...What is Federalism? Jennifer Siminski Professor El-Yacoubi POL 110 5 November 2013 In the beginning federalism was brought up by the framers. They wanted it to be a way of organizing the nation so that two or more ways of government can have a type of authority over the same people. The power is shared between the units of government. Federalism has held much tension over who should control policies, individual states or national government as a whole. To the framers, federalism was important in the design of the constitution. Federalism would foster custom-made laws that would fit the special needs of particular communities; they would do this by ensuring that all the activities of the public life would directly affect the people taking place within the states and their local governments. Also the people of the states would remain involved in the process of making laws at the local and state levels. They thought that if they kept the government close to the people, they would be more comfortable with it. One change that Hickok pointed out is that “Today the national government dominates the American political system.” (Hickok 1991) Another change that federalism has gone through is that the states and the national government’s relationship has actually changed because of the clashing of political interests, rather than changing by the political principles that are contained within the constitution. Another change that federalism has gone through is that...
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...us/product/pad-500-week-2-dq/ Contact us at: SUPPORT@WISEAMERICAN.US PAD 500 WEEK 2 DQ “The Political Context of Public Administration” Please respond to the following. Note: Online students, please respond to two (2) of the following four (4) bulleted items. • From Chapter 1 of the textbook, President Wilson asserted that it is “harder to run a constitution than to frame one.” From the first e-Activity, suggest two (2) examples of difficulties that exist in either the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government today that bolster Wilson’s assertion • Organize the three (3) basic forms of government from the point of view of a public administrator. Suggest two to three (2-3) common goals and interdependencies of the forms of government in question. Provide a rationale to support your response. • From the second e-Activity, select two (2) new policies that the Obama administration is presently implementing. Next, from the third e-Activity, speculate on whether or not the policies that you have selected would have positive or negative impacts on the new federalism. Justify your response. • Analyze the main types of federalism. Debate two to three (2-3) advantages and two to three (2-3) disadvantages of federalism as it relates to intergovernmental relations. Provide a rationale to support your response. PAD 500 WEEK 2 DQ “The Political Context of Public Administration” Please respond to the following. Note: Online students, please respond to two (2) of the following...
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...What is a federal form of government? What image do you have of when you think of federalism? \Do you think of the federal level of government? State government? Local governments? All three? Layer Cake, Marble Cake....21st Century View: Intergovernmental Relations Do democratic governments need to be organized as federal systems? Great Britain has a Unitary form of government How does this differ from the U.S.? Powerful central government with federal or central government mandates (laws) that are implemented (put into place) throughout the whole country= Unitary govt. Examples: National Health Policy throughout the whole country so that you can go from city to city in Great Britain and use your health card at any hospital. (Portability of health insurance in U.S.: can get care anywhere in our country) Current American example of an issue that is being discussed as a national issue: elections Should we have Congress pass federal rules for identification, times polls are open, voting ahead of time, etc.? Do you personally tend to look to the federal government to solve problems in the U.S. ? (synonyms for federal govt.: national govt. and central govt) OR Do you tend to focus on your state government or on your city or county (local) government? We do not have good political theories of when federal minimum national standards are appropriate...
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...Federalism Chapter Summary I. Defining Federalism (66-70) A. What Is Federalism? Federalism is a way of organizing a nation so that two or more levels of government have formal authority over the same area and people. Power is shared between units of government. Most governments in the world, like Great Britain, are unitary governments, in which all power resides in the central government. The American states are unitary governments with respect to their local governments. A confederation is a governmental structure in which the national government is weak and most power is in the hands of its components, or states. The term intergovernmental relations refers to the interactions among national, state, and local governments. B. Why Is Federalism So Important? Federalism decentralizes our politics in many ways. For example, senators are elected to represent their state, not the nation. With more levels of government, more opportunities exist for political participation. Judicial power also is enhanced by federalism. Federalism also decentralizes our policies. The history of federalism demonstrates the tension between the states and the national government over who should control policy. The overlapping powers of the two levels of government mean that most debates over policy become debates over federalism. States are responsible for most public policies dealing with social, family, and moral issues. These become national issues when brought to the national government...
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...Assess the significance of Federalism. The founding fathers had to make a compromise that would satisfy the 13 independent colonies, meanwhile providing a secure central base. This resulted in The United States government adopting federalism. Even though federalism isn’t mentioned in the constitution, the principles of federalism are mentioned in various articles. For example article 1 section 8 displays the power available to congress. It contains the ‘elastic clause’ that potentially gives the federal government so much power over the states. And the amendments provide a list of ‘can’t do’s’ for the states. For example states can’t enter into treaties with foreign powers. As the aspects of federalism is displayed in the codified constitution, signifies the importance for the US to collectively follow this system. However, Federalism is a method of government that also allows the states to maintain their sovereignty, without the fear of intervention of the central government, unless they violate or clash with the constitution. This is evident as each state has its own constitution and its own executive, legislature and judiciary all working within the limits set by the national constitution; executive; legislature and judiciary. An example of a state constitution that has relevant articles to its needs is Idaho. For instance in their constitutions article 16, section 1 the constitution talks of the need for the Idaho legislature to pass laws that protect livestock from disease...
