Editing Home rule (section)

{{Short description|Governance of a colony, dependent country, locality, or region by its own citizens}}
{{For|the former political party called the Home Rule Party|Irish Parliamentary Party}}
{{Use British English|date=October 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2024}}

'''Home rule''' is the government of a colony, dependent country, or region by its own citizens.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/home_rule|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171003225009/https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/home_rule|url-status=dead|archive-date=3 October 2017|title=home rule – Definition of home rule in English by Oxford Dictionaries|website=Oxford Dictionaries – English}}</ref> It is thus the power of a part ([[administrative division]]) of a [[state (polity)|state]] or an external dependent country to exercise such of the state's powers of [[governance]] within its own [[administration (government)|administrative]] area that have been [[Decentralization|decentralized]] to it by the central government. Home rule may govern in an [[autonomous administrative division]]; in contrast, though, there is no [[sovereignty]] separate from that of the parent state, and thus no separate chief [[command (military formation)|military command]] nor separate [[foreign policy]] and [[diplomacy]].

In the [[British Isles]], it traditionally referred to [[self-governance|self-government]], [[devolution]] or independence of the [[countries of the United Kingdom]]—initially [[Republic of Ireland|Ireland]], and later [[Scotland]], [[Wales]], and [[Northern Ireland]]. In the United States and other countries organised as [[federation|federations of states]], the term usually refers to the process and mechanisms of self-government as exercised by municipalities, counties, or other units of local government at the level below that of a federal state (e.g., U.S. state, in which context see [[special legislation]]). It can also refer to the system under which the [[Faroe Islands]] and [[Greenland]] are associated with [[Denmark]].

Home rule is not, however, equivalent to [[federalism]]. Whereas states in a federal system of government (e.g., [[Brazil]], [[Canada]], [[Ethiopia]], [[Germany]], [[Switzerland]], and the [[United States]]) have a guaranteed constitutional existence, a devolved home rule system of government is created by ordinary legislation and can be reformed, or even abolished, by [[repeal]] or amendment of that ordinary legislation.

A legislature may, for example, create home rule for an administrative division, such as a [[province]], a [[county]], or a [[Department (country subdivision)|department]], so that a local [[county council]], [[county commission]], [[Parish council (England)|parish council]], or [[board of supervisors]] may have [[jurisdiction]] over its [[unincorporated area]]s, including important issues like [[zoning]]. Without this, the division is simply an extension of the higher government. The legislature can also establish or eliminate [[municipal corporation]]s, which have home rule within town or [[city limit]]s through the [[city council]]. The higher government could also abolish counties/townships, redefine their boundaries, or dissolve their home-rule governments, according to the relevant laws.