Community & Federalism Flashcards
What is the benefit of multilevel governance?
Multiple levels of government can offer different public goods and services at different territorial scales, from global to local, and many intermediate sizes
What are the classic categories of political communities?
City, state, empire and federation
What is community and politically what different types are there?
- A set of people accepting to make enforceable collective decisions on issues of common interest
- Geographic
- Communities of culture
What defines a City and what kinds of public goods are serviced by it?
- Small size in territory and population
- High degrees of internal harmony
- Simple and soft forms of government
- “Local” public goods
- Rubbish collection, water, playgrounds, parks etc.
What is a State and when does it exist?
- The state is the combination of people, territory and sovereignty
- A state exists when a sovereign power rules over a population residing within the boundaries of a fixed territory
What is an Empire?
- Very large size
- Absence of fixed or permanent boundaries
- Compound of diverse groups and territorial units
- Multilevel, often overlapping jurisdictions
What kinds of governmental structure are there?
- Unitary
- Devolution
- Federalism
- Confederal
What is Unitary governmental structure?
- One level
- UK, Ireland, NZ, Sweden
- Generally smaller countries
- Those in which a single sovereign government rules the country
- All powers are concentrated in one level of government
- Sub-levels of government can be created, abolished, expanded and retracted by the central authority
What is Devolution?
- Closely related to unitary structure
- Scotland and Wales
- Devolution systems of government are those in which the central government devolved (or gives) power to regional governments, subject to its overriding control
What is Federalism?
- Two levels
- Generally large countries
- “A combination of shared-rule for some purposes and regional self-rule for others within a single political system so that neither is subordinate to the other” (R.Watts)
- Various different kinds, USA - maximum decentralisation, Canada - maximum centralisation
What are the essential features of Federalism?
- A combination of shared rule (central government) and local self rule (provisional governments)
- Constitutional protected autonomy of each level of government
- A written Constitution and a Supreme Court that acts as an ‘umpire’ of jurisdiction disputes
- Constitutional amending forumla
- Central government has constituent part representation
Describe Shared Rule as it relates to Federalism
- Divided Sovereignty
- Each level of government governs the same citizens, but for different purposes within defined areas of jurisdiction
- Federal Government
- Territory Government
- Degrees of central control
Describe Constitutional Autonomy as it relates to Federalism
- Enumerated powers so that neither level of government is subordinate to the other
- Commonwealth: Sections 51 & 52
- 42 heads of power
- States: Sections 106-108
- Residual powers
- State Constitutions
Describe the High Court as an umpire as it relates to Federalism
- A ‘neutral’ umpire of federal disputes
- Declares laws ultra vires or intra vires
- Decides jurisdiction if Constitution silent
Describe the conditional amendment formula in Australia and the USA
- Australia: Majority of both Houses of Parliament, Majority of the votes cast in a referendum, and a majority of votes cast in the States “double majority”
- US: 2/3 majority in both Houses of Congress, 3/4 of state legislatures
