Federal System Research Articles

The founding of the federal banking system as a commitment to fair access

The founding of the federal banking system as a commitment to fair access

Increasing access to behavioral health care: Examples of task shifting in two U.S. government health care systems.

Addressing U.S. health disparities in behavioral health care requires innovative solutions to expand access beyond the traditional specialty behavioral health (BH) service model. One evidence-based strategy to increase access is task shifting, whereby tasks usually reserved for licensed clinicians are delegated to less specialized but uniquely capable health workers. Health care systems in the United States have been slow to adopt this approach, despite the widespread success of task shifting in other countries. However, two large government health care systems have employed unique task-shifting models for decades, integrating nonclinician health workers into BH settings: the Defense Health Agency (behavioral health technicians) and the Veterans Health Administration (peer specialists). This conceptual article provides overviews of these successful approaches. Challenges and opportunities, and the potential for other U.S. health care systems to adopt task shifting for behavioral health care with paraprofessionals such as community health workers (CHWs), are discussed. CHWs and other paraprofessionals are ideally situated to increase access to behavioral health care, but barriers must be overcome. Recommendations are provided based on lessons from these federal system approaches to task shifting. Expanding task-shifting paradigms as the Defense Health Agency and Veterans Health Administration have done may be vital to reaching more people who could benefit from BH intervention and prevention strategies. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

The Changing Trends of Coalition Politics of Kerala from its Origin to 2016 in India

The Constitution of India provide for a federal system of government though the term ‘federalism’ which is nowhere been used in the constitution. But the article 1 of the constitution describes that India, that is Bharat, shall be a Union of States. K.C. where describes Indian federalism as “Quasi-federal”. Granville Austin called it ‘co-operative federalism.’ And Ivor Jennings describes it as ‘federation with strong centralizing tendency’. This nature of Indian federalism has leads India towards coalition. The coalition politics at the central level has been relatively a recent phenomenon but at the state level it has been in operation right after the first general election (1952). The growth of regional parties and dominant leadership at state level has federalized the polity and the state government has stretched their arms. The first coalition at state level formed in Kerala in 1954. The coalition politics is a time-tested thing in contemporary democracy. The concept of coalition politics occurred when the states used to ally with each other in order to defect of a common enemy. In 1954 the Congress created a coalition government in Kerala. Since this time Kerala has been living with coalition rule after regular intervals. The politics in Kerala is dominated by two coalition fronts: the communist party of India (Marxist)- led left Democratic front (LDF) and the Indian National Congress – led United Democratic Front (UDF) since late 1970s. Kerala was the first Indian state where the communists were chosen to power. Since the early 1980s these two coalitions have alternate in government. They are unable to gain re- election for a second term. These two-alliance coalition have occurred periodically and ruled continued to 2016 election. In May 2016, the LDF win election and now in power. This LDF coalition occurred with CPI (M)-58, CPI-19, TDS-3, NCP-2, KCB-1, CPM(L)-1, CS-1 and Independents-5.

The Distributive Politics of Grants-in-Aid

How does politics affect, and possibly distort, how resources are allocated? I show that where the federal government provides public goods and financial assistance depends not only on who has power within Congress but also on the characteristics of their constituents. In a federal system like the United States, the central government provides resources by allocating grants to subnational governments based on demographic characteristics. Thus, to maximize funding for their states, members of Congress must also distribute funding to states with similar characteristics. Using panel data on education spending and a difference-in-differences design, I demonstrate that grants disproportionately benefit states represented by Senate committee chairs, but this benefit spills over to similar states. However, I find no evidence of committee influence over grants in the House. These findings contribute to our understanding of distributive politics and shed light on the consequences of allocating resources within a federal system.

Interrogating the Paradox--Availability of Funds and Paucity of Infrastructure/Social Amenities in Nigerian Local Government Areas: Conundrum of the Selected State (2011-2018)

Concerns have been expressed very often as to why the intergovernmental relations in the federal system of many developing countries, especially in the Sub-Sahara Africa are predictably chequered. Lack of devolution of power to LGAs in Nigeria is usually at the expense of grassroots development especially with regards to infrastructure/social amenities. Besides, the confusion surrounding progressive decline in provision of rural infrastructure to the local government areas of the state despite humongous monthly fiscal allocations to the LGAs by Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) equally creates existential problems to the rural dwellers. It is on this note that the study seeks to investigate the apparently disturbing paradox in Imo State. Data were sourced from both secondary and primary sources. Secondary data was sourced from government gazette and related literature while primary data was elicited from respondents through structured questionnaire. Multiple regression and graphical/pictorial analytical techniques were used for secondary and primary data respectively. The findings indicated that lack of transformative leadership exhibited in embezzlement of funds and indifference in leadership on the part of the State agents were the significant causes of poor development in the rural areas of Imo State. The study recommended inter alia; the enforcement of attitudinal change and punitive sanctions on the political and administrative classes in the state through legal measures to protect public funds for service delivery.

