In a democratic federation of states, such as that in Germany or the United States, states are granted a substantial degree of autonomy in exchange for subservience to the federal government.
Though not necessarily federal as far as its constitution goes, Spain has
ceded much autonomy to several regions of the Iberian Peninsula, such as that of Catalonia,
Galicia, and Euskadi, due to linguistic and cultural disparities with that of mainstream
Castilian culture.