Federal Systems Research Articles

Minority nations v. constitutional architectures: A critical appraisal of unitary and federal models of the modern state

AbstractAre the constitutional orders framed on a federal architecture more welcoming vis‐à‐vis the presence of minority nations within their midst than are the ones inspired by a unitarian logic? From an ideal‐typical perspective, to what degree unitary and federal models of the modern state are indeed meeting or conflicting with minority nations' most typical claim to be formally recognised and to possess the institutional anchorage to self‐govern and self‐determinate? Mobilising an analytical framework derived from the Societal Culture Index, this article combines constitutional studies with the tools of political theory. It argues that both unitary and federal models of the sovereign state have the potential to promote a normative rationale, that is, after all, fairly hospitable towards minority nations' typical claims. Nevertheless, it stresses that the normative rationale of federal systems in general, and asymmetrical federalism in particular, leads to constitutional architectures that shall be most hospitable towards minority nations.

Symphony or Cacophony? Orchestrating Federal Mechanics toward Covid-19 Response in the United States and Germany.

Governance is a critical upstream tool in public health emergency preparedness, for it provides structure to emergency response. Pandemics, singular public health emergencies, pose challenges to inherently fragmented federal governance systems. Understanding and utilizing the facilitators of response embedded within the system is critical. In its examination of how contemporary federal systems addressed fragmentation in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic, this article uses two mitigation measures, community masking and vaccination administration to compare elements of federal system mechanics in the United States and Germany's respective pursuits of public health goals. With particular focus on federal-state power-sharing, it analyzes the division and application of federal-state authority, therein examining mechanisms of executive expediency, as well as the cooperation of multilevel actors. Comparing the jurisdictions identifies inter-federal coordination, availability of exigency mechanisms, and federal guidance as facilitators of public health goal achievement.

Opioid agonist treatment (OAT) experiences and release plans among federally incarcerated individuals with opioid use disorder (OUD) in Ontario, Canada: a mixed-methods study

BackgroundIncarcerated populations experience an elevated prevalence of opioid use disorder (OUD). Federal correctional institutions in Canada have increasingly treated OUD among correctional populations via opioid agonist treatment (OAT) – an evidence based pharmacotherapy that works to reduce drug use and related health harms. However, there is limited evidence regarding incarcerated individuals’ experiences with institutional-based OAT, as well potential OAT-related community release prospects. This information is important for optimal treatment retention and improved health. To address this knowledge gap, we conducted a longitudinal follow-up study examining OAT-related experiences among federally incarcerated individuals before and after community release. This article focuses on the baseline (pre-release) data.MethodsThis mixed-methods study examined OAT-related experiences and release prospects among n = 46 individuals scheduled for community release, recruited from seven federal prisons located in Ontario, Canada. Participants underwent a comprehensive interviewer-administered on-site assessment, including quantitative and qualitative items. Assessment data was furthermore linked to administrative correctional data. Data were analyzed using thematic qualitative and descriptive quantitative approaches.ResultsParticipants had complex histories with opioid use including related negative health outcomes. Experiences with institutional OAT were divergent and provision was not standardized; those with OAT engagement pre-admission did not experience many challenges, whereas those initiating OAT during incarceration experienced barriers such as treatment waitlists and adverse process experiences. Most participants expressed a preference for buprenorphine-naloxone over methadone, but described difficulties accessing it. Participants were keen to transition into community-based treatment, yet envisaged prospective barriers and facilitators concerning successful reintegration and treatment continuity.ConclusionsMajor barriers towards the current administration of OAT in federal correctional systems in Canada exist, including extensive waitlists, non-standardized practices, and challenges accessing preferred OAT formulations; this contributes to sub-optimal treatment. Eliminating waitlists, standardizing OAT provision, providing additional OAT options, and more comprehensive release planning may be essential for treatment retention and positive outcomes.

The 2021 report on oral health in America: Directions for the future of dental public health and the oral health care system.

In the two decades between Oral Health in America: A Report of the Surgeon General and Oral Health in America: Advances and Challenges much good happened but intractable challenges persist. Inequity in oral health status, utilization, and access to care continue to negatively affect the health and economic wellbeing of Americans and their families, local, state, and federal health care systems, and American society overall. To move the nation forward, we argue that: more emphasis is needed in prevention; access to care must be improved to mitigate inequity; newer understandings of oral disease must be leveraged in the service of health and health care; the value that oral health brings to economic wellbeing must be elucidated; better policy choices must be made in all of the above; and more effective oral health care leaders in driving policy change must be trained.

Mental Health Surveillance Among Children - United States, 2013-2019.

