Final answer:
A confederate government indeed has minimal authority to act on its own, with power strongly retained by member states, as exemplified by the Articles of Confederation and the Confederate States of America.
Step-by-step explanation:
True, a confederate government does possess little authority to act on its own. In a confederation, authority is decentralized, and the central government's ability to act on significant issues depends largely on the consent of the subnational governments. For instance, under the Articles of Confederation, which governed the United States before the current Constitution, the national government was subordinate and significantly weaker than the individual states. States retained powers such as maintaining military forces, printing money, and creating treaties with foreign entities, limiting the national government's scope of action and ability to resolve issues such as dispute settlements, defense, and financial obligations.
The Confederate States of America (CSA) formed during the Civil War also aimed to retain a high degree of state autonomy to protect slavery, although it ironically increased central authority in some areas to support the war effort.
The transition to a federal system with the adoption of the U.S. Constitution ended the confederation and created a stronger central government which could address these challenges more effectively.