Evaluating Environmental Justice: How Federal Courts Overlook the Effects of Environmental Policy on Communities of Color

Environmental issues are at the forefront of ensuring the security of our planet. The protection of environmental rights and the establishment of beneficial policies have encountered numerous obstacles within federal courts in recent years. While federal courts have attempted to address these hurdles in past decades, environmental justice is a subject they have failed to confront thoroughly. This paper explores rulings on environmental justice within our federal court system, highlighting how federal courts have neglected individual rights and failed to uphold the constitutional principle of equality. Our research delves into the extent to which federal courts overlook racial disparities when considering the effects of environmental policies on communities of color. Judicial rulings in cases such as Alexander v. Sandoval (2001), West Virginia v. EPA (2022), and Arizona v. Navajo Nation (2023) exclude mention of blatant racial discrimination. These rulings’ lack of consideration for the harm done to these communities has increased environmental racism. This oversight highlights that while the disparities between the effects of environmental policies on people of color and their white counterparts are prevalent, the difficult process of proving discriminatory intent has interfered with the federal court system’s ability to combat environmental racism.

An analysis of Nepal's federal health system in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Sustainable Development Goals

Nepal's public health slogan was 'Health for All' with integrated community health services in 1991. The female community health volunteer network was created. District Public health offices (DPHO) managed these programs in their districts. After 2008 federalism, 2017 brought federal, provincial, and local governments. The federal health system substituted the administrative District Public / Health Offices in districts. The local governments or health institutions now oversee the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The federal and provincial authorities should have employed qualified professionals to oversee public health at local health facilities. Healthcare efficacy and goal attainment are concerns today. This study did a microscopic investigation using health system studies. The researcher conducted field observations and stakeholder interviews and participated in public discussions. Data from Nepal's federal health system's community status was compared using SWOT analysis. The study delved into specific research gaps thoroughly. According to previous research, health infrastructure could be more effective with financial expenditures. A hypothesis was formed after comparing further information to domestic and international situations. The researcher emphasizes the need for good governance and suggests allocating 6% of national GDP to health spending, in line with WHO recommendations. To fulfil the needs of the healthcare sector, deliver quality medical services, and attain SDGs, it is imperative to ensure the presence of adequately trained health professionals at the local government level. The head of the local health institution must conduct administrative work connected to public health. Hence, public health-trained health staff are needed there.

Opportunities and Challenges of Nepal’s Health Systems: A Critical Study in Federal Context

This paper aims to analyze the health system in Nepal by exploring different opportunities and challenges. It takes an integrated approach to define and analyze the health system. The paper employs secondary sources of data and then follows a systematic review approach. The major findings include that the health system in Nepal is making remarkable progress after the federal system was adhered to in 2015, and there are several opportunities with changing political and economic contexts. However, some policy-level issues, problems related to health governance, issues of skilled and professional human resources, poor financing, weak regulatory and monitoring systems, and community empowerment are some of the critical challenges to addressing the health system in Nepal. The conclusions of the paper can contribute to the policymakers, health researchers, and health professionals in Nepal and beyond.

Рудиментарный институт учёных званий в России: смириться или реформировать?

The article examines the institute of academic titles in Russia, which belongs to the category of rudimentary or relict. Such institutions are characterized by their nominal design (for example, regulated requirements for obtaining an academic title, legal confirmation in the form of a certificate and symbolic value) in the absence of economic content in the form of real privileges (benefits, allowances, job opportunities, etc.). It is shown that such a failure in the effectiveness of this institution arises against the background of an inflating bubble in the regarding the number of its owners. The undesirability of the existence of rudimentary institutions from the legal, institutional, behavioral, economic and systemic points of view is revealed. The danger of a rudimentary institution due to the formation of simulacra and simulation strategies in the scientific community is shown. Three scenarios for the adjustment of the institute of academic titles are proposed: the preservation of the federal system based on the introduction of direct bonuses; the preservation of the federal system based on the introduction of indirect bonuses; the liquidation of the federal system and the introduction of local academic titles. The advantages and disadvantages of each scenario are considered.

Federal Issues in Pakistan: Challenges and Prospects (2013-2023)

Pakistan is a federal republic with a complex system of government. The federal government shares power with the provincial governments, but the distribution of power between the two levels of government has been a contentious issue since the country's independence. This paper examines the major federal issues in Pakistan from 2013 to 2023, including the impact of political instability and polarization, economic challenges and opportunities, and the rise of extremism and intolerance of diversity and dissent. This article aims to explore and analyze these issues from a multidisciplinary perspective, using the secondary sources of data. The article argues that Pakistan’s federal system has been under strain due to various internal and external factors, such as corruption, nepotism, civil-military relations, ethnic conflicts, terrorism, regional rivalries, and global pressures. The article suggests some possible solutions and recommendations for improving the federal governance and performance of Pakistan, such as constitutional reforms, fiscal decentralization, institutional strengthening, social inclusion, and dialogue. The article concludes that Pakistan’s federal system has the potential to overcome its challenges and achieve its prospects, if there is a genuine commitment and cooperation among all stakeholders.

Expenditure Practices of Provincial and Local Governments: The Case of Nepal

Nepal promulgated a new constitution in 2015, which adopted a federal system of governance to achieve economic equality, prosperity and social justice. The constitution has allocated expenditure responsibilities to each level of government. In such a scenario, this study employs a descriptive approach to analyze the spending practices of Nepal’s provincial and local governments. Secondary sources of data were used to cover the period from 2018/19 to 2021/22. The study found that the average share of recurrent expenditure at the provincial level of Nepal was 42.5% while such share of capital expenditure was 57.5%. At the local level, the average share of recurrent and capital expenditure was 60.5% and 39.5% respectively. Within the capital expenditure of Nepal’s provincial governments, the average share of expenditure items having relatively more contribution to capital formation was 70.6% while that of local governments, such share was 52.9% only. The study also found that Nepal's provincial and local governments spend less on the major subnational service delivery areas. Nepal’s subnational government spending practices highlight the need to spend more on capital formation. Within the capital formation, more spending on the areas having a direct impact on their future growth and prosperity is necessary. The subnational governments must also spend more on major subnational service delivery areas.

The patterns of political career movements of Nigerian cabinet ministers, 1999–2017

ABSTRACT This article examines the patterns of political career movements in the Nigerian federal system using the sample of federal cabinet ministers from 1999 to 2017. The result shows that most Nigerian ministers are politically inexperienced, with a large proportion of party-affiliated technocrats among them. For politically experienced ministers, the dominant pattern of career movements is a unidirectional one leading from the state to the federal level, while any movement back is rare. We argue that, among other things, this pattern is an outcome of the federal character principle stated in the Nigerian constitution, according to which the cabinet has to include a minister from each of the current 36 states. This requirement leads to disruption of political careers and hinders politicians from moving across territorial levels.

Chapitre 1. Essais cliniques et bioéthique en Inde

Since the 1990s, the pharmaceutical industry has been a major contributor to the economic growth of India. India is the world’s largest vaccines producer, and it attracts foreign direct investors who are relocating production capacities and research activities to develop new drugs in India. India, however, suffers from a lack of trust due to repeated scandals over clinical trials. Some of these scandals have led to economic sanctions, such as the withdrawal of hundreds of generic drugs from consumption in Europe in 2015. These measures followed irregularities detected in clinical trials carried out on volunteers. While India has taken steps to reform the bioethical institutions responsible for the control of clinical trials, we show in this contribution that loopholes persist. Two periods can be distinguished. The first period, between the early 2000s and 2013, gathers a significant growth in the number of clinical trials with a growth in bioethical scandals. It led the Indian government, under pressure from the civil society and the Supreme Court, to take action to curb clinical trials and to reform bioethical institutions. The second period, from 2013 to 2021, is characterised by an increase in the number of clinical trials in a context of strengthening the efficiency of bioethical institutions. We show that the increase in clinical trials is mainly due to the implementation of the TRIPs agreements on generic drugs. This development put another pressure on national vigilance authorities which remain undersized with respect to the magnitude of the Indian clinical trials market. It also highlights again the structural frailties of the Indian Federal System.

