User talk:209.166.72.216

Hello, Good effort. Several problems. First, a technical error. The map identifying countries with at least one autonomous area includes Canada and Australia although neither are subsequently shown in the list. Then regarding the categories and critieria, the "upper" levels noting such places as Scotland, Bougainville, Nagorno-Karabakh are largely correct, although as these examples indicate there is a broad spectrum of status and relationship with their "parents". So far, so good. At lower levels what is and is not included is highly problematic. Correct, some countries, especially larger ones such as Russia and China, toss the "autonomous" label around liberally, but the respective units' functional autonomy is far more nuanced and often non-existent. In contrast, most federal systems specifically mandate autonomy to their constituent units. Thus, the states and provinces of constitutional nations such as Canada, USA, Australia, Mexico, Brazil, Germany, India et al function far more autonomously than many so called autonomous districts on this list. Some of the examples that you list are found within unitary states. That is, countries such Norway, Greece, Panama, Nicaragua are not federal republics but have granted autonomy to certain areas. Were these countries to instead be federal republics then places like Svalbard, Mt Athos, and Kuna would likely be just another state or province. Some, like Italy and Spain, are not formally federal but act in a federal manner. This makes their constituent units seem very autonomous although were these countries constitutionally federal then the units would merely be provinces, states, or Länder, excercising their constitutional prerogative towards selective autonomy. One could easily make the argument that at the lower levels of this list all 50 units of the USA, 10 of Canada, 29 of Mexico etc. should be noted as "autonomous". Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, are the subject of indigenous areas. In the US and Canada in particular, but in other nations as well (Finland and Australia come to mind), indigenous reserves have considerable autonomy. Some powers are granted by the "parent", others are subject to negotiation, some are contested. Their inclusion would increase the list by several hundred but would meet all the criteria not in the Wiki list.209.166.72.216 (talk) 05:59, 16 May 2022 (UTC)209.166.72.216 (talk) 06:05, 16 May 2022 (UTC)