1 / 13

AMERICAN FEDERALISM

Explore the evolution of American federalism from decentralized federation to centralized federalism, examining reasons for maintaining state governments and the shift towards federal activism. Understand the significance of centralization, examples of government intervention, and the philosophical and practical aspects of federalism.

gyda
Download Presentation

AMERICAN FEDERALISM

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. AMERICAN FEDERALISM September 27th, 2003

  2. Establishing the Two Orders of Government -- Federalism • Why Have a Federal Government? • practical reasons • philosophical reasoning • Why Maintain State Governments? • practical reasons • philosophical reasoning

  3. Level of Centralization Small Unitary Gov’ts Large Unitary Gov’t Confederation Federalism Decentralized Federation US 1789 US 2002 Centralized Federation

  4. Indicators of Centralization • size of the federal government • expenditures, programs, budgets • federal grants-in-aid, mandates • federal inducements/requirements that states undertake certain actions • federal preemption • regulation of interstate commerce

  5. American Federalism • explanations of centralization • idea of “one nation” • E Pluribus Unum • American civil war • citizen demands for rights to be extended equally across the nation • representation of state interests within the national government as opposed to representation through relations between state governments and national government • the Senate!

  6. Centralization in Context • broad trend of centralization has taken place within a context of important powers reserved to the states • examples of differences in the exercise of powers reserved for the states • the death penalty • gun control • medical marijuana • right to die (e.g. assisted suicide) • referendums/initiatives

  7. The New Federalism • the devolution revolution • 1980-2002 • peaked in 1994 with Contract with America

  8. The “New” Federalism 1980-2000 Small Unitary Gov’ts Large Unitary Gov’t (Confederation) Federalism Decentralized Federation US 1980 Centralized Federation

  9. The Devolution Revolution • causes of devolution • about limiting government • Theodore Lowi • devolution is about dual federalism and dual citizenship • proponents of devolution believe... • states rights should predominate on issues of race, class and gender • e.g. welfare • this was the case from 1930-1960 but was abrogated during the 1960s and 1970s • devolution is an attempt to return to the proper state of things • explains idiosyncratic patterns of federal vs. state dominance

  10. The New Federal Activism • examples of expanded federal intervention • education • No Child Left Behind • medical marijuana

  11. The New Federal Activism • examples of federal intervention • education • No Child Left Behind • medical marijuana • Defense of Marriage Act • right-to-die • Gonzales v. Oregon

  12. The New Federal Activism • significant shift in accepted wisdom that decentralization favoured by the right • intervention by federal government used to further conservative causes • shifting in thinking on federalism – shifting beliefs about conservative control of federal government??

  13. Main Message! • federalism... • not simply a technical issue about which gov’t is best placed to do what • involves... • philosophical questions regarding the overall role of government • practical questions regarding partisan control of various levels of government

More Related