Comparative Federalism Essay ⋆ Political Science Essay Examples ⋆ EssayEmpire

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Federalism is a principle of government that seeks to reconcile unity and diversity through the exercise of political power along multiple autonomous levels. The crux of this principle is the idea of combining self-rule and shared rule. Through Federalism, different political units can live together yet apart since they share a government while at the same time having their own.

Federalism as a principle has three main political uses: fragmenting political power to protect against absolutism (the case of the United States), decentralizing policy making to stimulate economic development and render government more efficient and closer to the people, and managing ethnic diversity by devolving power over fields that traditionally create tensions between the various communities (Canada and Switzerland).

Federalism And Federations

If Federalism is a principle, federation refers to a specific type of political system where two or more levels of government are sovereign (autonomous) within their own given jurisdictions. Therefore, a federation is made up of a federal level of political authority and constituent (or federated) units whose names vary. In addition to the sharing of sovereignty between levels of government, federations generally present three features.

The first is a formal division of power between central and regional governments. Powers of federal governments almost always include citizenship and immigration, defense, foreign policy, international trade and commerce, and currency. Constituent units usually have power in the areas of language, culture, health, education, social services, and municipal affairs. Most federations also specify concurrent powers, that is, powers that should be exercised by both levels of governments.

The second feature of federations is that the division of powers is specified in a constitution. In most federations, constitutional change in the division of powers requires a qualified majority in the two federal legislatures, one of which represents the constituent units, and the support of a majority of the constituent units themselves. This is the case in the United States, where constitutional change necessitates a two-thirds majority in the House of Representatives and the Senate in addition to the support of three-quarters of the states. In Switzerland and Australia, the requirement is a qualified majority in the federal legislatures and popular support as demonstrated by a referendum where the change is approved by an overall majority and a majority of constituent units.

The third feature of federations is the representation of constituent units within central institutions. The idea of having constituent units participating in decision making and policy making at the federal level embodies the federal concern with unity, shared rule, and interdependence. The Senate of the United States provides meaningful representation for its constituent units because it combines formal power with the democratic legitimacy provided by the election of two senators per state.

Intergovernmental Relations And Fiscal Arrangements

The study of comparative Federalism often involves a focus on intergovernmental relations and fiscal arrangements. The division of power in federations almost never translates into a situation where the two levels of government can act without having to interact with one another. This need for interaction explains why federations have developed mechanisms of consultation and coordination such as meetings between heads of government from constituent units and/or cabinet ministers and specific forums such as the Council of Australian Governments.

Federalism tends to give policy areas such as health care and education, which are expensive to fund, to constituents that have less revenue than the federal government. For this reason, federations have developed mechanisms for financial transfers that can be conditional or unconditional. Conditional transfers are transfers for which the federal government stipulates how the funds should be spent. Unconditional transfers come with no strings attached. In the United States, virtually all transfers are conditional. Constituent unit governments can have varying degrees of fiscal autonomy, which in turn conditions their budgetary situations. In federations in which constituent unit governments are strongly dependent on the federal government for financial resources but have the freedom to borrow, persistent deficits often result.

In giving autonomy to constituent units, federations may unwillingly accentuate uneven economic development. In this context, most federations (the United States being the exception) have equalization payments, which are unconditional. The idea behind equalization payments is to reduce socioeconomic disparities between constituent units and prevent disparities in the levels of social services among those units. These types of transfers generally stem from the federal government and are based on an agreed-on formula.

Centralization/Decentralization, Symmetry/Asymmetry

Comparative Federalism studies also involve researching the different outlooks that federations can take. Two pairs of concepts are frequently used to characterize federations. The first is centralization/decentralization, which refers to the relative power of the federal government and the constituent units. A centralized federation is a federation in which the powers of the federal government are relatively greater than those of the constituent units. A decentralized federation is a federation in which the powers of the constituent units are relatively greater than those of the federal government.

This being said, characterizing the degree of centralization/ decentralization of federations is tricky because it is unclear which criterion should be used. At least three criteria can be considered.

The first is the written constitution. Which level of government is given more powers? Who has power over the most important fields? Who is given residual powers, that is, power over all fields that are not specified in the constitution? This is seemingly a straightforward approach for assessing the degree of centralization/decentralization of a federation. However, it is often misleading because federations change, sometimes becoming quite different from their original forms as specified in the constitution. A second criterion that can be used to compare the relative importance of public spending by the different levels of government is government expenditures. The argument is that federations with the highest percentage of public spending for constituent units are more decentralized since their units are the most able to use their powers to effectively provide public services. From this perspective, federations such as Malaysia and Austria are centralized, while Switzerland and Canada are decentralized. A third criterion involves looking at federal institutions. This angle involves focusing on the representation of the constituent units in these institutions and on their capacity to shape federal policy making.

In addition to being centralized or decentralized, federations can be symmetrical or asymmetrical. Symmetry means that all constituent units have a similar status and similar powers. In contrast, asymmetry involves one or more constituent units’ having a distinct status and different powers. Asymmetry can be constitutionally specified. The Belgian constitution, for example, recognizes the existence of two types of constituent units, regions and communities, each with different sets of powers. Canada exhibits signs of political asymmetry, which refers to constituent units’ developing a de facto distinct status or acquiring additional powers through informal arrangements. Quebec has greater powers than other provinces in the fields of immigration, pensions, taxation, and manpower training.

Bibliography:

Amoretti, Ugo M., and Nancy Bermeo, eds. Federalism and Territorial Cleavages. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2004.
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