American Federalism: A Concise Introduction

A Concise Introduction

Larry N. Gerston

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2015
• Print ISBN:
  9780765616715
• eBook ISBN:
  9781317477259
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: Economic Theory
• Index: Politics & International Relations

Understanding federalism - the form of political organization that unites separate polities within an overarching political system so that all maintain their political integrity - is central to the study of democratic government in the United States. Yet, many political scientists treat federalism as a set of abstract principles or a maze of budgetary transfers with little connection to real political life. This concise and engaging book boils the discussion down to its essence: federalism is about power, specifically the tug for power among and within the various levels of government. Author Larry N. Gerston examines the historical and philosophical underpinnings of federalism; the various "change events" that have been involved in defining America's unique set of federal principles over time; and the vertical, horizontal, and international dimensions of federalism in the United States today. The result is a book examining the ways in which institutional political power is both diffused and concentrated in the United States.

Part I

Creating a New Nation

1

The Great Political Experiment

Defining Federalism and Organized Power in the “First New Nation”

In the “over the top” drama of twenty-first century communications, hyperbole often tramples reality. “Best ever” replaces “good”; “critical moment” supplants “difficult time”; “unique” substitutes for “different.” So when American federalism is described as “the great political experiment” in representative democracy, it is easy to see why such a claim might be dismissed as just another example of the language excesses that commonly sprinkle our daily conversations. But unlike characterizations that often exaggerate beyond the pale without any basis or fact, American federalism is a great political experiment—a novel design that has resulted in a template for countless other governments throughout the world to emulate over the past two centuries.

Federalism refers to the multifaceted political power relationships between governments within the same geographical setting. Its origin lies in the Latin word foedus, which refers to a lasting voluntary association among equals. The application of modern federalism has evolved to the extent that voluntary associations have been replaced by government units. Thus, today federalism frames the ways that various governments simultaneously influence, depend upon, and push away from each other. The use of power is the most important aspect of government, particularly for democracies, because government is the official coercive authority for so many decisions that affect people, values, and resources. Representative governments award, deprive, and rearrange our lives with our consent, even though we may not always agree with what they do or how things turn out. Federalism, then, is the organizational mechanism through which governments manage power.

The United States is not the only nation to embrace federalism.¹ In fact, in recent years, several nations have relied upon federalism as a “middle ground” for distributing political power. Thus, in 2005, as Shiite, Sunni, and Kurd blocs attempted to create a new arrangement of political power in post-Saddam Hussein Iraq, representatives relied upon federalism to parcel out power on governmental topics ranging from domestic oil revenues to foreign trade.² Meanwhile, a continent away in Africa, Kenyans considered constitutional reform, with the most important issue being the extent to which political power should be shifted from the central government to the outlying provinces.³

Modern international applications notwithstanding, federalism is a singularly American invention described by one political scientist as “the greatest of American contributions to the art of government.”⁴ The concept was born out of political necessity, an unanticipated offspring of the American Revolution. With the leaders of the “first new nation”⁵ accepting national government organization on a scale wider than ever before, they struggled for a way to develop meaningful representation.⁶ Federalism is an outgrowth of that effort.

Opportunities for Participation

In addition to dispersing power and authority, federalism provides a way for ongoing citizen involvement in the political process. In the United States, opportunities for participation have expanded over time through constitutional amendments, particularly through enfranchisement of African Americans (13th, 14th, 15th), women (19th), and young people 18–20 years old (26th). Numerous voting rights laws enacted by Congress, executive orders signed by presidents, and decisions handed down by the United States Supreme Court along with laws passed at the state levels have further guaranteed avenues for participation.

Sometimes, participation takes place through voting; other times, it occurs through a variety of other means including campaign contributions, letters to elected officials, political marches and demonstrations, interest group activity, and citizen meetings with those in positions of power. The interests, capabilities, and resources of political participants may differ, but the opportunities to converge upon the various governing layers of the federal system are many. Further, as different combinations of expressed interests make themselves heard, policy outcomes sometimes change accordingly.⁷ From city hall to the halls of Congress and other national institutions, federalism assures endless opportunities for people to participate in the political process. And they do.

Avenues for Representation

With so many layers of government responsible for managing policy issues, citizens can express themselves through “channels of political participation”⁸ in several political decision-making arenas. Multiply these access points times endless issues and the various governmental doors available—the executive branch, legislative branch, judiciary, and numerous regulatory agencies—and the concept of federalism quickly becomes a fascinating enterprise both to watch and to practice. Further, Theodore Lowi observes, as the roles of government have expanded over the past two centuries, so have the gateways for groups to pursue their needs at whatever level necessary to succeed.⁹

Figure 1.1 The Federalism Grid in the United States

Under American federalism, countless opportunities exist for interested parties to influence the political process. Thus, if someone seeks to address a toxic waste problem, theoretically he or she could petition authorities at the local, state, and even federal levels, depending upon the specific characteristics associated with the issue, the places of power to which he or she has access, and whether he or she wanted more or less regulation of the problem. Moreover, to the extent a grievant is unhappy with the outcome at a lower level of government, he or she might well be able to gain a more favorable result by taking the issue to a higher level, although, to be sure, there are no guarantees. On this note it is fair to say that the federal arrangement is far more complicated today than in the early years of the Republic.

