American Federalism: 

Deciding Where Policies Shall be Made


I.    Three Types of National Organizations

    A.     Confederal

    B.     Federal

    C.     Unitary

II.    Why Federalism in America

    A.     Historical Features

    B.     Theoretical Advantages

        1.    anti-tyrannical

        2.    power dispersing

        3.    participatory enhancement

    C.     Practical Advantages

        1.    policy diversity

        2.    governmental responsiveness

        3.    governmental efficiency

        4.    policy initiatives

III.        Power Shifts in the Federal Relationship

    A.    Dual Federalism (1788-1913)

    B.    Cooperative Federalism (1913-1964)

    C.    Centralized Federalism (1964-1980) (pro position)

    D.    The New Federalism (1980-1985)

    E.    Representational Federalism (1985-1994)

    F.    Devolution (1994-present)

IV.        Coercive Federalism:   Pre-emption and Mandates

    A.    Intergovernmental Tax Immunities

    B.    Federal Mandates

    C.    Unfunded Mandates

V.    Impact on Policy

    A.     Liberalism and National Bias

    B.     Conservatism and Local Bias

    C.     National Policy and Cost Dispersal.

    D.     Three Policy Types

        1.    Distributive/Allocative

        2.    Regulatory/Developmental

        3.    Redistributional


         Key Websites

Council of State Governments

National Governor's Association

National Conference of State Legislatures

National League of Cities

U.S. Conference of Mayors

National Association of Counties

National Association of Towns, Townships and Small Communities

U.S. Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations