Theory Of Federalism Research Articles

Preemption in the Intergovernmental Trenches: Explaining Gubernatorial Preemption Style during COVID-19

Abstract During the COVID-19 pandemic, governors preempted local governments at unprecedented levels. A rich literature examines state preemption of local governments, but gubernatorial preemption – and the strategies governors use to do so – remain understudied. This paper examines what institutional and political factors influenced governors’ preemption style during the pandemic by analyzing a dataset of over 1,200 COVID-19 executive orders, classified by their style of preemption: ceiling, floor, or vacuum. Governors in states with high local autonomy rely on ceiling and floor preemptions. Republican governors are likelier to issue ceiling preemptions that bind local governments’ hands. Governors in states with ideologically dissimilar local governments tend to issue vacuum preemptions. When non-preempting previsions are dropped from the analysis, local autonomy does not significantly affect issuing one type of preemption over another. On the other hand, Republican governors are more likely to issue both ceiling and floor preemptions over vacuum preemptions. Governors in states with high ideological asymmetry are less likely to issue ceiling and floor preemptions over vacuum preemptions. These findings provide insight into gubernatorial behavior, interactions between state and local governments, and how theories of federalism can teach us more about how governments respond to crises.

The Dynamic Response of Municipal Budgets to Revenue Shocks

We study the fiscal and tax response to intergovernmental grants, exploiting quasi-experimental variation within Germany's fiscal equalization scheme triggered by census revisions of population counts. Municipal budgets do not adjust instantly. Instead, spending and investments adapt within five years to revenue gains, while the adjustment to losses is more rapid. Yet the long-run response is symmetric. The tax response is particularly slow, stretching over more than a decade. Well-known empirical anomalies such as the so-called flypaper effect may thus reflect a short-run phenomenon, while long-run fiscal behavior appears more consistent with standard theories of fiscal federalism. (JEL E62, H71, H72, H77, R51)

Was Grand Duchy of Lithuania a Federation?

According to received wisdom in the historiography of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (GDL), going back to M. Dovnar-Zapolski, M. Liubavski, O. Halecki, the territorial form of government in the GDL was federal in the late XV-early XVI century. The paper critically reviews the arguments advanced in favor of this thesis and argues that the concept of empire describes the territorial organization of GDL in a more accurate way. The criticism of the federalist theory is grounded in the conceptual analysis of the state forms provided by the distinguished Lithuanian historian and law theorist Mykolas Rėimeris (1880-1945). In his analysis, M. Rėimeris draws the distinction between a unitary state and three types of state compounds: federation, confederation, and empire. While federation and empire share the principle of subordination as the mode of organization, in the empire this is the subordination to a privileged metropole territory and cultural-ethnic group, while in federation all territories are subordinated to the federal center on parity grounds, all participating in federal government. Supplementing M. Rėimeris' ideas with those from the contemporary comparative sociological research on empires and imperialism (S. Eisenstadt, M. Doyle, A. Motyl, Ch. Tilly), the author argues that GDL was an empire because relations between Lithuania in the strict sense (including also some Russian lands annexed by the early XV century) and Polotsk, Vitebsk, Smolensk, Volynia, Kiev, Samogitia, etc. were those of subordination of the periphery to the imperial metropole. The proponents of the federalist thesis mistake as federalism what in reality was a system of indirect rule characteristic for premodern empires. The historiographical tradition was blind to imperial features of GDL because it implicitly or explicitly compared GDL with the Moscow state, considering it as a paradigmatic case of empires. However, the Moscow empire represents only one specific type of empire - Westphalian empire, distinguished by the early application of direct rule. While most medieval polities were transformed into sovereign territorial states and Westphalian empires in the early modern time, GDL was unique in following the path of federalization. However, GDL was transformed into a federation only on the eve of the Lublin Union in 1569, while in the XIV-first half of the XVI century it was a traditional empire, including metropolitan military agrarian domains and indirectly ruled peripheral areas shading into areas of mere hegemony.

Labor market reform as an external enabler of high-growth entrepreneurship: A multi-level institutional contingency perspective

We investigate the impact of friction-reducing labor market reforms on regional high-growth entrepreneurship (HGE) through the effects of reduced legal enforceability of noncompete agreements (NCAs). We draw on new institutional economic theory and the external enablement framework, with insights from the theory of market-preserving federalism, to explore how these reforms enable (disable) HGE within the context of other, concurrent institutional changes at different governance levels. We assemble a novel multi-level longitudinal dataset and employ staggered difference-in-differences estimation to assess causal effects. Our findings suggest that while reducing the enforceability of NCAs can foster regional HGE, the effectiveness of such reforms is heavily influenced by concurrent federal and local institutional changes. In sectors facing significant federal regulatory expansion, the benefits brought by the reduction of NCA enforceability are negated. However, local pro-market institutional changes can counteract the disabling effects of federal regulatory expansion. This highlights the need to consider how the evolving institutional environment influences potential enablers of HGE, cautioning against claims that these labor market reforms (or other exogenous environmental changes) universally yield positive entrepreneurship outcomes.

Modeling method of local financial dependence: Evidence from Mongolia

Many countries have been striving to equalize the balance between the central government and sub-government financial disparities without considering political interference. This paper aims to summarize the theory of local financial federalism and propose an unprecedented model for identifying the factors that affect local financial dependence. The proposed model is based on a theoretical framework incorporating five assumptions and is applied through panel regression analysis. Utilizing panel data from 2013 to 2022 in 21 provinces of Mongolia, a total of nine variables have been identified and econometrically tested within the proposed model. The findings from the panel regression analysis reveal that local budget investment, local personal income tax, local property tax, and other local taxes positively impact the reduction of local financial dependence. However, it is observed that an increase in local budget expenditures and GDP leads to an escalation in local financial dependence.

Historical Prerequisites for the Formation of Legal Sovereignty of Russian Regions

The paper examines the theory of federalism in the political, administrative and territorial structure of the country. The collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s caused the inclusion of the principle of national unity in the Constitution of the Russian Federation. The authors trace the dynamics of the division of powers between central and local authorities in Russia. The authors point out the importance of harmonizing the interests of the federal center and the regions, and the equal participation of all constituent entities of the Federation in state building as a guarantee of the unity of Russia. Building a competent balance in the distribution of powers between the federal center and the constituent entities of the Federation makes it possible to mitigate the contradictions that arise, which indicates the desire to ensure a balance of interests between the central government and the regions. The national authorities are working to increase the financial autonomy of the regions, giving them the right to exercise control over their funds. This approach, taking into account the differences in mentality, culture, and needs of the regions, allows for a flexible approach to the management of different constituent entities of the Federation. Increased attention to regional specifics is a vector of the policy of the modern Russian supreme power. The desire for a reasonable balance between the central government and the regions reflects the historical evolution of the Russian state structure towards genuine federalism.

Competitive federalism, individual autonomy, and citizen sovereignty

AbstractThe paper examines the theory of competitive federalism, focusing specifically on Hayek's and Buchanan's significant contributions to this theory. Looking at the rivalry between sub‐units in federal systems and drawing an analogy between market competition and intergovernmental competition, the theory of competitive federalism stresses the critical role viable exit options play as operating force in both arenas. The principal claim argued for in this paper is that by exclusively focusing on exit in its territorial dimension, the theory of competitive federalism obfuscates the fact that “exit” can mean two critically different things in federal systems. It can mean exiting from the territory over which a government exercises its assigned authority, and it can mean exiting from a polity in the sense of giving up one's membership status in the respective community. The paper discusses the nature, the significance, and the implications of the difference between these two kinds of exit.

The federal project in Pakistan: beyond fixing the design

ABSTRACT Federalism remains a contested matter in Pakistan. This article analyses the issues of representation, territoriality, ethnicity and asymmetry of the federating units in the federal theory and practice in Pakistan. It focuses on the pattern of conflict between the federation and the provinces following the implementation of the 2010 18th Amendment. While the mainstream and ethnic parties in general welcomed the amendment, un-elected institutions such as the military establishment, the civilian bureaucracy, and the judiciary implicitly, and sometimes explicitly, expressed reservations. Periodic conflict about the relocation of officers, the fiscal transfer regime, the operational aspects of the joint ownership of mineral resources by the federation and provinces, and distribution of water resources continued to make intergovernmental relations controversial. An unintended consequence of the empowerment of provincial governments was the demand for creation of new provinces from minority communities of the provinces.

