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Special Mid-Term Exam Week TA Office Hours

Special Mid-Term Exam Week TA Office Hours. Dan Sadler, Monday 11:00-1:00 Brendan Derry, Monday 1:00-3:00 Kevin Gill, Tuesday 12:30-2:30 Julie Sergi, Tuesday 9:00-9:50, 11:30-12:20 Lucia Salazar, Wednesday 1:00-3:00. Federal and Unitary Systems.

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Special Mid-Term Exam Week TA Office Hours

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  1. Special Mid-Term Exam Week TA Office Hours • Dan Sadler, Monday 11:00-1:00 • Brendan Derry, Monday 1:00-3:00 • Kevin Gill, Tuesday 12:30-2:30 • Julie Sergi, Tuesday 9:00-9:50, 11:30-12:20 • Lucia Salazar, Wednesday 1:00-3:00

  2. Federal and Unitary Systems Territorial Representation in Democratic Systems February 9th, 2006

  3. Organizing Territory

  4. Options for Organizing Territory Small Unitary Gov’ts Large Unitary Gov’t

  5. Organizing Territory • what is good about small, unitary governments • close to the people • can represent specific needs of specific area and groups (linguistic/ethnic) that live within those areas • what is good about large, unitary government? • may be more effective • common security • integrated economy • may protect against domination of minorities by majorities

  6. Options for Organizing Territory Small Unitary Gov’ts Large Unitary Gov’t Confederation Federalism

  7. Options for Organizing Territory Small Unitary Gov’ts Large Unitary Gov’t Confederation Federalism Unitary Government: may have different levels of government; however, subordinate governments exist at the behest of the central government

  8. Options for Organizing Territory Small Unitary Gov’ts Large Unitary Gov’t Confederation Federalism Unitary Government: may have different levels of government; however, subordinate governments exist at the behest of the central government Confederation: sovereign governments band together and delegate certain powers to a central government; constituent governments retain the right to rescind this grant of power; central government exists at the behest of constituent units

  9. Options for Organizing Territory Small Unitary Gov’ts Large Unitary Gov’t Confederation Federalism Unitary Government: may have different levels of government; however, subordinate governments exist at the behest of the central government Confederation: sovereign governments band together and delegate certain powers to a central government; constituent governments retain the right to rescind this grant of power; central government exists at the behest of constituent units Federal Government: has two orders of government which are legally independent from one another and sovereign within their respective spheres of jurisdiction; neither exists at the behest of the other and neither can take power away from the other

  10. Federalism • 24 federations of 180 sovereign states • 40% of world population

  11. Options for Organizing Territory Unitary Gov’t Confederation Federalism European Union (EU) Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Germany, India, Mexico, Russia, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, US, Venezuela France United Kingdom Italy

  12. Federalism – What is It? • main elements • two orders of government • NOT levels of government • division of powers • constitutional grant of powers and jurisdiction to each order of government • judicial review • court adjudicates between the two orders of government

  13. Federalism – Why? • always about representing territorially-based interests that would not be adequately represented in a unitary system while enjoying benefits of larger system

  14. Federalism – Variants • centralized and decentralized federalism

  15. Level of Centralization Small Unitary Gov’ts Large Unitary Gov’t (Confederation) Federalism Decentralized Federation Centralized Federation

  16. Level of Centralization Centralized Federation Decentralized Federation Canada Switzerland Australia Germany United States Malaysia

  17. Level of Centralization Small Unitary Gov’ts Large Unitary Gov’t (Confederation) Federalism Decentralized Federation US 1789 US 2002 Centralized Federation Canada 2002 Canada 1867

  18. Federalism and Political Power • federalism is not neutral • emphasizes the representation of territorially-based interests (often ethnic, religious, linguistic) while de-emphasizing those that are not (e.g. class, gender) • overlapping cleavages are organized into politics and cross-cutting cleavages are organized out • overlapping cleavages (Canada) • regional economic disparities • linguistic cleavages

  19. Federalism and Democracy

  20. MODELS OF DEMOCRACY Individual Rights/Limited Gov’t Liberal Democracy High Mass Participation Low Mass Participation Elite Democracy Majoritarian Democracy General Welfare

  21. Federalism and Democracy • liberal democrats • prefer federalism in and of itself... • protects against the domination of minorities by majorities (by creating a larger political community in which every group is a minority in some respect) • fragments government power – making it more difficult for gov’t to act and limiting government • elite democrats • prefer federalism to the degree it is effective – e.g. does it deliver in terms of furthering the general welfare • e.g. more effective than small unitary gov’ts in providing common defence, strong economy, etc. • contributes to social stability by encouraging negotiation of divisive issues behind closed doors among political elites • may be concerned if federalism is inefficient or limits the ability of the state to pursue the general welfare • majoritarian democrats • would like federalism only to the degree that it allows decision-making to be closer to “the people” than a large unitary gov’t would be (probably would prefer smaller, unitary government) • concerns about federalism • fragmenting of governmental power (limiting the ability of the state to pursue the general welfare) • would be concerned about the “democratic deficit” • e.g. executive federalism (Canada) – important decisions made between federal-provincial leaders behind closed doors

  22. Institutions and Political Power • institutions are never neutral • confer advantage on certain groups/interests • organize certain issues into politics and others out of politics • institutions are stable but are capable of change (very slowly) • institutions are contested – they are the object of political competition • non-dominant groups can challenge institutional arrangements in order to shift the balance of power those insitutions represent and reinforce • institutions and vested interests will resist change (people with power do not give it up willingly!) • existing institutions provide the terrain on which these challenges must take place (e.g. they have home court advantage!) • institutions and political participation • this contestation (attempts to shift power relationships in society) takes place through political participation • the resulting political competition takes place within the context of existing political institutions

  23. Next... • Tuesday, February 9th, Prof. Sandra Burt – What is Political Participation? • Remember...NO tutorials next week! (Please conceal your disappointment.)

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