New Models of Multi-Level Governance

There are international sports leagues that enable the best team or teams in the lower or "minor league" to 'jump up' to the highest league or "major league," and that relegate the worst team or teams from the highest league to the lower league. It has not previously been appreciated that new and potentially more competitive political party systems can be designed along similar lines. I interpret and apply Duverger's famous law of politics to show that it is possible to design new, variable government forms with two political parties at the national or federal level, multiple political parties at the state or regional levels, and the possibility of political parties from the lower or regional levels “jumping up” to the national or federal level. Political parties at the national or federal level also may be relegated to the lower or regional levels. These new multi-level government structures thus create possibilities for new kinds of federal republics. I also shall explore the consequences of varying these new models across different governmental political structures, particularly Presidential systems and parliamentary systems.