SummaryMental health encompasses a range of mental, emotional, social, and behavioral functioning and occurs along a continuum from good to poor. Previous research has documented that mental health among children and adolescents is associated with immediate and long-term physical health and chronic disease, health risk behaviors, social relationships, education, and employment. Public health surveillance of children’s mental health can be used to monitor trends in prevalence across populations, increase knowledge about demographic and geographic differences, and support decision-making about prevention and intervention. Numerous federal data systems collect data on various indicators of children’s mental health, particularly mental disorders. The 2013–2019 data from these data systems show that mental disorders begin in early childhood and affect children with a range of sociodemographic characteristics. During this period, the most prevalent disorders diagnosed among U.S. children and adolescents aged 3–17 years were attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and anxiety, each affecting approximately one in 11 (9.4%–9.8%) children. Among children and adolescents aged 12–17 years, one fifth (20.9%) had ever experienced a major depressive episode. Among high school students in 2019, 36.7% reported persistently feeling sad or hopeless in the past year, and 18.8% had seriously considered attempting suicide. Approximately seven in 100,000 persons aged 10–19 years died by suicide in 2018 and 2019. Among children and adolescents aged 3–17 years, 9.6%–10.1% had received mental health services, and 7.8% of all children and adolescents aged 3–17 years had taken medication for mental health problems during the past year, based on parent report. Approximately one in four children and adolescents aged 12–17 years reported having received mental health services during the past year. In federal data systems, data on positive indicators of mental health (e.g., resilience) are limited. Although no comprehensive surveillance system for children’s mental health exists and no single indicator can be used to define the mental health of children or to identify the overall number of children with mental disorders, these data confirm that mental disorders among children continue to be a substantial public health concern. These findings can be used by public health professionals, health care providers, state health officials, policymakers, and educators to understand the prevalence of specific mental disorders and other indicators of mental health and the challenges related to mental health surveillance.

Understanding the dynamics of notification and implementation of Article 5.3 across India’s states and union territories

IntroductionIn federal systems, state and local governments may offer opportunities for innovation in implementing the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). This paper explores the implementation of WHO FCTC...

Latinx Parents, Latinx Students, and In-School Suspension: A Quantitative Study of School Discipline

ABSTRACT Over the last several decades, “zero-tolerance” policies have been implemented by federal, state, and local educational systems, which have altered the culture of learning. A consequence of this “tough on education” culture is what some scholars have called the “school-to-prison-pipeline” which disproportionately impacts students of color. By using a national representative sample of Latinx students from the National Center for Education Statistics’ (NCES) High School Longitudinal Study (HSLS), and intersectionality as a theoretical framework, this paper examines the relative impact of parent-level variables, student-level variables, and key demographics on in-school suspension. That relationship is further interrogated separately for Latinx students below and above the Federal poverty line. Findings indicate that Latinx males living in poverty and Latinx students who are above the poverty line, who attend public schools, are more likely to receive in-school suspension. This suggests that structural inequities of discriminatory practices might play a larger role in secondary schools’ disciplinary procedures.

Blockchain as a driving force for federalism: A theory of cross-organizational task-technology fit

Digital technologies play an important role for the delivery of many public services. However, selecting and adopting the ‘right’ digital technologies is often challenging, especially for federally structured governments. Universal factors for successful adoption are hard to establish, and the particularities of federalism, such as the separation of competencies, complicate technology selection. Nevertheless, blockchain technology seems to flourish in these environments. Through a single-case study on the blockchain project of Germany’s Federal Office for Migration and Refugees, we unpack one essential factor for this success: the fit between (cross-)organizational task structure and technological properties. This fit earns the Federal Office’s project considerable credit and traction with stakeholders and partner authorities – not least because it supports the argument that the digitalization of federal systems is possible without ‘digital centralization’ and redistribution of competencies. Our task-technology fit analysis contributes to a better understanding of the adoption of blockchain in the public sector. It also provides the foundation for an extended task-technology fit theory for federally structured, cross-organizational contexts.

Анализ состояния многоквартирных домов

These technical conditions of multi-apartment buildings are a huge digital array for making important management decisions both within the boundaries of individual territories of the municipality, and for planning budget expenditures within the municipality, the subject of the federation and the country as a whole. Aspects of the formation of data on apartment buildings in various information systems are considered. The basics of ensuring the reliability of the presented data are considered. It is noted in the work that for many years, during the transition from a planned economy to a market economy, the requirements of technical regulations and normative documents for the maintenance and operation of apartment buildings are not fully complied with by the operating organizations. The deadlines for replacing systems and equipment that have worked out the deadline are not met. It is noted that federal legislators and the Government of the Russian Federation have not determined a general procedure for monitoring the technical condition of apartment buildings and have not formed a general approach to assessing their technical condition, the obligation of owners of premises of apartment buildings to finance these works, their frequency has not been determined. It was revealed that the data obtained during the monitoring of the technical condition of apartment buildings combined in federal and regional information systems would be an objective marker in the formation of state and municipal programs in the field of reducing the housing stock unsuitable for living. financing of monitoring.

