Alternate Routes to Autonomy in Federal and Quasi-Federal Systems

In late twentieth-century federal systems, provinces and stateshave sought greater autonomy because of economic neglect, distinctivenessof society and political culture, administrative inefficiency,and local efficacy. This article examines both structural andpolitical avenues to autonomy in six stable democratic federalsystems. In general, structural attempts to increase provincialor state autonomy in federal systems are found wanting. Becauseamendments to federal constitutions require extraordinary majoritysupport, they tend to centralize power. Referenda may be usedto retard centralization only under exceptional circumstances.Secession has been a successful strategy in only a small numberof cases. Political strategies, such as judicial interpretationof the constitution and conferencing, have been somewhat moreeffective; but political system characteristics impose restrictionson their use. Two types of decentralization that apply universally—devolutionand deconcentration—appear to enhance powers of subnationalunits. However, they require significant facilitating conditionson the national plane. The article calls into question the practicalvalue of structural arrangements, suggesting that alternatepolitical strategies sometimes produce more decentralized effects.     

The West German Federal Constitutional Court as Guardian of the Federal System

The West German Federal Constitutional Court has generally actedas a guardian of the German federal system. The Court has preventedattempts by the federation to encroach upon the modest autonomyleft to the Länder. If a national solution for a problemseems indispensable, the Court favors techniques that compensatethe Länder for a loss of autonomy by granting them certainparticipation rights. Guided by that principle, the Court'sconstruction of the Basic Law has increased considerably thenumber of federal statutes that require the approval of theBunesrat. Thus the Court emphasizes today the idea of partnership.However, in a 1986 decision, the Court made clear that a certainamount of federal leadership is needed to keep the system running.In this decision, the Court reminded the federation expresslyof its responsibility for the whole.     

The Bundesrat

Federal systems typically have in their legislative bodies asecond house designed to secure regional participation in nationalaffairs. While the German Bundestrat is not a co-equal branchof the parliament, it is, next to the U.S. Senate, the mostpowerful second (not "upper") house in existence. Unlike theU.S. Senate, its membership represents the cabinets of the elevenLänder, and votes are cast a bloc for each Land. The Bundesrathas an absolute veto over all bills that effect the Länderand a suspensive veto over all other bills. It was not designedas a partisan body, but partisan politics do sometimes enterthe decisionmaking process. The Bundesrat has served traditionallyas an institutional means of securing Land rights from intrusionby the federal government. Today, however, it is confrontedby a new and potentially more dangerous threat to Land autonomy:the growing power of the European Community and the trend towardrelinquishing important aspects of national sovereignty to ECinstitutions.     

Lander Governance in a Global Era: The Case of Hesse

Subnational governments in federal systems are among the institutionsbeing buffeted by economic trends and institutional developmentsassociated with globalization. While the national governments'ability to maintain policy autonomy in a global age is frequentlyexamined, less attention has been devoted to the subnationalleaders' capacity for responding to global circumstances whilestill preserving the traditions and priorities of their jurisdictions.This article explores the responses of a single German Land,Hesse, to international events between 1982 and 1999. The analysisconcentrates first on changes in governmental structure andprocedure that reflect developments in Hesse's global environment,and then on changes in economic and environmental policy, apolicy domain central to Hessian politics throughout the period.Hesse's political leadership has not been able to insulate theLand from global pressures, but by acknowledging their distinctcircumstances, they have shaped institutions and policies inways that have enhanced their ability to derive significantadvantage from trends originating outside their borders.     

Anglicizing the United States Constitution: James Bryce's Contribution to Australian Federalism

James Bryce's analysis of American federalism made it possiblefor the Australian founders to reproduce federal institutionson the American model without replicating the republican andempirical ideas that underpinned them in the United States Constitution.Bryce's account in The American Commonwealth (1888) appealedto Australia's founders because it was suited to their needs.Bryce was English, and, like a sensible nineteenth-century Englishman,he argued that U. S. institutions had little to do with intellectualproduct. Instead, they were largely English institutions adaptedto American purposes. Reading Bryce, Australia's founders assumedthat if federal institutions had little to do with abstracttheory, and had simply been adapted to American circumstances,they might also be adapted to Australian circumstances. Thus,Bryce's approach to American federalism allowed Australia'sfounders to substitute their own colonial tradition of parliamentarydemocracy under the Crown for the republican principles of rightsand the separation of powers that underlie the U.S. Constitution.     