The Transaction Costs of the Administrative Presidency: Evidence From a Trump-Era Clean Water Act Enforcement Reduction

Over the last two decades, political polarization has gridlocked federal congressional capacity to meet environmental regulatory demands. As a result, presidential authority has expanded to overcome this legislative impediment leading to a new era of “administrative presidency.” In this new era, presidents have increasingly used their administrative authority to meet politically driven environmental goals. Yet, we still know little about how federal-level executive political actions impact the outcomes and operations of local regulatory environmental systems. This study fills this scholarly void by empirically testing the effect of a federal COVID-19 Clean Water Act (CWA) enforcement reduction on Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) implementation outcomes for local community water systems (CWSs) sourcing from surface waters (SWs). Using a framework grounded in transaction cost federalism, we argue that a politically motivated executive reduction in federal CWA enforcement is associated with poor local SDWA implementation outcomes. We test this assumption with a differences-in-differences econometric approach using data drawn from the federal Safe Drinking Water Information System database. Our findings suggest that the CWA enforcement reduction resulted in an over 50% increase in SDWA health violations by CWSs sourcing from SWs. The implications of this study extend to U.S. water policy and environmental federalism, highlighting the need for better coordination between the CWA and SDWA and the potential risks associated with relying on broadened executive actions to drive U.S. environmental policy. Further research is warranted to understand the consequences of administrative policy changes on U.S. environmental governance.

The Predicament of Ethnic Federal System

The paper inquiries into ethnic federalism in lights of ethnic conflict and federal constitutional viability. It raises the basic question why some ethnic federations are successful in regulating ethnic relations while others are not. The history of federations has ample evidences that ethnic conflict, encompassing ethnic tensions and direct violence conflicts, causes and be caused by the failure of ethnic federalism. How a given ethnic federal system designed to adjust ethnic relations could self-contradictory induce far-reaching communal ethnic conflicts and ethnic based anti-regime activities is an interesting question. Answering that, the paper has given due consideration to the practices of defunct, fragile and mature ethnic federations and to the relevant conceptual and theoretical-back standings. The differences in the viabilities of these federations have shown the complicacy of ethnic federalism in meeting with the convulsive interplay between ethnic conflicts and federal system stability. In that regard, the paper finds seven factors: the democratic representativeness of federal structures, political parties, inclusive and overarching identities crossing ethnic lines, ethnic demographic shares, number of ethnic federal units and their ethnic composition, ethnic federal unit symmetry and geo-political setting. The concussion goes that ethnic federal design is not always an antidote for ethnic based claims and counter-claims. It rather could exacerbate the condition of ethnic politics, if it lacks those political, institutional and social ingredients inferred from the indicated factors.

Driving Urban Digitalisation through a National Mission– a multilevel governance perspective of India’s data smart cities strategy

ABSTRACT This article analyses the Data Smart Cities Strategy, a key policy component under India’s ambitious 100 Smart Cities Mission, to understand how a national government-driven urban digitalisation agenda is being implemented in a federal political system where urban development responsibilities are shared between different tiers. A review of the implementation progress shows wide city-to-city variation in digitalisation and data readiness. Using the lens of multilevel governance as the analytical framework, our study highlights the importance of state-level factors in shaping city-level outcomes. Governance capacities and administrative attention towards urban issues vary significantly from state to state. This, in turn, impacts city performances as the institutional architecture of smart cities is dominated by state-level actors. We flag concerns that the top-down digitalisation agenda may widen the regional divide. While seed capital provided under the central scheme helped cities in poorer states to build expensive digital infrastructure, there are uncertainties regarding how these will be managed once the scheme ends.

Development of the project “Federal system for student nutrition monitoring” in 2021–2023

The Federal Computer System for Student Nutrition Monitoring of the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation aggregates and analyzes information on the actual nutrition in all schools in the country. A unifi ed format for posting menus on school website, their regular automatic reading and analyzing for compliance with consumption standards makes it possible to identify the compliance of actual menus with the planned standard ones. Information is transmitted to regional education departments and the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation. The website мониторингпитание.рф is used to inform school heads and parents. The database is also used for annual nutrition assessments through questionnaires among schoolchildren and their parents. In 2023, nutrition was rated by 1.5 million participants.

