Federalism in Europe

Several federal systems exist in Europe, such as in Switzerland, Austria, Germany, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina and the European Union. Germany and the EU are the only examples in the world where members of the federal upper houses, (the Bundesrat and the Council), are neither elected nor appointed but are composed of the governments of their constituents.

Australia
On January 1, 1901 the Australian nation emerged as a federation. The Australian continent was colonized by the United Kingdomin 1788, who subsequently established six self-governing colonies there. In the 1890s the governments of these colonies all heldreferendums on becoming a unified, independent nation. When all the colonies voted in favour of federation, the Federation of Australia commenced, resulting in the establishment of the Commonwealth of Australia in 1901. Whilst the Federation of Australia emerged in 1901, the States of Australia remained colonies of Britain until 1986 when the UK and Australia passed the Australia Acts. The model of Australian federalism adheres closely to the original model of the United States of America, though through aWestminster system.

Canada
In Canada, the system of federalism is described by the division of powers between the federal parliament and the country's provincialgovernments. Under the Constitution Act (previously known as the British North America Act) of 1867, specific powers of legislation are allotted. Section 91 of the constitution gives rise to federal authority for legislation, whereas section 92 gives rise to provincial powers.

Venezuela
The Federal War ended in 1863 with the signing of the Treaty of Coche by both the centralist government of the time and the Federal Forces. TheUnited States of Venezuela were subsequently incorporated under a "Federation of Sovereign States" upon principles borrowed from the Articles of Confederation of the United States of America. In this Federation, each State had a "President" of its own that controlled almost every issue, even the creation of "State Armies," while the Federal Army was required to obtain presidential permission to enter any given state.

India
The Government of India (referred to as the Union Government) was established by the Constitution of India, and is the governing authority of a federal union of 28 states and 7 union territories. The governance of India is based on a tiered system, where in the Constitution of India appropriates the subjects on which each tier of government has executive powers. The Constitution uses the Seventh Schedule to delimit the subjects under three categories, namely the Union list, the State list and the Concurrent list.

DEFENITION Federalism is a political concept in which a group of members are bound together by covenant with a governing representative head. The term "federalism" is also used to describe a system of the government in which sovereignty is constitutionally divided between a central governing authority and constituent political units (like states or provinces). Federalism is a system based upon democratic rules and institutions in which the power to govern is shared between national and provincial/state governments, creating what is often called a federation. Proponents are often called federalists.

HISTORY

A wide-spread interest among political philosophers in topics concerning the centralised nation state have fuelled attention to historical contributions on unitary sovereignty. However, we can also identify a steady stream of contributions to the philosophy of federalism, also by those more well known for their arguments concerning centralised power (cf. Karmis and Norman 2005 for such readings). Several of the early contributors to federalist thought explored the rationale and weaknesses of centralised states as they emerged and developed in the 17th and 18th century. Johannes Althusius (15571630) is often regarded as the father of modern federalist thought. He argued in Politica Methodice Digesta (Althusius 1603) for autonomy of his city Emden, both against its Lutheran provincial Lord and against the Catholic Emperor. Althusius was strongly influenced by French Huguenots and Calvinism. As a permanent minority in several states, Calvinists developed a doctrine of resistance as the right and duty of natural leaders to resist tyranny. Orthodox Calvinists insisted on sovereignty in the social circles subordinate only to God's laws. The French Protestant Huguenots developed a theory of legitimacy further, presented 1579 by an author with the telling pseudonym Junius Brutus in Vindiciae Contra Tyrannos. The people, regarded as a corporate body in territorial hierarchical communities, has a God-granted right to resist rulers without rightful claim. Rejecting theocracy, Althusius developed a non-sectarian, non-religious contractualist political theory of federations that prohibited state intervention even for purposes of promoting the right faith. Accommodation of dissent and diversity prevailed over any interest in subordinating political powers to religion or vice versa.
FACTS

Federalism is based on (1) the dissolution of empires, (2) regional variation and (3) ease of administration. Examples of the dissolution of empires are the British empire in North America in 1776, the Russian empire in 1917, the USSR in 1991,the German Empire in 1918, the Nazi "empire" in 1945 and Yugoslavia and Bosnia in the present.

