Rethinking federalism : citizens, markets, and governments in a changing world

Federalism is simultaneously a set of institutions - the division of public authority between two or more constitutionally defined orders of government - and a set of ideas, which underpin shared and divided sovereignty, multiple loyalties and identities, and governance through multi-level institutions. Increasingly the latter are not only central and state governments, but also local and supra-national. Federalism, as defined in this book, is deeply relevant to a wide range of issues facing contemporary societies. Global economic and social developments are forcing a rethinking of the role of the central state; and power and authority are diffusing, both downwards to local and state institutions and upwards to supra-national bodies. Economic restructuring is altering economic relationships within countries as well as countries' relationships with each other. At a societal level, the recent growth of ethnic and regional nationalism - most dramatically in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, but also in many countries in Western Europe and in North America - is forcing the rethinking of the relationship between state and nations and of the meaning and content of "citizenship". "Rethinking federalism" explores all the issues of citizens, markets, and governance through the lens of federal ideas and experiences. It brings together an international group of authors who examine federalism and federalist debates in several different historical and geographic context: Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, where old regimes have come apart and ethnic divisions within and between countries produce a crazy-quilt of ethnic tensions; Western Europe, where simultaneously a quasi-federal Europe is being built while decentralization is occurring within many of its member states; and North America, where Canadian federalism wrestles with linguistic and regional diversity, the United States sometimes looks to federalism to overcome sclerosis at the centre, and North American Free Trade raises the question of whether economic integration also has a political dimension. Federalism is at once a set of institutions -- the division of public authority between two or more constitutionally defined orders of government -- and a set of ideas which underpin such institutions. As an idea, federalism points us to issues such as shared and divided sovereignty, multiple loyalties and identities, and governance through multi-level institutions. Seen in this more complex way, federalism is deeply relevant to a wide range of issues facing contemporary societies. Global forces -- economic and social -- are forcing a rethinking of the role of the central state, with power and authority diffusing both downwards to local and state institutions and upwards to supranational bodies. Economic restructuring is altering relationships within countries, as well as the relationships of countries with each other. At a societal level, the recent growth of ethnic and regional nationalisms -- most dramatically in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, but also in many other countries in western Europe and North America -- is forcing a rethinking of the relationship between state and nation, and of the meaning and content of 'citizenship.' Rethinking Federalism explores the power and relevance of federalism in the contemporary world, and provides a wide-ranging assessment of its strengths, weaknesses, and potential in a variety of contexts. Interdisciplinary in its approach, it brings together leading scholars from law, economics, sociology, and political science, many of whom draw on their own extensive involvement in the public policy process. Among the contributors, each writing with the authority of experience, are Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa and Jacques Pelkmans on the European Union, Paul Chartrand on Aboriginal rights, Samuel Beer on Interdisciplinary in approach, this volume explores federalism in the 1990s, bringing together leading scholars from law, economics, sociology, and political science to comment on federalism's strengths, weaknesses, and potential in a variety of contexts.