Confederation

A confederation is a group of countries that, by treaty, have given some of their powers to a central government. They do this in order to coordinate their actions in a number of areas. This is like a federation, but without the association being a new country.

A confederation is not the same as a federation, but they have a similarity. A confederation is a group of countries, a federation is a country.

The only example today, is the European Union. Switzerland has the latin name Confœderatio Helvetica, although it is not a confederation in this sense, but a federation.