Examples of regional variation are Switzerland, Canada, the USSR and Russia. As to ease of administration, even unitary states like France and England are divided into departments or counties. Constitutional basis of the US federal system is Article IV (admission of new states), Article VI (national government supremacy), Amendment X (reserved powers) and Amendment XIV (national control of state action). The "enumerated powers" in Article I, Section 8, list the specific powers of the national government. While these are supposedly the only powers it has, in fact the commerce and "elastic" clauses have permitted great enlargement. National laws that form the basis of the federal system include the laws admitting new states into the union. Since Tennessee, 16th state, Congress has used the phrase that the new state is admitted on an "equal footing" as the other states. A number of specific laws define the federal relationship. Major examples are the decentralized programs like welfare, employment services and environmental protection. Grant program are a major factor in the federal system. Since 1862 the national government has given grants for "land grant" colleges, highways, welfare (but not social security old age pensions), environmental protection, Model Cities, and revenue sharing. The grant authority is based on a contract, not on the Constitution. If a state does not like the terms, it should refuse the money. Interstate relations within the United States are handled much like foreign affairs. States can negotiate and enter into treaties with other states. A historically important example is the treaty negotiated in 1785 between Maryland and Virginia on use of the Chesapeake Bay. Sometimes the states negotiate under the provisions of a national law, such as the Low Level Nuclear Waste Act that set up a series of interstate compacts. Another example of an interstate treaty is the one that established the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. The relationship between the state and local government is not a true example of federalism. States have total authority to create, modify and abolish counties and municipalities. The relationship is referred to as the "federal analogy." Inthe United States the word "federal" also means the national government as in the Federal Bureau of Investigation. As a means of emphasizing the word to mean the relationship, for the fifteen weeks of the semester, use the word federal exclusively for the system, not for the government in Washington. Refer to that as the national government or as US for an adjective.

ADVANTAGES

Fosters state loyalties: Many Americans feel close ties to their home state, and federalism maintains that connection by giving power to the states. Practices pragmatism: Running a country the size of the United States, with such a diverse population, is much easier to do if power is given to local officials. Likewise, state and local officials are closer to the problems of their areas, so it makes sense for them to choose policies to solve those problems. Creates laboratories of democracy: State governments can experiment with policies, and other states (and

the federal government) can learn from their successes and failures. Leads to political stability: By removing the national government from some contentious issue areas, federalism allowed the early U.S. government to achieve and maintain stability. Encourages pluralism: Federal systems expand government on national, state, and local levels, giving people more access to leaders and opportunities to get involved in their government. Ensures the separation of powers and prevents tyranny: Even if one person or group took control of all three branches of the federal government, federalism ensures that state governments would still function independently. Federalism, therefore, fulfills the framers vision of a governmental structure that ensures liberty.

Federalism in the United States

Federalism in the United States is the evolving relationship between U.S. state governments and the federal government of the United States. Since the founding of the country, and particularly with the end of the American Civil War, power shifted away from the states and towards the national government.[1]

Federalism in the 1790s

Federalism was the most influential political movement arising out of discontent with the Articles of Confederation, which focused on limiting the authority of the federal government. For example, the Articles allowed the Continental Congress the power to sign treaties or declare war, but it was essentially [2] powerless to do so because all major decisions required a unanimous vote. The movement was greatly strengthened by the reaction to Shays' Rebellion of 17861787, which was an armed uprising of yeoman farmers in western Massachusetts. The rebellion was fueled by a poor economy that was created, in part, by the inability of the federal government to deal effectively with the debt from the American Revolution. Moreover, the federal government had proven incapable of raising an army to quell the rebellion, so that Massachusetts had been forced to raise its own.

