“Thinking Federally” from a Governance Perspective

Abstract

The surge of interest in federalism as a political idea and institutional design option in a remarkable range of settings — from Italy to Iraq to the EU — makes the question “which federalism” particularly salient. Federalism’s appeal as a political solution in such diverse settings underscores both the plasticity of the federalism concept, alongside the formalism of federalist political structures, as well as its contested nature. The evolutionary pattern of US federalism highlights these features: even within the US context, views of federalism are very much “in the eye of the beholder” and continually at the core of contemporary political debates. As Martha Derthick (1996), one of the foremost federalism scholars, sees it “American federalism is complicated and unstable.” In both established federal systems as well as newly federalizing governments, therefore, it is reasonable to approach federalism as an ongoing project as much as a formal prescription for allocation of authority and responsibilities.