In a federal system, the central (or federal) government has much more authority than in a confederal system. The central government controls more trade policy, and makes decisions about policy areas that involve interactions between states (such as highway systems).
Nationality is a legal relationship between an individual person and a state. Nationality affords the state jurisdiction over the person and affords the person the protection of the state. What these rights and duties are vary from state to state.
Freebase(5.00 / 1 vote)Rate this definition: Nationality. Nationality is the legal relationship between a person and a nation state. Nationality normally confers some protection of the person by the state, and some obligations on the person towards the state. What these rights and duties are vary from country to country. It differs technically and legally from citizenship, although in most modern countries all nationals are citizens of the state and all citizens are nationals of the state.