The good intentions of federalism

The article is devoted to substantiating the controversial thesis that federalism is not an autonomous type of political structure. Federations are interpreted as a set of specific failures of different origins in the course of following the basic modern scenario of the formation of a unitary nation-state with a consolidated (civil) political identity. The article has for theoretical basis the actor approach, which interprets the political form of the federation as a derivative result of a conflict pact between the central and peripheral elites. In this methodological perspective, the history of the concept of federalism is examined and a comparative historical analysis of the world federal experience is carried out. As a result, a number of interrelated author's conclusions were formulated. First, it is shown that the original Kantian project of a world federation of states has little in common with federalism, which refers to the description of the internal structure of individual societies. Secondly, the conclusion is substantiated by the fact that in the modern theory of federalism a harmful mainstream tradition has developed, which scales as a normative successful experience the centralizing federalism in the United States. Thirdly, the cultural and historical features of the formation of two families of federations are highlighted and analyzed, one of which is associated with the acquisition of independence by offshoots of the West, and the other was formed by the later processes of the collapse of the colonial empires of the West and the liberation of colonies in Africa and Eurasia. Fourthly, it is argued that the federal political structure at the theoretical level was intended to reconcile, at the basis of the political project of Modernity, the liberal utopia of a universal and culturally homogeneous civil nation and the actual cultural diversity of any modern states, which is a permanent source of erosion of its political sovereignty and differentiation of collective identities. Fifthly, it is proved that all derived political, legal, economic and other signs of federalism are due to one initial problem - the legitimation and subsequent institutionalization of the conflict between the central elite and regional elites, challenging the indivisibility of political sovereignty and demanding political autonomy. Sixth, federalism as a changeable pact of elites in specific historical societies does not provide convincing grounds for its qualification as an autonomous political form compared to a unitary nation-state. The final conclusion is that the political format of federalism in most states is a long-term way of formalizing the political divorce of cultural communities that could not create a common political nation.

Федеративная модель Церкви в западном богословии

The author attempts to reconstruct in the most general detail the history of the application of federative terminology to the description of the structure of the Christian Church. The concept of federation appeared in the 18th century in the works of Protestant church historians who believed that the formation of the initial church structure was modeled on the federative political structures that emerged in Greco-Roman antiquity. Further mastering of the relevant political terminology by church authors was facilitated by the formation of the theory of political federalism in the 19th century and its popularization in the political and public life of many states. The author shows how since the end of the 19th century the concept of federation has been applied to the church constitution at its modern stage. This practice was especially characteristic of the representatives of the Anglican Church, in whose official rhetoric the image of federation took an important and prominent place. It was in the midst of the Anglican Church that the formula of the Church as a federation was born. Thanks to Protestant influence, federative terminology enters the language of ecumenical theology, being used there in particular to denote an intermediate form of ecclesiastical union. However, federative formulas in ecclesiology were accompanied by constant criticism, mainly for allegedly bringing with them alien and profane associations. An irreconcilable position was taken by Catholic authors, who for a whole century have been developing a theological refutation of ecclesiastical federalism. Under the influence of their criticism, as well as significant historical and ideological changes, the image of federation gradually disappeared from the language of Christian theology, surviving ultimately in the form of a general and unanimous denial that the Church is not a federation. The author is trying to show that despite some artificiality in the use of federative terminology, there were certain theological insights behind its use concerning the status of particular Churches and the nature of their mutual unity. These intuitions were largely ignored by the general development of ecclesiology in the twentieth century with its main interest in the global and universal dimension of the Church.

An anarchist take on royalty: Pierre-Joseph Proudhon’s evolving assessment of post-revolutionary monarchy, 1839–64. Part II

ABSTRACT This second half of a two-part essay examines how Proudhon’s ideas about monarchy changed during his 1858–62 Belgian exile and further evolved upon his return to France around the time of the 1863 legislative elections. If Proudhon justified monarchy’s role in state formation in the French pre-revolutionary past, he did not want the political liberalization of the Second Empire to lead to a return to a regime ressembling the July Monarchy. He attempted in the final years of his life to develop a theory of constitutional evolution which could explain France’s internal political evolution since 1789 and Europe’s geopolitical evolution since the Vienna Settlement. This theory was designed to indicate why the teleological logic at work in both national and international developments since the French Revolution spelled the death knell for Napoleon III’s regime and pre-empted any regression to those political constitutions which came before the February 1848 Revolution in France. While developing these reflections, Proudhon continued to imagine alternative forms of political and social representation anticipating and influencing the way in which later theories of federalism and corporatism were discussed during the French Third Republic in a context of general dissatisfaction with parliamentary democracy.

The main directions of the study of federalism in the Russian legal science of the 1920s

