Federal Character Research Articles

Treatment- and diagnosis-related benchmarking of population groups in Austria. A dynamic information tool

In the past, a nationwide analysis of hospital data has not been realisable for Austrian sickness funds due to the federal character of the Austrian healthcare system. However, decision makers in the Social Security and Health Care Platforms need this nationwide analysis to gain the information and knowledge for governing and planning the healthcare system. In order to supply support for this decision-making process, the Main Association of the Austrian Social Security Institutions – an umbrella organisation of all Social Security Funds – started to develop a software-based benchmarking system that allows a comparative analysis of the hospitalization rate, as well as the related diagnoses and medical treatments for all Austrian regional population groups. For the analysis, we use the hospital data, which is being reported by the public hospitals to the Ministry of Health, and provide the results via an OLAP database and web-based standard reports on the Social Security Intranet.

Problems of recruitment in civil service: case of the Nigerian civil service

This study probed to identify the problems of recruitment in Nigerian federal civil service and to determine the extent of the utilization of job description and job specification in the recruitment process. Stratified random sampling method was used to draw a sample of 190 from five federal ministries grouped into the four major categories of grade levels. Descriptive survey design was employed and descriptive statistics used for the analysis. The survey identified factors such as increasing pressures for employment, utilization of informal sources of recruitment, long military era, federal character principle, lack of independence of the service commission and delegation of recruitment functions as the prevalent problems affecting recruitment in Nigerian federal civil service. As results of these problems, job description and standard personnel requirements were not adequately used in the recruitment process, especially at the lowest category of grade levels. Based on the findings, it was recommended that the federal government should promulgate laws that will protect employees in the private sector in order to reduce consistent pressures for employment in the public sector. Subjective and informal sources of recruitment should be de-emphasized, and instead sources from educational institutions and professional organizations should be encouraged. The number of federal civil service commissioners should be increased with the establishment of zonal and state offices. It was also recommended that the remuneration of the federal civil servants should be increased. Federal civil service should utilize job description when embarking on actual recruitment exercise and personnel requirements should be developed to match position classification in the service. Finally, a proposal of further research agenda was made on the re-examination of the reliability and validity of employee selection instruments in the civil service. Key words: Civil service, recruitment.

The Challenges of National Integration in Nigeria

This paper interrogates the challenges of national integration in Nigeria. Several policies and programmes of government like harmonized state structure, establishment of National Youths Service Corps Scheme, Federal Character Commission have not been able to achieve the goal of unifying the peoples of Nigeria. The question is, what are the factors responsible for lack of unity, tribalism, nepotism, electoral malpractices, anarchy and social disorganisation, which are the bane of the Nigerian soda-political structure today? This paper provides answers to this question. It exposes the intricacies of national integration and seeks to x-ray the factors which hinder the realization of the dream of national integration and their possible alternatives. The identified alternatives deal with how to achieve the objective of national integration in Nigeria.

The Middle Tier in American Federalism: State Government Policy Activism During the Bush Presidency

Demarcations and assessments of particular periods of American federalism typically focus attention on national–state relationships, and ignore the independent activities of the 50 states. Labels applied to a period are often based on the federalism stance taken by a president. One can think of Lyndon Johnson’s ‘‘creative federalism,’’ Richard Nixon’s ‘‘new federalism,’’ and Ronald Reagan’s ‘‘new, new federalism.’’ President George W. Bush, unlike some of his recent predecessors, has not proclaimed his own distinct vision of federal relationships, and consequently efforts to describe and assess the character of federalism during his administration must rely on a review of policy actions (or inactions). Because a sole focus on national–state relations ignores the ability of state governments, either singly or in combination, to adopt policies different from those of the federal government, it is also necessary to examine this independent policy activism as part of any assessment of an era in American federalism. This article begins with a discussion of state government response to the centralizing thrust of Bush policy proposals and his reversal of his party’s previous stance supportive of states’ rights. To capture more fully the condition of federalism during the Bush presidency, the analysis then moves to an examination of independent policy action by state governments, or what Elazar (1972, 174) termed ‘‘federalism without Washington.’’ The essay concludes with an effort to explain how and why the ‘‘middle tier’’ in American federalism has been so assertive during the George W. Bush presidency.