A Legal Approach on India’s National Emergency Provision

In India, a state of emergency pertains to a period of governance that the President of India can proclaim during a specific crisis. The President has the authority to revoke several articles of the Indian Constitution that protect citizens’ fundamental rights on the advice of the Cabinet. Articles 352 through 360 of Part XVIII of the Indian Constitution comprises emergency provisions. The provisions allow the Centre to deal with any extraordinary event effectively. The rationale behind its incorporation is to safeguard the nation’s sovereignty, unity, integrity, security, democratic, political structure, and constitution. The Central Government will be in absolute power during the emergency, and the States will be under federal control. One of the main features of the Indian Constitution is how the ordinary federal constitution is adapted to emergencies. To the Constitution’s credit, it visualized a situation in which the rigid application of federal principles could destroy the fundamental premises on which it was built. The Indian Constitution is a way of adapting the normal Federal Constitution to emergencies. To the Constitution’s credit, it visualized a situation in which the concrete application of federal rules could destroy the fundamental assumptions upon which it is set. When India declares a state of emergency, the country’s federal system is transformed into a unified one, with all powers with the Central Government.

Recidivism in Alternatives to Incarceration Programs across Thirteen Federal Districts

The current study evaluates the effectiveness of Alternatives to Incarceration (ATI) programs in the federal criminal justice system across thirteen federal districts, particularly their impact on post-program recidivism. It explores the development and expansion of ATI programs, which offer defendants charged in federal court the opportunity to participate in a formal judge-led multi-disciplinary team program that emphasizes community-based rehabilitative approaches that target root causes of criminal behavior. These programs emphasize treatment over punishment while holding defendants accountable using proscribed protocols of sanctions and incentives. Depending on the rules of the individual program, defendants who successfully complete the program receive a reduced or non-incarcerate sentence, or have their charges dismissed. The study utilizes data from the participating districts to compare the outcomes of ATI participants with those of matched counterparts who did not participate in the programs. In addition to examining outcomes of defendants while on pretrial supervision, the study examines re-arrests for new criminal behavior one, two, and three years after defendants’ exit from the program. The results highlight the potential effectiveness of ATI programs in reducing both pretrial detention and post-sentence incarceration without expense to community safety. We emphasize the need for further research to validate and generalize the findings and suggest that ATI programs, given sufficient resources and policy support, could play a significant role in transforming the criminal justice system by prioritizing rehabilitation over incarceration.

Nepal's experience in implementing the federal government system: Assessment of law-making by the local governments of Kaski district, Nepal

The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nepal 2015 institutionalizes the sovereign right of the people and the right to autonomy, shared rule and self-rule via the three levels of government: federal, provincial, and local. Accordingly, to deliver service to the local residents and to assure the residents of the practice of self-rule, the constitution has given state powers to the local levels with 22 exclusive mandates and 15 concurrent competencies and mandates. However, being the new practice in the Nepalese context, for implementing the delegated authority, related laws are to be formulated by the concerned local level. In this study, I assessed if the five local levels of Kaski district: Pokhara Metropolitan, Annapurna Rural Municipality, Machhapuchhre Rural Municipality, Madi Rural Municipality, and Rupa Rural Municipality in the first five years of their establishment formulated the requisite laws concerning the 22 local-level powers. I conducted a questionnaire survey and in-person interviews with the elected members of the local levels. The result revealed that during the first five years of operation (2017–2022), Pokhara Metropolitan formulated 98 laws, Annapurna Rural Municipality made 34 laws, Machhapuchhre Rural Municipality made 54 laws, Madi Rural Municipality made 88 laws, and Rupa Rural Municipality made 56 laws. The laws formed by the five local levels were of mainly two categories. The laws of the first category were related to the legal set-up of the local governments for the smooth functioning of administrative affairs which were almost identical across the five local levels. The laws of the second category were specific to the local level and thus apparently distinctive from each other, however, those laws were aimed towards providing service to the local residents, meeting the distinctive development aspirations of the local people and fulfilling the needs of local self-governance. Despite the deficiency of expertise in law-making and the limitation of resources, the local levels have laid a foundation for the functioning of local-level government. Although the local units of the Kaski district have put their best effort into formulating laws, they are yet insufficient to ensure the delivery of all the 22 constitution-delegated rights of the local residents. Therefore, the newly elected government should keep priority in formulating the remaining laws not only for the smooth functioning of the local government but also to assure the residents of the aspiration of self-governance and the constitution-granted rights.