Relating to or characteristic of a confederation or confederacy; based on a system of allied units.
From confederacy + the adjectival suffix -al. Derives from Latin foedus (covenant, treaty), expressing the idea of formally bound agreement.
The term 'confederal' is politically important because it describes a specific governmental structure—the U.S. Articles of Confederation created a confederal system, which was later replaced by a federal system giving more power to the central government.
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