Realization of a single cycle scientific activity planning based on a federal information systems computerized complex for supporting decision- making in the field of science and technology

The article is devoted to the development of a computerized complex of federal information systems for supporting decision-making in the field of science and technology in terms of implementing the mechanisms for scientific activity planning and evaluating the achieved results.

Defending the Homeland: A Critical Assessment of Government’s Response to the Boko Haram Insurgency in Nigeria

Like all federal systems, Nigeria has had its own fair share of insurgencies which ranged from conflict amongst ethnic nationalities to even religious terrorism. Of course, states have no option than to ensure and assure its citizens safety and security any way and anyhow they can guarantee it. Reprisal attacks on terrorists is a mere bandage method, basically because the wound has already been inflicted, but also since ensuring security is also target hardening, and has little effect on the success or failure of a terrorist attack. Security can only minimise casualties, not prevent attacks, especially those delivered by the terrorist suicide bombers. This paper uses secondary data as a source of information and presents the results of their content analysis to explain Nigeria efforts to protect the citizens. It argues that terrorism is a violent form of insurgency that must be retorted accordingly and any policy response that does not take this into consideration is not only naïve, but also utopian. The paper, then, recommends solutions adapted to particular circumstances. While it supports negotiation with Niger-Delta militants, it objects negotiation with Boko Haram, because these groups are pursuing totally different agendas.

REVISING THE UNITARY VS. FEDERAL CLASSIFICATION

Over the last four decades, the distinction between unitary and federation systems has become increasingly blurred, as regionalization and decentralization have emerged as significant global trends. Regionalization and decentralization are responsible for redistribution of power across borders and for strengthening broader society's subnational capacity and function. Both have indirectly facilitated the expansion of "federalization processes" within unitary states. As a result, distinguishing between unitary and federated territorial management and power-sharing arrangements is difficult. This "intermediate system" was an apparently novel form of territorial division of power that was never classified as an incomplete federation or an evolutionary type of unitary system. This indicates that the unitary vs. federation dichotomy is becoming incongruous and that the existing classification is no longer relevant. As a result, this article revises the unitary-federal classification based on developments in n=70 selected countries from 1970 to 2018, as measured by the Regional Authority Index, an annual data series. To classify countries into clusters, the data index was analyzed using hybrid clustering analysis with k-means clustering as the primary analysis. Initially, inferential analysis performed suggested the establishment of four clusters (k=4). However, the clustering together of unitary and federated countries resulted in re-clustering, leading to the formation of five new clusters.

Making Union Membership the Default Option in Canada: Would It Be Supported and Effective?

Income inequality has risen in Canada with the decline in union density and, thus, in union influence. Both trends have occasioned various proposals to reform federal and provincial labour relations systems, especially those aspects concerning certification. However, most proposals have been based on minor modifications to the Wagner Model of exclusive, majoritarian representation. To realize the full potential of these reform proposals, including, importantly, the likes of ‘broad-based bargaining,’ we contend that union membership should be the default option for new workers. Such a change would enable these proposals to increase absolute and relative levels of union membership, thereby providing the organizing resources (financial, human) required for much higher levels of union influence. In this study, we show that those living in Canada generally support union membership by default and would not opt out afterwards. We believe this popular support justifies making union membership automatic for new workers. Abstract Union density has declined in Canada and, with it, wage inequality has risen, occasioning various proposals to reform the certification systems operating provincially and federally. However, such proposals are ordinarily based on only minor changes to the Wagner Model. We contend that to realize the full potential of these proposals, union membership by default is required to increase union membership levels. In this study, we show that those living in Canada generally support union membership as the default option and would not opt out afterwards. We believe this popular support justifies more comprehensive study of the proposal to make union membership automatic for new workers.