New Federalism
Main article: New Federalism Another movement calling itself "New Federalism" appeared in the late 20th century and early 21st century . New Federalism, which is characterized by a gradual return of power to the states, was initiated by President Ronald Reagan (19811989) with his "devolution revolution" in the early 1980s and lasted until 2001. Previously, the federal government had granted money to the states categorically, limiting the states to use this funding for specific programs. Reagan's administration, however, introduced a practice of giving block grants, freeing state governments to spend the money at their own discretion. New

Federalism is sometimes called "states' rights", although its proponents usually eschew the latter term because of its associations with Jim Crow and segregation. Unlike the states' rights movement of the mid20th century which centered around the civil rights movement, the modern federalist movement is concerned far more with expansive interpretations of the Commerce Clause, as in the areas of medical marijuana (Gonzales v. Raich), partial birth abortion (Gonzales v. Carhart), gun possession (United States v. Lopez), federal police powers (United States v. Morrison, which struck down portions of the Violence Against Women Act), or agriculture (Wickard v. Filburn). President Bill Clinton (19932001) embraced this philosophy, and President George W. Bush (20012009) appeared to support it at the time of his inauguration.

Education policies under New Federalism

Education has also been very controversial under New Federalism, but for different reasons. Almost all groups, State and Federal, agree that a controlled education system is absolutely critical. The division, however, is that some believe that the education system should be nationally united (and therefore controlled by the federal government), while opponents believe that education should vary by State (and therefore be controlled by the State governments). Some New Federalists, such as President Reagan, have flirted with the idea of abolishing the Department of Education, but the effort has been unsuccessful. During the administration of George W. Bush, the president and Congress cooperated to pass the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation, which required [10] states to meet federal testing standards. Utah was the first state to reject NCLB, and the Attorney [11] General of Connecticut sued the federal government for underfunding NCLB.

Dual Federalism
Main article: Dual federalism Despite Chief Justice Marshall's strong push for the federal government, the court of his successor, Roger B. Taney (18351863), decided cases that favored equally strong national and state governments. The basic philosophy during this time was that the U.S. Government ought to be limited to its enumerated powers and that all others belonged to the states. Both the sixteenth and the seventeenth amendment bolstered the power of the national government, and divided state and federal power.

Marble Cake Federalism is a form of federalism where there is mixing of powers,

resources, and programs between and among the national, state, and local governments. Federalism is a system of government in which power is divided between a central government and regional or sub-divisional governments. In marble cake federalism there will be an intermingling of all levels of government in policies and programming. This is also known as co-operative federalism. CHECKS AND BALANCES

As we have already seen our Constitution is very much a reaction to the events that came before it. Our founding fathers had several goals, foremost among those goals was to avoid tyranny. In order to do this several different systems were set up to prevent the abuse of power. Federalism was one of these systems. Federalism was designed to balance the power of the national and State governments and thus limit the powers of the national government. Jefferson and others were convinced that state government was closer to the people and thus more democratic.

Another system that was developed was the system of checks and balances. Checks and balances, or the separation of powers, is based upon the philosophy of Baron de Montesquieau. In this system the government was to be divided into three branches of government, each branch having particular powers.

SEPARATION OF POWERS.

Another key element of federalism is the principle of SEPARATION OF POWERS. The Constitution's definition of separation of powers is not specific, and the Supreme Court has struggled to interpret it. Separation of powers is based on the premise that there are three branches of federal government, each with its own enumerated powers. For example, the EXECUTIVE BRANCH, which includes the president, has VETO power; the Senate and Congress make up the legislative branch and have the power of advice and consent over the appointment of executive and judicial officers; and the courts make up the judicial branch and have the power of judicial review. The SEPARATION-OF-POWERS principle has had two interpretations. The first, formalism, is rooted in the idea that the Constitution's goal was to divide the new federal government into three defined categories, each with its own set of powers. The second interpretation, functionalism, is based on the belief that the three branches of government are not clearly delineated. Functionalists believe that the goal of separation of powers is to ensure that each branch retains only as much power as is necessary for it to act as a check on the other branches.

Read more: Federalism - Separation Of Powers And The Plain Statement Rule Government, Branch, Congress, and Gregory JRank Articles http://law.jrank.org/pages/6817/Federalism-Separation-PowersPlain-Statement-Rule.html#ixzz1ujQCEha5