Federalism
What is federalism?
Explain what federalism is and how federations are formed.
Back to Belgium and Sri Lanka. Belgium always had regional governments, but the centre gave them their powers and could take them back. In 1993 that changed: the regions got powers written into the constitution, which the centre could no longer take away. Belgium moved from unitary to federal. Sri Lanka is still, in practice, unitary: the national government holds all the power, and Tamil leaders want a federal system.
What is federalism? A system where a central authority and the country's units (states or provinces) each get a share of the power. Usually there are two levels:
- a government for the whole country, for a few subjects of national interest;
- state governments, for much of the day-to-day running of their state.
Each level uses its powers independently of the other. Just 25 countries out of 193 are federal, but they hold 40 per cent of the world's people.
Unitary vs federal. Think of two families. In one, a parent decides everything; in the other, decisions are shared.
- Unitary: either the country has just one level of government, or the lower levels are under the centre. The centre can order the provinces about.
- Federal: the centre cannot order a state to do something. The state has its own powers, and each government answers separately to the people.
Key features of federalism.
- Two or more levels (tiers) of government.
- They govern the same citizens, but each has its own jurisdiction (area of legal authority) in law-making, taxes and administration.
- These jurisdictions are written in the constitution, so each level's existence and authority is guaranteed.
- The basic rules cannot be changed by one level alone: both must agree.
- Courts interpret the constitution; the highest court acts as umpire in disputes between levels.
- Each level has clear sources of money, so it has financial freedom.
- A dual aim: keep the country united while making room for regional diversity.
It works only with mutual trust and an agreement to live together.
Two routes to a federation.
- 'Coming together': independent states join to form a bigger unit. They pool their sovereignty but keep their identity, to be more secure. Examples: USA, Switzerland, Australia. The states are usually equal and strong compared with the federal government.
- 'Holding together': a large country chooses to split its power between the national government and the states. Examples: India, Spain, Belgium. Here the centre tends to be stronger, and units often have unequal powers; some get special powers.
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