Federalism, Lecture notes of Dynamics

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Federalism

Theories and Metaphors

• Citizens’ fears that majorities with different interests and values would rule them were calmed by the creation of federalism.
• Federalism is the division of power between a central government and regional governments. Two or more governments exercise power and authority over the same people and the same territory.

Dual Federalism’s Components

• The national government rules by enumerated powers only,
• The national government has a limited set of constitutional purposes,
• Each government unit—nation and state—is sovereign within its sphere
• The relationship between nation and states is best characterized by tension rather than cooperation.

Theories and Metaphors

• Also of primary importance in dual federalism are states’ rights —the idea that all rights not specifically conferred on the national government by the Constitution are reserved to the states.

Theories and Metaphors

• Cooperative Federalism (marble-cake federalism) is a different theory of the relationship between state and national governments - Acknowledges the increasing overlap between state and national functions and rejects the idea of separate spheres, or layers, for the states and the national government.

Cooperative Federalism’s Components:

• National and state agencies typically undertake government functions jointly rather than exclusively
• The nation and states routinely share power
• Power not concentrated at any government level or in any agency - Fragmentation of responsibilities gives people and groups access to many venues of influence.

The Elastic Clause

• “Necessary and proper” clause
  • Gives Congress the power to make all laws that are necessary and proper to carry out its responsibilities.
  • Congress often uses this power to increase the scope of the national government.

Federalism’s Dynamics

• The rulings of the federal courts have influenced the relationship between the national government and the states. - The Supreme Court’s determination regarding the Commerce Clause , Article I, Section 8, of the Constitution, gave Congress the power to regulate commerce among the states.

Federalism’s Dynamics

• In the 1990s and afterward, however, a series of Supreme Court rulings involving the commerce clause and rulings concerning gun control legislation, among others, suggested that the states’ rights position was gaining ground.

Types of Grants

• Federal incentives such as the Grant-in- Aid , money provided by one level of government to another to be spent for a given purpose, have influenced the federal government’s control over states.
• So too have categorical grants , grants- in-aid targeted for a specific purpose either by formula or by project

Categorical Grants

• Project Grants —categorical grants awarded on the basis of competitive applications submitted by prospective recipients to perform a specific task or function.

Block grants

• In contrast to categorical grants
  • Grants-in-aid awarded for general purposes , allowing the recipient great discretion in spending the grant money.

Federalism’s Dynamics

• A final important factor that has produced dynamic changes in the American federal system has been the emergence of state governments as more capable policy actors.

Ideology, Policymaking, and American Federalism

• Citizens, interest groups and officials inside government who attempt to persuade others to accept a particular view of the proper balance between freedom, order and equality and who champion particular policy ideas are known as policy entrepreneurs.