Comparing Federal Systems

Ronald L Watts

ISBN 10: 1553391888 / ISBN 13: 9781553391883

Published by McGill-Queen's University Press, 2008

About this Item

Countries studied include the United States, Switzerland, Australia, Austria, and Germany as examples of developed industrial societies; India and Malaysia as examples of multilingual and multicultural federations; Belgium and Spain as examples of emerging federal systems that illustrate bicommunal and asymmetrical approaches; and Czechoslovakia and Pakistan as examples of bicommunal federations that have failed. Watts compares the interaction of social diversity and political institutions, distribution of powers and finances, processes contributing to flexibility or rigidity in adjustment, extent of internal symmetry or asymmetry, degree of centralization and decentralization, character of representation in federal institutions, role of constitutions and courts, provisions for constitutional rights and secession, and pathology in federations.

Seller Inventory # CIN1553391888VG

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Comparing Federal Systems
• Publisher: McGill-Queen's University Press
• Publication Date: 2008
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1553391888
• ISBN 13: 9781553391883
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: Very Good

About this title

Synopsis

At present there are twenty-five functioning federations worldwide, which contain over forty percent of the world's population. A distinctive feature of federalism is that it has taken a variety of forms, including new variants and innovations. In Comparing Federal Systems Watts provides a clear analysis of the design and operation of a wide range of federations.

Fully updated, this third edition encompasses reference to a wider range of federations and federal experiments. Included are mature federations such as Switzerland, Canada, Austria, Germany, and India; emergent federations such as Mexico, Malaysia, Pakistan, Spain, Brazil, Belgium, Russia, Argentina, Ethiopia, South Africa, Nigeria, and Venezuela; micro-federations such as Micronesia, Belau, St. Kitts and Nevis, and Comoros; federal-confederal hybrids such as the United Arab Emirates and the European Union; and post-conflict federal experiments such as Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sudan, Iraq, and Congo. Federations that have failed are also discussed.

Watts looks at interactions between social diversity and political institutions, the distribution of powers and finances, processes contributing to flexibility or rigidity in adjustment, the extent of internal symmetry or asymmetry, the character of representation in federal institutions, the role of constitutions and courts, provisions for constitutional rights and succession, the degree of centralization and non-centralization, and the pathology of federations."

About the Author

Ronald L. Watts is principal emeritus and professor emeritus, political studies, and fellow and former director of the Institute of Intergovernmental Relations at Queen's University, and fellow of the international Forum of Federations. From 1991 to 1998