Federalism As Decision Making

Federalism as decision-making deals with the fundamental question of what answers federalism, as a pragmatic governance tool, can provide to current challenges. Federal theories and the management of specific policies are examined from a comparative and multi-disciplinary perspective.

The Canadian federal system is a product of a complex decision taken by the Fathers of Confederation in the 1860s. That decision, the political elite who took it, and the milieu in which it was taken are the focus of this volume.

The book improves our knowledge on the impact of federalism on policy performance from a comparative point of view. Case studies of six countries - federal and unitary states - establishes the relationship between state structure (federal or unitary) and policy performance.

Federalism and Political Performance compares the political performance of federal and non-federal states and evaluates the impact of different types of federation. The contributors draw together focused case-studies to illustrate their arguments on a wide range of countries, including Russia, India, Spain, Germany, Switzerland, Australia and Canada. A thorough and authoritative volume and a valuable resource for students and scholars of Comparative Politics.

The Case for Decentralized Federalism brings together an array of experts around one key idea: decentralized federalism as the best political arrangement for a diverse nation like Canada, Edited by Ruth Hubbard and Gilles Paquet, this book argues that decentralized federalism can most effectively address Canada's regional differences and cultural diversity by dividing the work of public governing among different levels of government, allowing each to address the needs and aspiration of its citizens. With contributions from Thomas J Courchene, Ian Peach, Gerard Belanger, Hugh D. Segal, Francois Rocher, Marie-Christine Gilbert, Ruth Hubbard and Gilles Paquet, this book presents various arguments for decentralized federalism that show how a variety of issues nagging Canada today---nation-building, subsidiarity, competition, innovation---might be resolved through decentralized federalism. For the case against decentralization, look for The Case for Centralized Federalism edited by Gordon DiGiacomo and Maryantonett Flumian, also published by the University of Ottawa Press.

The Federal Vision is about the complex and changing relationship between levels of governance within the United States and the European Union. Based on a transatlantic dialogue between scholars concerned about modes of governance on both sides, it is a collective attempt at analysing the ramifications of the legitimacy crisis in our multi-layered democracies, and possible remedies. Starting from a focus on the current policy debatea over devolution and subsidiarity, the book engages the reader in to the broader tension of comparartive federalism. Its authors believe that in spite of the fundamental differences between them, both the EU and the US are in the process of re-defining a federal vision for the 21st century. This book represents an important new contribution to the study of Federalism and European integration, which seeks to bridge the divide between the two. It also bridges the traditional divide between technical, legal or regulatory discussions of federal governance and philosophical debates over questions of belonging and multiple identities. It is a multi-disciplinary project, bringing together historians, political scientists and theorists, legal scholars, sociologists and political economists. It includes both innovative analysis and prescriptions on how to reshape the federal contract in the US and the EU. It includes introductions to the history of federalism in the US and the EU, the current debates over devolution and subsidarity, the legal framework of federalism and theories of regulatory federalism, as well as innovative approaches to the application of network analysis, principal-agent models, institutionalist analysis, and political theories of citizenship to the federal context. The introduction and conclusion by the editors draws out cross-cutting themes and lessons from the thinking together of the EU and US experiences, and suggest how a federal vision could be freed from the hierarchical paradigm of the federal state and articulated around concepts of mutal tolerence and empowerment.