Nota sobre la frustrada reforma constitucional italiana de 2006

The constitutional reform of the Italian regional system began with the constitutional Laws during the XIII Legislature, under governments of center-left (1999-2001). These reforms has meant a change in the legal nature of the regional Statues; they have incorporated new contents in the Statues, as it is the case of the chapters that regulate the beginnings and laws and the regional organs of statutory guarantee; they have meant a modification of the system of distribution of competences, in a logic that is nearer to the federal model; they have suppressed the control of opportunity for the State of the NOTA SOBRE LA FRUSTRADA REFORMA CONSTITUCIONAL ITALIANA DE 2006 227 6 CARETTI, P.: «Una seconda reforma peggiore della prima: note critiche Della reforma del Titolo V della Costituzione», Le Regione, 2004. RUGGERI, A.: «Reforma del titolo V, procedimento legislativo regionale e teoria delle fonti», in Rassegna parlamentaria, 2004. arrangements and acts of the Regions, have maintained the distinction between regions of special and ordinary regime and, have regulated the regional participation in the international and European matters. In front of this schema strengthened of constitutional reform, the new modification of the Constitution carried out from 2004 by the Government of center-right presided over by Berlusconi introduced important changes, theoretically of more federal character that, however, were refused in the referendum of 2006. The most relevant changes were the following ones: the configuration of the Senate according to a federal structure of the State; the organization of the competences granted attributions on the subject of health, school teaching and regional and local administrative police to the new Regions; a substantial modification of the relations between the Parliament and the Government to which it has given impulse to the Italian doctrine to consider it the form of government that with that it was modified. And other modifications that were suggested in the frustrated reform were: the deletion of the popular legislative initiative, the recognition of the independent administrative authorities and the defense of the local autonomy. 228 MARC CARRILLO

State–church relationships in Germany: past and present

In the wake of the Reformation, the bitterest religious wars were fought on the territories of what is now Germany. It was here, however, that the rule “cuius region, eius religio” was found as well which can be interpreted as a first step towards religious tolerance. Germany has been characterised by a religious dualism between the Roman Catholic and the Protestant (Lutheran and Reformed) Church since then. Both had the status of state churches until the First World War. Since then, they are still by far the dominant religious communities in the country but they regard themselves wrongly to be Volkskirchen (people’s churches). They, as well as a number of smaller religious communities, enjoy the status of a corporation under public law. This status includes the right to collect church tax from members through state channels. The federal German state system is mirrored by a similar federal character of the Protestant Church, which is a union of regional churches. When Germany was reunited in 1990, the Volkskirche principle was reintroduced in East Germany although Christians had become a minority there due to 40 years of strong influence of Communism. Secularisation and pluralisation have changed the religious landscape in Germany especially after 1960. The two big churches have lost large numbers of members, and new religious communities have arrived. In the light of Europe growing together, the Protestant Church in Germany, being the largest in numbers in Europe, has initiated stronger cooperation between the different Protestant churches in the European countries, many of which are organised as national churches. Islam has come to Germany mainly through Turkish labour migrants. The country has only recently changed its self-perception into being a society with a large immigrant minority, which is to stay; therefore it will certainly take some time until Muslims are fully accommodated.

‘Will it stay or will it go?’ Federalism and the sustainability of Belgium

This article provides an overview of the federalisation of Belgium. It first discusses why Belgium acquired a federal character when the politics of the centre already recognised the multilingual character of the Belgian state. Subsequently the authors discuss the specificities of the Belgian federal system when it is placed in a comparative perspective. The presence of two different types of regions – Regions and Communities – the steering capacity of a small group of political elites reluctant to give up political control, the presence of institutional asymmetries, the initially dual nature of dividing competencies and the slow development of intergovernmental relations are highlighted as specific features of Belgian federalism. In the final section, the authors assess the assets and liabilities of federalism from the viewpoint of institutional stability. They argue that while Belgian federalism contains significant institutional shock absorbers and issues of common interest, the further unravelling of the centre in a confederal direction is more likely.