How Europe Shapes the Nature of the Belgian Federation: Differentiated EU Impact Triggers Both Co-operation and Decentralization

This paper disentangles the impact of various dimensions of European integration on different aspects of the Belgian federal polity. We discern two opposite trends. While the institutional embeddedness of Belgium as an EU member state results in domestic centralizing tendencies and co-operative political practices, economic integration stimulates political pressures for regional autonomy, contributing to further divergence and hollowing out of the federal level. We conclude by arguing that the EU clearly affects territorial politics in Belgium, but, as the European causes are multidimensional, that also the effects, albeit substantial, will be diverse.     

Justice George Sutherland and Commerce-Clause Federalism Before the New Deal

The jurisprudence of Justice George Sutherland illustrates howthe U.S. Supreme Court justified commerce-clause federalismbetween the end of the Civil War and the ascendancy of the NewDeal. Sutherland presented a constitutional and political defenseof federalism grounded in American natural-rights theory. Thisdefense presents arguments that federalism's skeptics and defendershave not considered sufficiently. Skeptics tend to argue thatis impossible to maintain a federalist constitutional arrangement;Sutherland's defense shows how to do so. Federalism's supporterstend to defend the commerce clause on negative grounds, thatit limits government power by forcing the states to competewith each other and Congress to compete with them all. Sutherland,however, drew on a tradition of political theory which stressedthat commerce-clause federalism offered positive benefits bykeeping the federal government lean and mean. It barred Congressfrom regulating on subjects about which it was less informedand competent than state legislators and regulators. By focusingthe federal government on truly national objects like interstatetrade, it left most regulation where citizens could see it-locally.According to this tradition, the commerce clause played a criticalrole in making the national government energetic and effective,and it also ordered local political processes so as to makecitizens self-reliant and fit for republican self-government.     

Local Autonomy or National Equality? A Conflict of Values and Interests for Political Leaders

Local autonomy and national equality are conflicting political values. Finding the balance between autonomy and equality is a difficult challenge for local leaders in multi-level government systems everywhere. This article aims to find factors that explain the attitudes of local representatives in these matters. The results show that left–right ideology, party interest and local economic interest all have substantial effects on the representatives’ attitudes. Representatives on the right are generally more positive to local autonomy and more critical to equalisation compared to representatives on the left, but the ideological stance of right-wing representatives depends on the economic strength of their municipality. Left-wing representatives are less affected by local economic interests. Representatives of all colours are more positive to increasing local autonomy when they are part of a local ruling majority. The study builds on data from a survey of all local representatives in Sweden.     

Federalism and Education Planning in the Federal Republic of Germany

In 1969 demands for greater rationality in education planninggave rise to new institutionalized forms of cooperation betweenthe federation and the Länder. Conflicts between the federaland Land governments, partisan conflicts, and financial conflictsoverlapped this cooperation. Despite the fact that the formalcapacity for dealing with conflicts had many shortcomings, ajoint general plan for education was issued in 1973 as a resultof favorable economic and political conditions. However, in1978 the federal government failed in its attempt to utilizethe dissatisfaction with the existing system of cooperationto extend its responsibilities for education. The deteriorationin economic and political conditions led to an end of effortsto formulate a general plan for education in 1982 and reducedthe scale of joint activities. Forms of educational cooperationbetween the federation and the Länder still exist, butthey no longer fulfill their original purpose. The centralizationof decisionmaking, which was originally expected, never cameinto being.     

Canadian Federalism, The Charter of Rights, and the 1984 Election

The federal election of 1984 may prove to be a critical eventin the evolution of Canadian federalism. The election createda political climate favorable to a restructuring of the Canadianpolitical agenda away from the "territorial politics" that hasdominated it for several decades, toward a politics of national,non territorial issues. Such a transformation of the politicalagenda had been sought by the Liberal government of Pierre Trudeau,which saw the new Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms as amechanism for promoting a more national politics. The climateof intergovernmental confrontation that characterized the Trudeauera, however, may very well have undermined the Charter's nationalunity potential. Ironically, that potential is more likely tobe realized under the Mulroney Conservatives than it would havebeen under a continuation of the Trudeau regime.     

