Book Review: Democratic Federalism: The Economics, Politics, and Law of Federal Governance (original) (raw)

Book Review Democratic Federalism ....The Rest Vol. 12 No. 1 BR

The Rest: Journal of Politics and Development, 2022

In presenting an interdisciplinary approach to Democratic Federalism, Robert Inman and Daniel Rubinfeld examine different models of federalism and compare their relative effectiveness as regards economic efficiency, fostering citizen participation, and protecting individual liberties. There is a detailed analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of federalism for citizens, as well as the development of federal governance in the United States and its evolution in the European Union and South Africa's transition from apartheid to a multiracial democracy. Democratic Federalism offers new insight into recent history and, critically, into the future of democracy.

GJ #2018, 2, Federalism: a way to govern globalization, by Lucio Levi

Globalization is a social and economic integration process, which has a significant political meaning, i.e. the erosion of state sovereignty. The nature of globalization is not a mere quantitative increase of social relations and exchanges at world level, but it is a qualitative change rooted in the scientific revolution of material production, and it creates, alongside national societies and markets, a global market and a global civil society. It is a process that is changing the form and size of economic and social life and imposes on all sectors of social life a much wider dimension than that of sovereign states, even the biggest ones. The changes that have occurred in the sovereign state and the international system of states are by now recognized as the central political fact of our times. The construction of a general theory of politics that unifies political science and international relations is a long term task that may be performed by an entire generation of scholars. Multitudes of scholars are working to reconstruct a theory of politics that adheres more to the evolution of contemporary history. Federalism is one of these theories: it is an unfinished project, not a static political vision nor a timeless political theory. It is an unaccomplished project, which is constantly evolving in response to the new problems which history is raising relentlessly. Flexibility – which is the specific character of federal institutions – is particularly adapted to answering the need of combining unity with diversity that is required by the globalization era. Therefore, federalism is a political tool suitable for governing the social transformations under way in the contemporary world. It appears to be a very efficient institutional device for political integration, for ensuring the functioning of pluralistic societies, for protecting minorities, for solving ethnic, religious and national conflicts, and for answering the need for peace and international solidarity.

Federalism and Perspectives of Democracy

2007

Abstract: From political point of view, federal government is a kind of political organization in which political power is divided among smaller political units and each one of them has its own regulations and organs which acts in accordance with its people and group benefits and ...

Federalism\u27s Values and the Value of Federalism

2007

What is it about federal governance that makes it so attractive to economists, political philosophers and legal scholars and is there any evidence that would suggest all this attention is warranted? Proponents see federalism as a means to more efficient public and private economies, as the foundation for increased political participation and democratic stability and as an important check on governmental abuses of personal rights and liberties. This study provides a working definition of federal governance and classifies a sample of 73 countries as either a constitutionally based federal democracy, an administratively based federal democracy, a unitary democracy, a federal dictatorship or a unitary dictatorship. Governance is then related to 11 measures of economic, democratic, and rights performance. Three conclusions follow. First, decentralized policy-making does have a unique contribution to make to a society\u27s ability to enforce property rights, to protect political and civil...

Perspectives on Federalism: Why a new journal?

2009

In launching a new journal we feel the need to explain the reasons why the Centre for Studies on Federalism takes this initiative, characterised by a range of specific features. Several interesting scientific journals in English devoted to federalism are already issued all over the world. They are generally focused on one geographic area in particular, on certain levels of government or on specific academic disciplines. Therefore we believe there is room for a new interdisciplinary journal to consider federalism - federal institutional arrangements as well as potentially federalising processes - at all levels of government. The very name Perspectives on Federalism stresses that the journal will consider federalism from different disciplinary, geographic and theoretical perspectives.