Rethinking the Forms of Autonomy at the Dawn of the 21st Century Introduction

Arguably, other forms of autonomy also exist than territorial autonomy with law-making powers, such as personal autonomy, cultural autonomy and functional autonomy as well as autonomies with administrative or regulatory powers. The existence of such different forms of autonomy should be kept in mind when the term 'autonomy' is used and the context of the usage of the term should be made clear. In addition, the interface between territorial autonomy with law-making powers on the one hand, and federal organization on the other is explored, the point being that a more coherent theoretical approach to territorial autonomy on the one hand and federalism on the other should be developed.