chapter 14
...................................................................................................................................................COMPARATIVE
FEDERALISM
...................................................................................................................................................brian galligan
There is a resurgence of interest in federalism at the beginning of the twenty-Wrst
century, most notably in the institutional reconWguration of Europe (Filippov,
Ordeshook, and Shevtsova 2004 ) which is at the ‘‘epicenter’’ of a worldwide
‘‘federalizing tendency’’ (Russell 2005 , 13 ). According to Imbeau ( 2004 , 13 ), ‘‘we
can view federal systems as historical experiments at sharing policy responsibilities
and look at them as working models of a new global order.’’ Federalism is a deWning
feature of many national systems of government and is spreading to others. During
the last half-century, federalism has proved its resilience andXexibility in the older
established federations of the United States, Switzerland, Canada, and Australia.
Federal constitutions were successfully reestablished in Germany and Austria,
countries with long federal traditions, after the Second World War. While there
were some notable failures of postwar federations that were artiWcially cobbled
together by military victors or retreating colonial powers (Franck 1968 ), federalism
has taken root in a number of Asian countries, most notably India, but also
Malaysia, as well as Latin America with Argentina, Brazil, Venezuela, and Mexico
becoming, to some extent, federal. Within Europe, some traditionally centralist
countries have become more federal, most notably Spain with autonomous regional
communities, and Great Britain with devolution to Scotland, Wales, and Northern
Ireland. In addition, Belgium has become eVectively a federal country as a way of
accommodating its distinct French- and Dutch-speaking peoples. If federalism has