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distinguish beteween coming together and holding together federations.

There are two kinds of routes through which federations have been formed. The first route involves independent States coming together on their own to form a bigger unit, so that by pooling sovereignty and retaining identity they can increase their security. This type of coming together federations include the USA, Switzerland and Australia. In this first category of federations, all the constituent States usually have equal power and are strong vis--vis the federal government. The second route is where a large country decides to divide its power between the constituent States and the national government. India, Spain and Belgium are examples of this kind of holding together federations. In this second category, the central government tends to be more powerful vis--vis the States. Very often different constituent units of the federation have unequal powers. Some units are granted special powers.