Autonomy

Autonomy is a polity in which the citizens of any state manage their own government; parishes, corporations, religious sects may also enjoy a limited or local autonomy. Autonomy is often used to designate the characteristic of the political condition of ancient Greece, where every city or town community claimed the right of independent sovereign action. Recently the word is more specifically used of territories or provinces, which, while subject in some matters to a higher sovereignty, are autonomous in other respects. Thus the Treaty of Berlin made Eastern Roumelia an 'autonomous province;' though subject to the direct political and military authority of the sultan, it was to have 'administrative autonomy' in all its internal affairs. Egypt possesses a higher autonomy. The self-government enjoyed by the British colonies may be described as a modified form of autonomy; so also the Home-rule claimed by Ireland. But these are not usual applications of the word.