Special Mid-Term Exam Week TA Office Hours

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Special Mid-Term Exam Week TA Office Hours

• Dan Sadler, Monday 1100-100
• Brendan Derry, Monday 100-300
• Kevin Gill, Tuesday 1230-230
• Julie Sergi, Tuesday 900-950, 1130-1220
• Lucia Salazar, Wednesday 100-300

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Federal and Unitary Systems

• Territorial Representation in Democratic Systems
• February 9th, 2006

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Organizing Territory
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Options for Organizing Territory
Small Unitary Govts
Large Unitary Govt
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Organizing Territory

• what is good about small, unitary governments
• close to the people
• can represent specific needs of specific area and
  groups (linguistic/ethnic) that live within those
  areas
• what is good about large, unitary government?
• may be more effective
• common security
• integrated economy
• may protect against domination of minorities by
  majorities

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Options for Organizing Territory
Small Unitary Govts
Large Unitary Govt
Confederation
Federalism
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Options for Organizing Territory
Small Unitary Govts
Large Unitary Govt
Confederation
Federalism
Unitary Government may have different levels of
government however, subordinate governments
exist at the behest of the central government
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Options for Organizing Territory
Small Unitary Govts
Large Unitary Govt
Confederation
Federalism
Unitary Government may have different levels of
government however, subordinate governments
exist at the behest of the central
government Confederation sovereign governments
band together and delegate certain powers to a
central government constituent governments
retain the right to rescind this grant of power
central government exists at the behest of
constituent units
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Options for Organizing Territory
Small Unitary Govts
Large Unitary Govt
Confederation
Federalism
Unitary Government may have different levels of
government however, subordinate governments
exist at the behest of the central
government Confederation sovereign governments
band together and delegate certain powers to a
central government constituent governments
retain the right to rescind this grant of power
central government exists at the behest of
constituent units Federal Government has two
orders of government which are legally
independent from one another and sovereign within
their respective spheres of jurisdiction neither
exists at the behest of the other and neither can
take power away from the other
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Federalism

• 24 federations of 180 sovereign states
• 40 of world population

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Options for Organizing Territory
Unitary Govt
Confederation
Federalism
European Union (EU)
Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil,
Canada, Germany, India, Mexico, Russia, South
Africa, Spain, Switzerland, US, Venezuela
France United Kingdom Italy
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Federalism What is It?

• main elements
• two orders of government
• NOT levels of government
• division of powers
• constitutional grant of powers and jurisdiction
  to each order of government
• judicial review
• court adjudicates between the two orders of
  government

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Federalism Why?

• always about representing territorially-based
  interests that would not be adequately
  represented in a unitary system while enjoying
  benefits of larger system

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Federalism Variants

• centralized and decentralized federalism

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Level of Centralization
Small Unitary Govts
Large Unitary Govt
(Confederation)
Federalism
Decentralized Federation
Centralized Federation
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Level of Centralization
Centralized Federation
Decentralized Federation
Canada Switzerland
Australia Germany United States
Malaysia
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Level of Centralization
Small Unitary Govts
Large Unitary Govt
(Confederation)
Federalism
Decentralized Federation
Centralized Federation
US 2002
US 1789
Canada 2002
Canada 1867
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Federalism and Political Power

• federalism is not neutral
• emphasizes the representation of
  territorially-based interests (often ethnic,
  religious, linguistic) while de-emphasizing those
  that are not (e.g. class, gender)
• overlapping cleavages are organized into politics
  and cross-cutting cleavages are organized out
• overlapping cleavages (Canada)
• regional economic disparities
• linguistic cleavages

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Federalism and Democracy
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MODELS OF DEMOCRACY
Individual Rights/Limited Govt
Liberal Democracy
High Mass Participation
Low Mass Participation
Elite Democracy
Majoritarian Democracy
General Welfare
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Federalism and Democracy

• liberal democrats
• prefer federalism in and of itself...
• protects against the domination of minorities by
  majorities (by creating a larger political
  community in which every group is a minority in
  some respect)
• fragments government power making it more
  difficult for govt to act and limiting
  government
• elite democrats
• prefer federalism to the degree it is effective
  e.g. does it deliver in terms of furthering the
  general welfare
• e.g. more effective than small unitary govts in
  providing common defence, strong economy, etc.
• contributes to social stability by encouraging
  negotiation of divisive issues behind closed
  doors among political elites
• may be concerned if federalism is inefficient or
  limits the ability of the state to pursue the
  general welfare
• majoritarian democrats
• would like federalism only to the degree that it
  allows decision-making to be closer to the
  people than a large unitary govt would be
  (probably would prefer smaller, unitary
  government)
• concerns about federalism
• fragmenting of governmental power (limiting the
  ability of the state to pursue the general
  welfare)
• would be concerned about the democratic deficit
• e.g. executive federalism (Canada) important
  decisions made between federal-provincial leaders
  behind closed doors

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Institutions and Political Power

• institutions are never neutral
• confer advantage on certain groups/interests
• organize certain issues into politics and others
  out of politics
• institutions are stable but are capable of change
  (very slowly)
• institutions are contested they are the object
  of political competition
• non-dominant groups can challenge institutional
  arrangements in order to shift the balance of
  power those insitutions represent and reinforce
• institutions and vested interests will resist
  change (people with power do not give it up
  willingly!)
• existing institutions provide the terrain on
  which these challenges must take place (e.g. they
  have home court advantage!)
• institutions and political participation
• this contestation (attempts to shift power
  relationships in society) takes place through
  political participation
• the resulting political competition takes place
  within the context of existing political
  institutions

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Next...

• Tuesday, February 9th, Prof. Sandra Burt What
  is Political Participation?
• Remember...NO tutorials next week! (Please
  conceal your disappointment.)

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