autonomy

noun

1. 1.Self-government; freedom to act or function independently.
2. 2.The capacity to make an informed, uncoerced decision.
3. 3.The capacity of a system to make a decision about its actions without the involvement of another system or operator.
4. 4.The status of a church whose highest-ranking bishop is appointed by the patriarch of the mother church, but which is self-governing in all other respects. Compare autocephaly.