The existence of so many sources of power, while often confusing, allows people to pursue political ideas to the point of exhaustion, yet satisfaction that at least they have been heard. E.E. Schattschneider describes this process as the “socialization of conflict,” where people and their ideas compete for the attention of public policymakers at whatever levels of government necessary to assure success.¹⁰ Other observers of the system are not so positive in their assessments. G. Ross Stephens and Nelson Wikstrom argue that “the multidimensional maze of federal, state, and local political and administrative jurisdictions … makes the federal system so amorphous, it’s amazing it works at all.”¹¹ It is messy, for sure, and replete with overlapping governmental responsibilities and inconsistencies, but the nature of American federalism permits political claims to be heard and vetted in ways not commonly seen in other governmental arrangements.

Endless Nuances

The uniqueness of federalism is a lot more than meets the eye. Imagine a three-dimensional game of tic-tac-toe and you begin to get an idea of the complex dimensions of American federalism. At the very same time that decision makers from two or more governments may be cooperating with each other in one policy area, they may be competing with, or even battling against, one another in a different policy area. Thus, Congress and the state governments may work together to solve problems resulting from issues such as toxic waste or mining regulations. At the same time, state legislatures and the federal courts may differ widely over the constitutional conditions related to Internet taxation or education policy. Such shifting relationships may be difficult to follow at times, but the overall result is a collective “equilibrium” of sorts that leaves various governments competing with one another for the public trust.¹²

Sometimes, significant differences in approach to a problem exist within the same level of government. Within the national executive branch alone, the president and his assistants may have one set of views regarding management of an issue that differs markedly from the approach taken by a majority of the legislative branch. Other fissures persist as well. For example, not all members of Congress draw the line between federal and state responsibilities the same way, with differences often occurring not only along political party lines, but also by geography, the needs of unique political constituencies, and philosophical values among the legislators themselves.¹³ Within the federal judiciary, changing combinations of judges over time may contribute to different majorities in one direction or another about which levels of authority should do what; on other occasions the same issue can attract different opinions from the same court!

As if to complicate matters more, states differ with each other over a host of policy issues ranging from public benefits for illegal immigrants to methods of funding public education. The fact that the collective values of states within the same political union can be so different has often been viewed as a justification for political autonomy, with each state adopting different approaches to the same problem or policy issue.¹⁴ Sometimes, adjoining states can differ on the same question, such as the ways that Washington State and Oregon treat taxation or the responses of Michigan and Ohio to the issue of capital punishment.

Much like magnetic fields that simultaneously draw and repel particles within the same physical environment, federalism generates simultaneously changing tug and pull political relationships among government units. In a nation of 300,000,000 people who are served by nearly 88,000 governmental units, the ramifications of these transactions take on dizzying proportions.

In some respects, federalism is more flexible than other political systems of governance. At one extreme, many nations operate with unitary systems, where virtually all decisions of importance are determined at the national level; Great Britain is often cited as the classic example of unitary government. At the other extreme, some nations are cobbled together through local jurisdictions, with the “national” government having little real power; post-Taliban Afghanistan may well fit into this model. Federalism splits the difference, however, with two or more levels holding and sharing real power. But even federalism can be employed in different combinations. The types of arrangements may vary from nation-centered dominance to state-centered control to distinct divisions between levels with no overlap, but in each case power is distributed among two or more levels of governments.¹⁵

The Four Characteristics of Federalism

Hardly a concept with precise, well-defined boundaries, American federalism takes on different combinations of characteristics depending upon the circumstances, values, and players associated with each issue. Fundamentally, however, federalism is molded by four key characteristics: consensus, cooperation, conflict, and chaos. Typically, these characteristics interact with values, issues, and policymakers in distinct combinations or patterns. Further, sometimes different issues will simultaneously draw out different constellations of government actors, making it all the more difficult to define a political era or explain the outcome of a particular situation. For these and other reasons, the functions of governments tend to be anything but predictable over time, even though the frameworks of governments are well defined.

Consensus

A hallmark of the American political system is the extent to which political actors at all levels of governance share core values. The more that citizens and leaders alike at the national, state, and local levels embody a basic vision about political issues and approaches to resolving those issues, the more that they exhibit consensus. In the United States, societal commitments to equality, individualism, majority rule, and representation represent a few of these core values that transcend both political institutions and individual concerns. To be sure, such tenets are not universal, yet they resonate throughout the political system.

Consensus means that regardless of the outcome, most people attach themselves to dealing with a series of core issues in generally agreed-upon ways. Response of the American government to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, exemplified such a political environment. In the aftermath of this horrific event, political authorities at all levels committed to protecting Americans wherever and however possible; meanwhile American citizens shared the desire to give authorities the necessary opportunities to help us feel safe in a suddenly unsafe world.

Consensus is usually most obvious on broad questions such as public safety or the general welfare—issues that are valued similarly by almost everyone. Determining how to guarantee these values, to what extent, and under what conditions can lead to deep divisions, however. For example, does promotion of the “general welfare” mean that governments ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Haft Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Preface
• Part I. Creating a New Nation
• Part II. Organizing a Federal System of Gevernment
• Part III. The Dimensions of Modern Federalism
• Part IV. Continuity and Change
• Notes
• Index
• About the Author