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...Federalism is also known as a division of governmental power. With Federalism all government offices work for the people and not one another. Created by our founding fathers this system was designed to ensure that all people of this country would be assured to the freedoms of which we hold so dear, but also to ensure that no one person could become a tyrant. On the other hand the federal government does have some powers over the States, and Cities, yet these are inherited as history has shown us giving states free range is not always the best idea. The civil war is a great example of where states wanting to succeed from the USG, allowing them to not adhere to any of the constitutional laws enacted by Congress, such as the abolition of slavery, and their desire to create their own currency. By spreading the power between the federal government, and local government the citizens are encouraged to stay active in their government, and the policies they put in to place. Some of the benefits of federalism includes a lot of which many people may take for granted. Our highway system is one that everyone benefits from. Even if they do not drive, any goods they may purchase from a store, was transported on these highways. If this was left up to the states to govern, then we could be driving on one side of the road in one state, and have to switch over to the other side when entering a different state. With our federal government financing our highway system they make sure that practically...
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...An Essay on Fiscal Federalism Wallace E. Oates Journal of Economic Literature, Vol. 37, No. 3. (Sep., 1999), pp. 1120-1149. Stable URL: http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0022-0515%28199909%2937%3A3%3C1120%3AAEOFF%3E2.0.CO%3B2-A Journal of Economic Literature is currently published by American Economic Association. Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/about/terms.html. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at http://www.jstor.org/journals/aea.html. Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is an independent not-for-profit organization dedicated to and preserving a digital archive of scholarly journals. For more information regarding JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org. http://www.jstor.org Tue Apr 24 17:00:09 2007 Journal of Economic Literature Vol. XXXVZZ (September 1999) pp. 1120-1 149 An Essay on Fiscal Federalism 1. Introduction ISCAL DECENTRALIZATION is in vogue. Both in the industrialized and in the...
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...The Role of Federalism In most instances, there are two views of federalism, Dual, and Cooperative Federalism. The history of American federalism is full of attempts to capture its true meaning in an adjective or metaphor. Scholars have generated many ways to describe many presentations of federalism relationships, theories, and arguments. Under the principle of federalism, two or more governments would exercise power and authority over the same people and the same territory. Governments of the United States and the individual states would share certain powers, such as the power to tax (Cropf, R., 2008 p. 105). The history of federalism, and its practices, offers a solution to the problem of diversity in America. Without a federal form of government, citizens fear they would be ruled by majorities from different regions with different interests and values. With the backbone of federalism, we live and apply federal principles and practices with a formal constitution. This expression explains the proper relationship between the national government and the states. Federalism in a diverse nation, ensures a balance for sustaining national cohesion and to protect the regional differences. Any attempts to extinguish regional differences may prompt a revolution. Yes, states are beholding to the national government because of the grant-in-aid, legislation, and judicial interpretations handed down from Washington. In addition, it is because of federalism that states maintain...
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...How has federalism evolved? Federalism is defined as state and federal governments sharing power meaning that the exercise of power is by at least two levels of government within the same country. In the case of the United States of America, power is shared between the national government and the subsidiary government. Federalism has been constantly changing especially through the twentieth century until the present day with power shifting between state and the national government. Such free-flowing shifts of power is often critically debated as some states may resist national policy that does not affect their citizens favourably. For example, people living in mountainous and extremely rural areas often blame the federal government for their economic woes as national economic policy is not flexible enough to cater for the great diversity across the country and so would prefer for more power to lie with the state. The argument against more state power however is the case of ensuring civil rights for all, as in the 1960s the national government introduced civil rights for blacks which was heavily resisted by the Southern states. A positive feature of federalism is that constant shifts allows more pragmatic policy making. If proposers of a policy feel it will not be accepted at state level it will be decided at a national level and similarly the opposers of a policy may prefer using state veto to prevent it being passed. This explains why throughout the twentieth century, federalism...
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...Economics and the Future of Federalism The trends in the current political climate in America tend to be more Americans wanting a less centralized government and to give more power back to the states. In the era of President Bush who ran an administration that seemed to give a lot of power to the states, and over the last 7 years we have had an administration that formed a strong central government this has really seemed to divide our country as to what the people actually want. This can be evidenced through the midterm elections in November 2014 with a sweeping number of states going red, and the Republicans taking control of both houses of Congress (ABC News, 2014). It is still early to know who and how our next President will run their administration, but it will be interesting to watch how the future of federalism in our country unfolds. The purpose of this paper is to determine how special interest groups can affect the future of federalism. Special Interest Groups and Federalism Special interest groups are very important in the political realm as they are formed by individuals coming together with a shared common goal: to lobby their views to change public opinion and pass policies. The passing of these policies is where special interest groups and federalism intersect. Special interest groups can be dangerous to federalism as they can exert much influence over politicians and an issue. An example of this is the National Rifle Association which yields over 4 million...