A “Global Theory of Federalism”: The Nature and Challenges of a Federal State

Innumerable attempts have been made to explore the theoretical nature of federalism. Due to the long history, worldwide existence and interdisciplinary character of federalism, a plethora of literature has been written on the topic. Yet, these endeavours have not even resulted in a clear and commonly used definition of the term. Surely, it is one of the great dilemmas of this field of research that despite so much discussion, there is no settled common denominator of ‘federalism'. Whereas practical studies and exchange of experience between the various federal systems offer a more conventional research arena, comparative theoretical approaches are much more seldom. This is not the least because of the tremendous semantic challenges of a comparative theoretical approach. At first glance, it is sometimes difficult to understand the terminology of federalism, the meaning of which differs according to the perspectives of constitutional law, political science or economics. Even more difficulty arises when the substance of federal theories is discussed. Again, differences between theories may be due to different academic approaches, particularly between understanding federalism as an overall principle or as a more concrete concept of a federal state and, in particular, whether the constituent units of a federal state are states, and, if states, whether they are sovereign.

2 - Re-inventing Federalism in Post-Transition Nigeria: Problems and Prospects

This paper grapples with the question of Nigeria's federal practice. It argues that there is a need to re-examine federalism in the country with a view to restructuring the system so that it reflects the ethnological and political realities on the ground. It proposes the de-concentration or decentralisation of the powers of the central government, which increased astronomically during military rule to the disadvantage of the component units—the states. In addressing this subject matter, the paper critically examines the theoretical basis for the notion of federalism, seeking to determine Nigeria's suitability as a federal state in the first instance. A historical overview of the origin of Nigeria's federalism— alongside a discussion of present-day predicaments—is presented in the preliminary analysis. Subsequently, the persisting problems in Nigeria's federalism—like the monopoly of state power, revenue allocation, state creation and federal character—are re-visited with a view to determining the situation in the post-transition democratic environment. Finally, the paper makes a case for the constitutional division of the country into geo-political zones, the rotation of power amongst these zones, and the decentralisation of power away from the centre ft) the states and local governments.

Problems and Prospects of Nigerian Bureaucracy

The paper examined and analysed the problems and prospects of the Nigerian bureaucracy since colonial days till the present time. It discovered that the public bureaucracy in Nigeria has been hounded by colonial legacy, the prolonged military rule, unstable political environment, economic crisis, social menace, constitutional lapses, unfavourable public policies such as the federal character, bureaucratic bottlenecks (such as red-tapism, rigidity, centralization, excessive bureaucratic layers), poor conditions of service etc. All of these factors have impeded the effective performance of the Nigerian bureaucracy in several ways. The association of bureaucracy with pejorative expression cannot be totally isolated from the factors enumerated above. The paper concluded that except these problems are addressed (some of which, suggestions are made in the paper), the prospect for its survival is dicey.

The State of American Federalism, 2002-2003: Division Replaces Unity

The national unity formed last year in response to terrorism soon vanished as more typical political infighting returned. Although overshadowed by the buildup to and the conduct of a second war against Iraq, political issues grounded in the nation's federal character contributed to a rise in divisiveness. The mid-term elections of 2002 and redistricting battles in several states drove partisanship to new heights. The continued sluggishness of the nation's economy also exacerbated interparty bickering. Republicans controlled the White House and both houses of Congress, yet some of the president's policy initiatives encountered more serious resistance in his own party than from the opposition. Many of the feuds within the majority party rested on state and regional interests typical of federalism politics. State and local governments remained trapped in the third year of a fiscal crisis, and even large reductions in expenditures did not extricate these governments from the financial fix. Despite their pleas, state and local officials were unable to obtain any significant relief from the federal government. Federal-state relations, as a consequence, exhibited more contentiousness than cooperation. Copyright 2003, Oxford University Press.

