The Federal Nation: Perspectives on American Federalism (Studies of the Americas)

Federalism is often described as the greatest of the American contributions to the art of government, but it has been an evolving and protean entity since its original establishment in the Constitution.  Based on the contributions of international scholars, this volume explores three facets of modern federalism: the vertical tensions over the distribution of authority between national and sub-national governments; the tensions between the national government’s role as the instrument of policy uniformity throughout the nation and the inclination of the states to take different approaches to similar issues in light of their own political cultures; and the changing context of federalism in the more conservative political context of recent times.  In addition, a number of the essays explore the Canadian model of federalism, which helps to place the U.S. model in comparative context.