A Secure Multi-party Data Federation System

In the era of big data, data is of great value as an essential factor in production. It is of great significance to implement its analysis, mining, and utilization of large-scale data via data sharing. However, due to the heterogeneous dispersion of data and increasingly rigorous privacy protection regulations, data owners cannot arbitrarily share data, and thus data owners are turned into data silos. Since data federation can achieve collaborative queries while preserving the privacy of data silos, we present in this paper a secure multi-party relational data federation system based on the idea of federated computation that ``data stays, computation moves.'' The system is compatible with a variety of relational databases and can shield users from the heterogeneity of the underlying data from multiple data owners. On the basis of secret sharing, the system implements the secure multi-party operator library supporting the secure multi-party basic operations, and the resulting reconstruction process of operators is optimized with higher execution efficiency. On this basis, the system supports query operations such as Summation (SUM), Averaging (AVG), Minimization/Maximization (MIN/MAX), equi-join, and $\theta $-join and makes full use of multi-party features to reduce data interactions among data owners and security overhead, thus effectively supporting efficient data sharing. Finally, experiments are conducted on the benchmark dataset TPC-H. The experimental results show that the system can support more data owners than the current data federation systems SMCQL and Conclave and has higher execution efficiency in a variety of query operations, exceeding the existing systems by as much as 3.75 times.

Regional disparities and fiscal federalism in Russia

This paper examines how regional disparities have evolved in Russia and how Russia’s system of intergovernmental fiscal relations is managing these disparities. Regional disparities have fallen over the past two decades but remain relatively high. Socioeconomic outcomes remain worse in lagging regions despite faster growth and convergence in income levels. The twin shocks of COVID-19 and lower oil prices appear to have impacted richer regions disproportionately. Compared to other large countries with federal systems of government, Russia stands out with its high reliance on direct taxes as a revenue source for its regions. Russian policymakers have made efforts to reduce regional disparities by designing a federal transfer system that intends to close vertical imbalances, achieve redistribution, and insure regions against both common shocks (“stabilization”) and idiosyncratic ones (“risk-sharing”). Transfers from the federal budget to the regions provide some redistribution by reducing the dispersion in real per capita fiscal spending, but also tend to be associated with lower growth. The Russian fiscal system offers degrees of redistribution and risk sharing of around 26 and 18%, respectively — with in-kind social transfers contributing the most. Finally, federal transfers in the aggregate tend to be procyclical and are also fairly unresponsive to shocks to regions’ own revenues.

Restricting Of the Federal Constitution on The Constitutions of The Provinces. The Constitution of The Republic of Iraq for The Year 2005 As A Model

Following the change of political system in 2003, the Republic of Iraq adopted federalism as a new political system in Iraq. The Federal Constitution has recognized the entity of the Kurdistan Region as a federal region and then guaranteed its right to establish its own constitution. Beside regulating relationship between the ruler (the government) and the ruled (people), the importance of KR-I constitution becomes evident due to the special situation of KR-I in Iraq and also to create a supreme law in the region outlining the structure and powers of authorities, and how to be exercise and fully respected by the authorities of the region and the federal government too. The establishment of a regional constitution in federal systems in general is beset by several legal and practical difficulties because the regional constitution must be consistent with the provisions of the federal constitution and practically the federal and regional authorities are likely to clash or encroach on others’ authorities.  This research analyzes the consistency of the KR-I’s Constitution (draft) especially with the basic principles, enumerated powers of the federal government and, the rights and freedoms of individuals stipulated in the Iraqi Constitution. It acknowledges that any violation of the provisions of the Iraqi Constitution opens the road for the Federal Supreme Court to review and abolish the inconsistent provisions in the KR-I Constitution and the Supreme Constitutional Court in KR-I may not be able to do much to protect the Constitution of the region in such cases

The Constitutional and Legal Organization of the Supreme Constitutional Court in the Iraqi State for the Year 2005

The constitutional system in Iraq after the overthrow of the previous regime in 2003 witnessed major fundamental changes, which marked the end of a historical era, the advent of the beginning of a new phase of political and constitutional history, and the adoption of the federal (federal) system as a form of the new Iraqi state, where Iraq transformed from a simple state to a complex state. With the adoption of the democratic parliamentary system based on the principle of separation of powers and respect for the constitution by emphasizing the principle of the supremacy of the constitution as a system for the work of state authorities and the management of its various constitutional institutions.
 If the constitutional distribution of competencies between the federal authorities is one of the essential characteristics of the federal systems, then one of the important features in the design of any federalism and its effective operation is to ensure the rule of law and the constitution as the source of powers, and in contrast, one of the authorities infringes on the powers of the other, which leads to a constitutional imbalance in the federalism And the matter that leads to its disintegration and its end, and in order to preserve this constitutional system, it is necessary to establish a supreme judicial body to ensure respect for the application of the constitutional principles of this system and not to be violated.
 The federal system is characterized by the presence of a Supreme Constitutional Court that works to monitor the constitutionality of laws and chapters
 In disputes between the central regions, it has the authority to interpret the Iraqi federal constitution, especially the interpretation of the constitutional rules related to the distribution of constitutional powers between the regions and the federal government.
 Which is one of the thorny issues in the countries of the union, and on this basis in Iraq the foregoing was the establishment of the Federal Supreme Court, which was granted by the constitution judicial and political competencies in order to exercise its role in preserving the union and the balance of powers within it while preserving the constitution and safeguarding its principles.