Competing Claims to Recognition in the Nigerian Public Sphere: A Liberal Argument about Justice in Plural Societies

Chapter 1 Normative and Empirical Approaches to Accommodating Ethnic Differences Chapter 2 Ethnicity in Nigeria Chapter 3 The First Political Strategy for Coping with Difference Chapter 4 The Second Political Strategy Chapter 5 The Federal Character Approach Chapter 6 The Revised Federal Character Approach Chapter 7 Group Recognition: Lessons from the Nigerian Experience

The Theory of Public Administration and Its Relevance to Nigerian Administrative Ecology

We analytically put the concept of public administration into perspective in this paper. In the process, we traced its genealogy and, its theoretical provisions as well as the implications and challenges of these provisonal at each stage of its development. We specifically zeroed-in on the practical applications of these provisons in a country like Nigeria. Prominence was given to the features - (political neutrality, annonymity and permanence) - of the Nigerian civil service and their attendent practicability or otherwise within the context of the nation?s ecological factors, slippery adminstrative terrains and cultural pluralism. Within this same context, the issues of representative bureaucracy and its accompanying principles of quota system, federal character, as well as the inherent prevalence of conflict of interest and political patronage engendered in the process. Consequent on these efforts, we conclusively argued that there is need for a re-orientation by the Nigerian citizenry and Public Bureaucrats vis-a-vis the principles of meritocracy and non-partisanship in dealing with socio- economic, cultural and political issues within the nation?s adminstrative landscape.

The Federal Character Principle and Gender Representation in Nigeria

AbstractIn this paper we examined the utility of the federal character principle as a vehicle for promoting gender representation and equity in Nigeria. We contended that the princple holds great p...

Towards a More Federalized Parliamentary System in India: Explaining Functional Change

istorically a federal and plural society and culture, India had gradually gravitated towards a parliamentary federal polity by the end of the British Raj. This process, which started with an administrative federalist response by the British Indian rulers, culminated in the parliamentary federal system under the 1950 republican Constitution framed by the Indian nationalist elites. The textual parliamentary primacy over the federal component of the Indian Union an arranged marriage between parliamentary and federal principles of government willed by the founding fathers of the Indian republic has not been without tensions and it pertains both to normal as well as emergency situations contemplated by the Constitution. The predominantly parliamentary tenor of Indian politics was sustained through the period of one-party dominance under the Indian National Congress, with occasional breaches in 1967 and 1977, until before the 1989 Lok Sabha elections. The two most notable changes of the 1990s in India have been the growing federalization of the polity and the reform of the economy with accent on liberalization and marketization. India's parliamentary federal systems of government quasi-federal in K.C. Wheare's2 classic characterization in the early post-World War II decades has in the 1990s become considerably more federalized than in the past. Although the Indian Constitution is primarily parliamentary, federalism is notjust an inconsequential appendage. This is so not only for the basically plural and federal character of the Indian society but also because of the nature of the constitutional text. Despite overriding powers of the Union over state governments in normal and emergency situations, the powers of

From Statism to Federalism—A Paradigm Shift

Since the end of World War II and most particularly since the late 1970s, the world has been in the midst of a paradigm shift from a world of states modeled after the idea of the nation-state developed in the seventeenth century to a world of diminished state sovereignty and increasingly constitutionalized interstate linkages of a federal character. This paradigm shift has been noted by students of both federalism and international relations. It has been most strongly manifested in the economic sphere. Worldwide and regional economic arrangements have become essential to the peace and prosperity of the world and while formally voluntary, no state can remain outside the increasingly more demanding economic networks. Thus, those networks have acquired an increasingly confederal dimension. Foremost among them is that of Western Europe which, since the Maastricht Treaty, has been transformed into a confederation in fact if not in name. Other arrangements approach the EU in varying degrees. In this new paradigm, existing states will not disappear; rather they will be overlaid by a variety of federal arrangements of a confederal character that will tie them ever closer to each other.

Federal Evolution in Spain

The gradual development of federal arrangements in Spain through its regional governments is examined within five perspectives on “post-modern” federalism: differentiation of the Spanish unitary state through the autonomous communities; evolutionary compacting through negotiated agreements, creating “self-rule plus shared rule”; complementary building of democratic institutions and territorial distribution of power; federalism's contribution to accommodating and managing center-periphery conflicts; and the use of federal arrangements in building the Spanish welfare state. While the Spanish system to date represents “incomplete federation,” the noncentralized estado de las autonomías exemplifies the increasing federal character of states on the international scene.