Decentralized Governance under Centralized Party Rule in Ethiopia: The Tigray Experience

Abstract

In the mid-1990s Ethiopia adopted a federal constitution promising regional autonomy and the creation and strengthening of local government units below the regional level. Some observers attribute the various shortcomings of Ethiopian federalism that have emerged since then to the original institutional/constitutional design. This paper, however, argues that what is not in the constitution has come to influence the workings of decentralization more than what is codified in it. The dominant national party in power, the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), either directly or through affiliates, controls political office at all levels of government, thereby limiting the room for local initiative and autonomy. The presence of a national dominant party limits the responsiveness and downward accountability of Wereda (district) authorities; it also undermines political competition, and by extension, good governance at the grassroots level. The paper is based on field research carried out in the Tigray regional state of Ethiopia. The conclusion is that when one party dominates the politics of the region and its institutions, extra-constitutional intra-party politics determine how things work, thereby subjugating localities’ autonomy and impeding their ability to deliver on promises of decentralization.     

The Radical Critique of Economic Inequality in Early American Political Thought

This article examines the ideological roots and historical development of an early radical economic egalitarian tradition in American political thought. It concentrates on a group of thinkers and social critics that were active from the 1820s through the beginning of the Civil War. Inspired by republican themes, they forged a radical critique of the emerging capitalist order and a skepticism of economic modernity. By reworking the republican political notion of an equality of social relations as an essential context for individual liberty, these radical critics posed a challenge to the emerging capitalist order. They would also be unique in the way that they analyzed the workings of this new economic system arguing that it was a mechanism that would systematically reproduce economic inequality eroding republican forms of government and society making them a distinct voice in America's egalitarian tradition.     

LOCAL GOVERNMENTS AS IMPLEMENTORS OF PUBLIC POLICY

This study expands the growing literature in comparative public policy that examines welfare services. By now, it is accepted that a combination of economic, social, and political factors are influential in the delivery of these services by the 60 states. This paper finds that similar factors are also operating at the county level in New York state. Most notably, political factors affect the distribution of welfare benefits–despite federal and state mandates that require distribution to be based solely on need. This raises a number of issues. concerning the nature of political influence and the autonomy of local bureaucracies, which require further exploration.     

Politics, Economic Development, and Second-Generation Strain in India's Federal System

Since the late 1960s, India's federal system has experiencedsevere strain in center-state relations. Such strain was almostnonexistent during the first generation of Indian federalism(1950–1966). During the second generation, which followedthe death of Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri in 1966, therise of a powerful leader of the ruling Congress party, IndiraGandhi, and the emergence of dissent inside the party led toa greater emphasis on centralization and regimentation withinthe party and, thereby, the federal system as well. At the sametime, economic development had helped to produce new politicalelites from rural areas who benefited from the "green revolution"of the 1960s. These new elites challenged the professional andindustrial elites who had long controlled the Congress party,the national government, and many state governments. Feelingfrustrated in their efforts to influence national economic policyin a significant way, these new elites have formulated demandsthat call for substantial decentralization, greater state autonomy,and more tolerance for opposition parties whose electoral supportis mainly state-based.     

Negotiating universalism in India and Latin America: Fiscal decentralization,subnational politics and social outcomes

ABSTRACT

This is the introductory paper for a special issue which focuses on an exploration of how vertical inter-governmental political and fiscal bargains and horizontal variation in political, social and economic conditions across regions contribute to or undermine the provision of inclusive and sustainable social policies at the subnational level in Latin America and India. The papers incorporate both federal, as well as decentralized unitary states, pointing to common political tensions across unitary and federal settings despite the typically greater institutionalization of regional autonomy in federal countries. Jointly, the papers examine the territorial dimension of universalism and explore, in greater and empirical detail, the causal links between fiscal transfers, social policies and outcomes, highlighting the political dynamics that shape fiscal decentralization reforms and the welfare state. This introductory essay reviews existing scholarship, and highlights the contribution of the special issue to understanding these issues beyond OECD contexts.     