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...Assignment 1: What Is Federalism? Strayer University U.S. Government – POL110 November 16, 2014 This paper will be a discussion about federalism and how it has evolved to the American political system that is currently in place today. Based on the concept of federalism, this paper will also describe how political behavior has been shaped throughout history. Lastly, it will describe how U.S. policies are influenced by the relationship between the states and the Federal government. Federalism is the division of authority between two or more governments. Many countries (roughly 25) follow this type of split government in order to provide checks and balances (aka “double security”) for the rights of the people. Federalism is very important because it prevents any one form of government from becoming too powerful. American Federalism is the division of authority between the national government and the states. The United States constitution defines the powers that each of these two governments has the right to enforce. The national government has the powers to print currency, declare war, establish military, manage international treaties, regulate national and international commerce, manage postal, and make laws to enforce the constitution. The state government has the power to establish local government, issue licenses, intrastate commerce, conduct elections, ratify amendments to the U.S. Constitution, public health/safety, exercise powers neither delegated to the national...
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...Essay on Federalism Your Name School/College/Course Name INTRODUCTION TO FEDERALISM : The Tenth Amendment to the Constitution (ratified in 1971) states the basic principle of the system of Federalism in America, saying "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people” (Hayes). Federalism is thus a system wherein a written constitution bestows powers to a central government and regional or sub-divisional governments. Both types of governments retain a significant amount of authority, being autonomous in nature and possessing the power to act directly upon the people through their officials and laws. Power sharing is done by granting delegated powers, concurrent powers and reserved powers to the national government, national and state governments, and state governments respectively. For instance, determination of foreign policy, power to make treaties and declare wars, control imports and exports, and printing money is done by the federal government. On the other hand, state and federal governments share responsibilities such as taxation, business regulation, environmental protection, and civil rights. At the Constitutional Convention of 1788, the Federalists and the Anti-Federalists were undecided on which style of government would suit America best. They debated over the actual scope of national authority versus the protections of individual rights. While...
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...Wichita Confronts Contamination Conlan, From Cooperative to Opportunistic Federalism Case 3 February 12, 2014 This week’s case study concerns the discovery of a contamination problem in Wichita’s downtown commercial and residential area. The case discusses what steps were taken to remedy the situation that were the most efficient and cost effective. The content area addressed by this week’s readings and case are focused on intergovernmental relations. Intergovernmental relationship is important to public administration because different levels of government offices need to work together to fulfill objectives that benefit the public. It is more beneficial to everyone involved for administrations to coordinate and collaborate together to resolve problems. Federalism, in part, is the system where federal government and state governments work together to the same end. The case takes place in Wichita, Kansas, in the summer of 1990. Acting for the Environmental Protection Agency, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment reported the downtown business district was sitting on an underground polluted lake, six square miles in size and fifteen feet below the surface. The area was called the Gilbert-Mosley site because the Gilbert-Mosley intersection was near the center. The lake was full of hazardous, commercial and industrial chemicals that caused cancer and other health issues. This discovery was very problematic for the revitalization of the declining downtown...
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...Chapter Three Federalism: Forging a Nation Chapter Outline I. Federalism: National and State Sovereignty A. The Argument for Federalism 1. Protecting Liberty 2. Moderating the Power of Government 3. Strengthening the Union B. The Powers of the Nation 1. Enumerated Powers 2. Implied Powers C. The Powers of the States II. Federalism in Historical Perspective A. An Indestructible Union (1789–1865) 1. The Nationalist View: McCulloch v. Maryland 2. The States’ Rights View: The Dred Scott Decision B. Dual Federalism and Laissez-Faire Capitalism (1865–1937) 1. The Fourteenth Amendment and State Discretion 2. Judicial Protection of Business 3. National Authority Prevails C. Toward National Citizenship III. Federalism Today A. Interdependency and Intergovernmental Relations B. Government Revenues and Intergovernmental Relations 1. Fiscal Federalism 2. Categorical and Block Grants C. Devolution 1. The Republican Revolution 2. Devolution, Judicial Style IV. The Public’s...
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...particular institutions and individuals and define how they are to be used – Protect against the concentration of political power in one institution or individual – Define the limits of political power 3 The Role of a State Constitution: Influence of U.S. Constitution • Texas’s constitution is heavily influenced by the U.S. Constitution – Political power is derived from the people – Both constitutions feature a separation of powers • Legislative, executive, and judicial branches – A system of checks and balances limits the powers of each branch, as a way to protect against tyranny – Certain individual rights must not be violated 4 The Role of a State Constitution: How U.S. Constitution Is Different • The idea of federalism is also embodied in the constitutions of the U.S. and Texas • Important differences distinguish the two – Supremacy clause: the U.S. Constitution and federal laws are the supreme law of the land – Necessary and proper clause: the federal government has all the authority it needs to carry out its powers 5 The First Texas Constitutions • Six different constitutions governed the state prior to the current constitution • Each reflects different national priorities, different issues of the time, and the different values of the writers 6...
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