The subject of the study is the theory of federalism in the Russian legal science of the 1920s. The purpose of the article is to reconstruct the theories of federalism of the 1920s based on the study of a wide array of publications of this period. The research methodology includes the following methods. The chronological method allowed us to distribute legal facts and their interpretations in chronological order. The comparative legal method was used to compare legal phenomena and institutions of different periods. The method of hermeneutics was used in the interpretation of texts.The following scientific results were obtained.The 1920s were a special period in Russian legal science. The ideological demands of the Soviet government formulated an urgent scientific agenda. At the same time, the political regime of this period allowed for relative freedom of scientific activity. The discreteness and continuity in the study of the problems of federalism are noted. In Soviet conditions, the federal theme was of particular relevance because of its practical significance. The development of the theory of federalism was carried out simultaneously with the approval of the Soviet federal state, the legal consolidation of relations between its subjects. The organizational center for the study of the theory and practice of federalism was located in the system of academic scientific institutions.The problems of federalism in the legal perspective were studied within the framework of state law. In addition, they were part of the subject of a new complex industry, which became known as "Soviet construction".Publications of the 1920s reflected the interdisciplinarity of research interpretations. In the comparative legal aspect, the theory of federalism and types of federations were studied. In the political aspect, the features of the Soviet federation, its differences from the federations of the bourgeois type were studied. The practice of Soviet construction was analyzed and generalized from a practical perspective. The key research issue of the 1920s was to determine the legal nature of the Soviet Federation. Definitions of the legal nature of the RSFSR and the USSR were given. An important conclusion was made about the continuity and continuity of the forms of the Soviet federation. Many questions remained debatable. Clarity was not achieved on the following issues: on the composition of the subjects of the RSFSR; on the combination of national and state sovereignty. For the first time, the question of the place and role of the historical Russian center within the USSR was raised. During the period of the 1920s, priorities in the study of the problems of federalism changed. At the beginning of the period, the main attention was paid to the study of the federation as an effective way to solve the national issue. The federal structure was considered a transitional form of the Soviet state. A state built on the principles of proletarian internationalism was declared promising. At the end of the 1920s, the concept of a large unified state was most actively developed. It was proved that within the framework of the USSR, national demands are satisfied and the interests of all nations are respected.

Confusion, Chaos, and Conflict in U.S. Law and Health Care after Dobbs

The U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision caused a proliferation of contradictory state laws and judicial decisions that are producing confusion for health care providers, which in turn limits access to care for all patients of reproductive age. This paper documents the rapidly changing legal landscape to investigate and contextualize the significance of these inter‑state conflicts and illustrate how inequities deepen when health care is left in the hands of state governments without national law to provide guardrails. Drawing on interdisciplinary scholarship, including legal, medical, and public health research, this essay considers how traditional federalism theory, which encourages sub‑government variation, does not provide clear solutions to state law barriers to inter-state cooperation within a federal union, which has been essential to regulating health care in the U.S.

Conceptual Approaches to the Concepts of Tax and Budget Federalism

In the work carried out, the theoretical aspects of budget and tax federalism were explored, taking into account the diversity of proposed conceptual approaches to their content and the lack of a unified approach to defining these concepts. The vagueness and diversity of interpretations of budgetary and tax federalism reduces their scientific validity and certainty, which hinders their effective implementation in the process of developing management decisions. Features of the organization of the system of state and municipal government in the Russian Federation in matters of delimitation of budgetary and tax powers between levels of government lead to the emergence of many problems, the key of which is the high level of differentiation of the subjects of the Russian Federation in terms of budgetary security. The purpose of the study was to develop a conceptual approach to understanding the concepts of “fiscal federalism” and “tax federalism” based on existing scientific definitions, as well as taking into account the peculiarities of their implementation in the Russian Federation. To carry out the work, methods of fundamental developments in the field of financial theory, scientific generalizations and comparative analysis were used. The results of the study were theoretical generalizations and analysis of the practical implementation of fiscal regulation mechanisms, as well as the author’s definition of the concept of “tax federalism”, and the key elements of its focus were highlighted. The final part of the article formulates the main conclusions based on the results of the analysis of the theory of budgetary and tax federalism, characterizes the features of their implementation in the Russian Federation, reveals the economic essence of tax federalism, its functional basis for the purpose of improving the mechanism of interbudgetary relations.

Comparison Between Indonesian and German Regional Autonomy in Relation to the Government System

The purpose of this study is to explain the comparison between the regional autonomy of Indonesia and Germany concerning the system of government adopted by the two countries. Regional autonomy in a country, both in Indonesia and in Germany, has the same goal, namely to give authority to regional governments in managing internal affairs in their respective regional domains. However, the differences in the government systems adopted by the two countries have resulted in differences in the structure and implementation of the regional autonomy system in the two countries. The theories used in discussing this research are the theory of federalism, the theory of decentralization, and the theory of constitutionalism. The research method used in this research is normative legal research, namely research that examines document studies using various secondary data such as court decisions, laws, and regulations, legal theory, and can be in the form of opinions of scholars. In addition, this study also uses the comparative legal research method, namely a research methodology conducted by comparing the legal systems of two or more different countries or jurisdictions. The comparison of the regional autonomy of Indonesia and Germany is related to the difference in the system of government adopted by the two countries where Indonesia has a government system called the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia (NKRI) while Germany has a federal government system called the Federal Republic of Germany (RFJ). This resulted in a different regional autonomy between Indonesia and Germany. In Indonesia, there are restrictions on local governments to regulate their internal affairs whereby the supreme power rests with the central government while the states in Germany have greater authority in managing their internal affairs