TAXPAYER CHOICES, ITEMIZED DEDUCTIONS, AND THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE FEDERAL & STATE TAX SYSTEMS

Almost 30 million taxpayers who itemized their federal deductions for the 2017 tax year switched to the standard deduction for 2018. The provisions of the Tax Cuts & Jobs Act (“TCJA”) that led to this shift were intended to simplify the individual income tax system. This Article’s empirical study of federal and state tax filing data, however, demonstrates that the TCJA’s simplifying effect varied state-to-state depending on whether a state obligated its taxpayers to make the same choice for state tax purposes (i.e., to itemize deductions or take the standard deduction) as the taxpayer made for federal purposes. In states that obligated taxpayers to make the same choice, taxpayers experienced at least some simplification, and tax administration by the IRS and state tax authorities became materially easier, although the IRS’s simplification benefit was dampened to some degree. In states that allowed taxpayers to make state tax choices that differed from their federal choices, the TCJA’s simplifying effect for many taxpayers was largely illusory, state income tax administration actually became more complex, and some tax enforcement costs were, in effect, shifted from the IRS to state tax authorities. Thus, this Article’s study reveals that state-level rules about tax choices undermined the federal policy goal motivating the TCJA’s itemization-related changes.
 A taxpayer’s choice whether to itemize is just one of many tax elections explicitly provided to taxpayers. Accordingly, this Article’s study of taxpayers’ itemization choices also serves as an example that illustrates a broader point—state-level rules about whether taxpayers must make uniform federal and state tax elections create important, but previously underappreciated, interactions between the federal and state tax systems. Policymakers cannot fully understand the policy implications of many federal tax law changes unless they appreciate these federal/state interactions. This Article helps policymakers do so.

THE MAIN INDICATORS OF INDICATIVE PLANNING IN THE ECONOMIC BLOCK OF THE REGIONAL DIGITAL ECONOMY

The article examines the main approaches to developing the system of indicators for indicative planning in the economic block of digital economy in modern conditions, including the regional level. The relevance of the study is determined by the fact that indicative planning for the digital economy development is an important component of regional and federal government systems. The purpose of the research is to study the existing and to form the author's approach to determining the essence and specific content of the system of indicators for indicative planning the development of the digital economy at various levels of public administration, the specifics of implementation at the regional level. In the theoretical aspect, the results obtained will contribute to further development of theory and methodology in indicative planning and digital economy. In practical terms, they can be used to improve and develop existing planning systems in the Russian Federation. In the course of the research, the main indicators characterizing the level of digital economy development were proposed and their analysis was carried out in respect to the Russian Federation. The use of the proposed indicators' system as an integral part of digital economy indicative planning will make it possible to effectively achieve the planned states of socio-economic systems in the conditions of increasing international competition, digitalization and informatization of the society.

Federal Interventions Targeting Social Isolation and Loneliness: An Exploratory Review

Even prior to the COVID-19 Public Health and Medical Emergency, the experiences of chronic social isolation and loneliness (SIL) were growing among older adults. Countries began increasing national visibility for these issues and implementing programs and services focused on addressing them. In the United States (US), however, little is known about successful national interventions or their effectiveness in tackling SIL among older Americans. We conducted a rapid review of the peer-reviewed and grey literature from 2009-2019, focusing on existing federal programs, health systems, and health care models in the US that address SIL among older adults. Of the 110 articles identified, 36 met the inclusion criteria and were synthesized. Our review found few federal interventions that directly address SIL; several may be addressing SIL as an auxiliary outcome to addressing social determinants of health, such as group exercise, transportation support, or food insecurity. While these interventions may provide a promising opportunity, implementation and evaluation challenges were identified. Thus, federal and state agencies face significant obstacles to understanding the impact of existing interventions and their effectiveness in addressing SIL, hampering progress toward large scale implementation. As SIL receives increasing attention, we add another voice to existing literature that indicates significant heterogeneity among existing programs; we found that few evidence-based, scalable federal initiatives exist in the US that target SIL. Without resources from federal and state agencies, the ability of health entities, community-based organizations, and direct care providers to implement effective interventions is significantly diminished.