Applying the Voting Rights Act in Houston: Federal Intervention or Local Political Determination?

Has the Voting Rights Act (VRA) provision requiring local boundarychanges to be precleared by federal officials to ensure minorityvoting strength been excessive national intervention, or haslocal political determination been retained? This question isexamined in Houston, Texas, where the VRA was the catalyst forthe reorganization of Houston's city council in 1979. At firstglance, the Houston case seems to suggest overt federal intervention.On closer examination, however, we found that council changewas born out of compromises among contending local groups. Federalofficials were active participants in the processes of change,but acted as rules interpreters and referees rather than asdirectors of change. Moreover, the application of the VRA inHouston did not result in less local autonomy; instead, it servedto increase the representation of minorities on the council,thus laying the foundation for a more pluralistic local system.     

How federalism influences welfare spending: Belgium federalism reform through the perspective of the synthetic control method

The question of whether and how federalism influences a country's welfare state has been a longstanding concern of political scientists. However, no agreement exists on exactly how, and under what conditions, federal structures impact the welfare state. This article examines this controversy. It concludes theoretically that the specific constellation of federal structures and distribution of powers need to be considered when theorising the effects of federalism on the welfare state. Using the case of Belgium and applying the synthetic control method, it is shown in the article that without the federalism reform of 1993, the country would have had further decreases in social spending rather than a consolidation of this spending in the years after 1993. In the case of Belgium, the combination of increased subnational spending autonomy in a still national financing system provided ideal conditions for a positive federalism effect on social spending to occur.     

Perceptions of Federal Aid Impacts on State Agencies: Patterns, Trends, and Variations Across the 20th Century

American federalism is a dynamic process involving the viewsand interactions among state and national officials. Based onmultiple mail surveys of state agency heads across 75 years,this article traces the perspectives of state executives towarda core component of state–national relationships—federalaid. The time frame dates from the 1920s and covers a periodin which federal aid programs to the states grew enormously,as did state administrative establishments. There was a long-termrise in the perceived intrusiveness of federal aid as well asincreased policy distortion effects. Despite substantial fluctuationsin perceived aid impacts, there was a four-decade consistencyin the penetration of federal aid into and across the existing3,000 state agencies. Furthermore, when perceptions of nationalinfluence are combined in an index of perceived national fiscalinfluence, there was a roller coaster effect with an overallsecular "decline" in national influence since 1974.     

Creating a Sustainable Manned Orbital Spaceflight Industry

Since the launch of the Sputnik satellite and the start of the modern space age, nations have sought to capitalize on the scientific, political, and economic returns that stem from that frontier. In the United States, national policy guides the development of the space industry as an economic force and is itself guided by recommendations from periodic committees and other bodies. Although these policies have produced clear scientific and political rewards, the economic results are more mixed. In particular, manned orbital spaceflight has long struggled with issues of sustainability. This article uses a macroeconomic approach to identify the subtle but critical differences between manned orbital spaceflight and the rest of the space industry that increase the cost structure of the industry and work against its sustainability. In recognizing these differences, the authors propose a fundamental shift toward the industry model applied to manned orbital spaceflight that incorporates a federal capability addressing on-orbit emergencies. Not only can this capability reduce the difficulties that these differences create, but it fulfills a natural partnering role between government and private industry that is presently missing.     

The Success of the Regionalist Parties in the 2014 Elections in Belgium

In May 2014, and for the second time in her political history, regional, federal and European elections were organized simultaneously in Belgium. In the direct follow-up of the sixth state reform, which increased the powers and autonomy of the Belgian Regions and Communities, these elections were crucial for the future of the country and for the multi-level coalition formation at the regional and federal levels. The political campaign was dominated by socioeconomic issues and demands for further autonomy, particularly in the Flemish region. Regional electoral results confirmed the success of the regionalist parties in Flanders, but also in Brussels and in the German-speaking Community. These successes allowed regionalist parties to enter all regional and federal governments—often as the dominant party—with the exception of the Walloon and the French-speaking Community cabinets.