Intergovernmental relations and national education policy implementation in Lagos State, Nigeria

ABSTRACT Intergovernmental relations (IGR), the interaction among multiple levels of government, is an essential factor in implementing public policy in federations. Effective collaboration among numerous agencies of government is necessary for achieving policy goals. This study investigated the IGR framework as an essential factor in implementing the National Policy on Primary Education (NPPE) in Lagos State, Nigeria. The study was guided by administrative federalism theory and primary data were collected using in-depth interviews. This was complemented with secondary data from the scholarly literature and official publications. Data obtained were content analyzed. Findings from the study indicate that intergovernmental relations in Lagos State were characterized by a low level of trust between the implementing agencies, which undermined the achievement of the primary education policy goals. Increased dialogue among officials of the levels of government to achieve the buy-in of all implementing agencies would raise the level of trust needed for effective collaboration.

A comparative analysis of the federal system in USA and Nigeria and its impact on national unity and development

This paper compares the federal system in two countries: Nigeria, a developing country and the United States of America (USA), a developed country. The subject examined is true federalism as it affects national unity and development. In order to achieve our aim, the following areas were explored in the literature review: the concept of federalism, the evolution of federalism, division of powers in federal states, revenue allocation and resource control in federal states. Relevant variables such as, democracy, independent judiciary and a powerful legislature were also examined as prerequisites for the existence of true federalism in a political system. Four research objectives and questions guided the study. The theoretical frame work for the study was hinged on K.C. Wheare’s Theory of Federalism. The work is purely qualitative, (doctrinal method of research) as only secondary data were used for the entire study. The research findings revealed that, the American federal system of government is more ideal and that Nigeria can borrow a lift from the USA if it desires to experience true federalism, which guarantees national unity and development.

الاعتبارات الاقتصادية والدستورية في تخصيص مسؤوليات الإنفاق في الدول الفدرالية

This study discusses the assignment of spending responsibilities in federal countries, taking into account both economic and constitutional considerations. According to the theory of fiscal federalism, the economic functions of governments contain resource allocation, stabilization, and redistribution. However, it is also important to consider constitutional considerations, as federal systems are based on constitutions and the distribution of power between government levels is influenced by political and historical variables. While economic considerations are vital for achieving efficiency and equity, constitutional considerations are crucial for determining functions and responsibilities and safeguarding the distribution of power consistent with federalism principles. Therefore, this study begins by questioning the best allocation of spending responsibilities in light of economic and constitutional considerations, and what methods can be used to solve conflicts that arise in government financial relationships. We assume that economic considerations alone are not enough to design the financial system, especially in federal countries. While they theoretically explain what needs to be done to achieve economic equity and efficiency, constitutional considerations explain the types of constitutions in terms of details of power distribution in general, including financial matters and functional responsibilities for both central and regional governments. We concluded that there is no one-size-fits-all approach for all federal countries to distribute powers, as federal states operate in different political and historical settings, and the nature of intergovernmental fiscal relations are constantly changing.

Federalism as an institutional doctrine

Federalism as an institutional doctrine

الاعتبارات الاقتصادية والدستورية في تخصيص مسؤوليات الإنفاق في الدول الفدرالية

This study discusses the assignment of spending responsibilities in federal countries, taking into account both economic and constitutional considerations. According to the theory of fiscal federalism, the economic functions of governments contain resource allocation, stabilization, and redistribution. However, it is also important to consider constitutional considerations, as federal systems are based on constitutions and the distribution of power between government levels is influenced by political and historical variables. While economic considerations are vital for achieving efficiency and equity, constitutional considerations are crucial for determining functions and responsibilities and safeguarding the distribution of power consistent with federalism principles. Therefore, this study begins by questioning the best allocation of spending responsibilities in light of economic and constitutional considerations, and what methods can be used to solve conflicts that arise in government financial relationships. We assume that economic considerations alone are not enough to design the financial system, especially in federal countries. While they theoretically explain what needs to be done to achieve economic equity and efficiency, constitutional considerations explain the types of constitutions in terms of details of power distribution in general, including financial matters and functional responsibilities for both central and regional governments. We concluded that there is no one-size-fits-all approach for all federal countries to distribute powers, as federal states operate in different political and historical settings, and the nature of intergovernmental fiscal relations are constantly changing.