From Statism To Federalism: A Paradigm Shift

Since the end of World War II and most particularly since the late 1970s, the world has been in the midst of a paradigm shift from a world of states modeled after the idea of the nation-state developed in the seventeenth century to a world of diminished state sovereignty and increas- ingly constitutionalized interstate linkages of a federal character. This paradigm shift has been noted by students of both federalism and inter- national relations. It has been most strongly manifested in the economic sphere. Worldwide and regional economic arrangements have become essential to the peace and prosperity of the world and while formally volun- tary, no state can remain outside the increasingly more demanding economic networks. Thus, those networks have acquired an increasingly confederal dimension. Foremost among them is that of Western Europe which, since the Maastricht Treaty, has been transformed into a confeder- ation in fact if not in name. Other arrangements approach the EU in varying degrees. In this new paradigm, existing states will not disappear; rather they will be overlaid by a variety of federal arrangements of a confederal character that will tie them ever closer to each other.

Le principe fédéraliste et le principe unitaire dans la législation de la Diète polono-lituanienne de Quatre Ans 1788–1792

SUMMARY In this article Juliusz Bardach examines how the federal principles of the Polish-Lithuanian Union were handled in the framing of the Polish Constitution of 3 May 1791. It is shown how the tension between the unitary aims of the king and the reformers and the federalist aims of the Lithuanian delegates was resolved. Although the constitutional draft that was voted on 3 May 1791 appeared to establish a unitary kingdom, it has to be supplemented under Lithuanian pressure. In October 1791 there was added the ‘Mutual Guarantee of the Two Nations’, which reaffirmed the federal character of the Polish-Lithuanian state.

The Bill of Rights as the First Ten Amendments

Needless to say, the Bill of Rights plays a significant role in the American Constitution of today as the stronghold for the guarantee of human rights. However, the Bill of Rights was not contained in the original Constitution of 1787; it was later added to the Constitution after its effectuation.To begin with, the United States of America after her Independence actually meant to be a confederation of thirteen independent States. In the Federal Convention of 1787 its leading delegates attempted to transform the United States of America from this loose form of confederation to the single consolidated central state. Which is to say, they wanted to create a single extended republic instead of having thirteen small republics. They also attempted to rectify“the excess of democracy”frequently seen in the postrevolutionary period so as to make possible a governance by some qualified and competent leaders.But, they did not forget the general sentiment of the contemporary Americans who often entertained apprehensions of strong centralized power and aristocracy as well; so they, instead of adhering to the consolidated state, drafted the Constitution which aimed at having the constitution of the federal republic. In its ratification procedures by several States, however, the proposed Constitution was criticized as oriented toward consolidation and aristocracy as well. Though these issues were fraught with ambiguities, the absence of a bill of rights in the original Constitution was conspicuous. To be sure, the Federalists argued that since the federal government was a limited government and could use only certain powers enumerated in the Constitution, a bill of rights was unnecessary. They also maintained that the proposed Constitution as a whole was nothing less than“a bill of rights”. But they later conceded to counter-opinion in the last phase of negotiation and guaranteed that after the effectuation of the Constitution a bill of rights would be surely added to it. Thus, as a matter of fact, the so-called“Bill of Rights”was stipulated in the Constitution as the First Ten Amendments in 1791.Considered in the historical context, the Bill of Rights was established not only to keep individual rights, human rights and civil rights from the encroachment of the central government but also to protect states' rights vis-a-vis the power of the central government. For, as it was clearly shown in the Tenth Amendment, the Bill of Rights included many provisions to make sure the federal character of the constitution of America's body politic. For instance, while the First Amendment stipulated the separation of church and state, it did not prohibit several States from maintaining the established church. Moreover, the Second Amendment guaranteed a State right to keep militia and a personal right to keep and bear arms. Because the republic basically meant to be but a small republic to most of Americans living in the end of the 18th century, as Montesqueu as an authority, upon whom they often fell back, had earlier described, it was natural for the Bill of Rights to have come to possess as well a role to protect the right of each State from the central government. But, it is a well-known fact today that the Bill of Rights has come to obtain a protective role to keep human rights within each State under the Court interpretation of the“due process”clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.