):
| |
 United States | United States of America | States (50), federal district (1) and territories (14), nine of which are uninhabited. | Presidential system | ||
 Venezuela | Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela | States (23) and capital district (1) | Presidential system | Delcy Rodríguez | |
Historical
| Country | Official name and style | Period of federal form of government | Administrative divisions |
|---|---|---|---|
 Regency of Algiers | Regency of Algiers Kingdom of Algiers | 1563–1830 | Beyliks |
 Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth | Serenissima Res Publica Poloniae | 1569–1795 | Provinces and Voivodeships |
 Dutch Republic | Republic of the Seven United Netherlands | 1581–1795 | Provinces |
 Valais | Republic of the Seven Tithings | 1613–1798 | |
 Gran Colombia | Republic of Colombia | 1819–1831 | |
 Federal Republic of Central America | Federal Republic of Central American | 1823–1838 | |
| Granadine Confederation | Granadine Confederation | 1858–1863 | |
 United States of Colombia | United States of Colombia | 1863–1886 | States |
| First Spanish Republic | Spanish Republic | 1873-1874 | |
| Beiyang China | Republic of China | 1912–1928 | Provinces |
| Mountainous Republic of the Northern Caucasus | Mountainous Republic of the Northern Caucasus | 1917–1922 | Republics |
| Weimar Republic | German Reich | 1919–1933 | States |
 East Germany | German Democratic Republic | 1949–1990 | States |
 Soviet Union | Union of Soviet Socialist Republics | 1922–1991 | Republics |
 Yugoslavia | Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia (1945–1963) Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (1963–1992) | 1945–1992 | Republics |
 Serbia and Montenegro | Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (1992–2003) State Union of Serbia and Montenegro (2003–2006) | 1992–2006 | Constituent republics |
| Burma | Union of Burma | 1948–1962 | States |
 Indonesia | Republic of the United States of Indonesia | 1949–1950 | States |
| Cameroon | Federal Republic of Cameroon | 1961–1972 | |
 Czechoslovak Socialist Republic | Czechoslovak Republic (1948–1960) Czechoslovak Socialist Republic (1960–1990) | 1969–1990 | Republics |
| Czech and Slovak Federative Republic | Czech and Slovak Federative Republic | 1990–1992 | Republics |
See also
- Federal monarchy – Federation of states with a single main monarch and different state leaders
- Form of government
- List of republics – History of governments with elected representatives