364 pages, 6 1/2 x 9
Hardcover
Release Date:01 Jan 1995
ISBN:9780774805001
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Rethinking Federalism

Citizens, Markets, and Governments in a Changing World

UBC Press

Federalism is at once a set of institutions -- the division ofpublic authority between two or more constitutionally defined orders ofgovernment -- and a set of ideas which underpin such institutions. Asan idea, federalism points us to issues such as shared and dividedsovereignty, multiple loyalties and identities, and governance throughmulti-level institutions.

Seen in this more complex way, federalism is deeply relevant to awide range of issues facing contemporary societies. Global forces --economic and social -- are forcing a rethinking of the role of thecentral state, with power and authority diffusing both downwards tolocal and state institutions and upwards to supranational bodies.Economic restructuring is altering relationships within countries, aswell as the relationships of countries with each other. At a societallevel, the recent growth of ethnic and regional nationalisms -- mostdramatically in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, but also inmany other countries in western Europe and North America -- is forcinga rethinking of the relationship between state and nation, and of themeaning and content of 'citizenship.'

Rethinking Federalism explores the power and relevance offederalism in the contemporary world, and provides a wide-rangingassessment of its strengths, weaknesses, and potential in a variety ofcontexts. Interdisciplinary in its approach, it brings together leadingscholars from law, economics, sociology, and political science, many ofwhom draw on their own extensive involvement in the public policyprocess. Among the contributors, each writing with the authority ofexperience, are Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa and Jacques Pelkmans on theEuropean Union, Paul Chartrand on Aboriginal rights, Samuel Beer onNorth American federalism, Alan Cairns on identity, and VsevolodVasiliev on citizenship after the breakup of the Soviet Union.

The themes refracted through these different disciplines andpolitical perspectives include nationalism, minority protection,representation, and economic integration. The message throughout thisvolume is that federalism is not enough -- rights protection andrepresentation are also of fundamental importance in designingmulti-level governments.

One of the best books about comparative federalism since the modern classics of the 1950’s and 1960’s ... a sophisticated reassessment of the nature of value of federalism. Joseph Garcea, Canadian Book Review Annual, 1996
Karen Knop is an assistant professor in the Faculty ofLaw at the University of Toronto. Sylvia Ostry isChair of the Centre for International Studies, University of Toronto,and Chancellor of the University of Waterloo. RichardSimeon is a professor of Political Science and Law at theUniversity of Toronto and Vice-Chair of the Ontario Law ReformCommission. Katherine Swinton is a professor in theFaculty of Law, cross-appointed to the Department of Political Science,at the University of Toronto.

Part One: Introduction

1. Rethinking Federalism in a Changing World / Richard Simeonand Katherine Swinton

Part Two: Citizenship, Identity and FederalSocieties

2. Constitutional Government and the Two Faces of Ethnicity:Federalism Is Not Enough / Alan C. Cairns

3. Identification in Transnational Political Communities /Raymond Breton

4. The New Pluralism: Regionalism, Ethnicity, and Language inWestern Europe / Guy Kirsch

5. The Federal Experience in Yugoslavia / MihailoMarkovic

6. Questions of Citizenship after the Breakup of the USSR /Vsevolod Ivanovich Vasiliev

7. Citizenship Claims: Routes to Representation in a Federal System/ Jane Jenson

8. The Aboriginal Peoples in Canada and Renewal of the Federation /Paul L.A.H. Chartrand

Part Three: The Economics of Federalism

9. Is Federalism the Future? An Economic Perspective / KennethNorrie

10. Economic Federalism and the European Union / TommasoPadoa-Schioppa

11. Governing European Union: From Pre-Federal to Federal EconomicIntegration / Jacques Pelkmans

12. Central Asia: From Administrative Command Integration toCommonwealth of Independent States / Bakhtior Islamov

13. American Federalism: An Economic Perspective / AliceRivlin

Part Four: The Law and Politics of Federalism

14. New Wine in Old Bottles? Federalism and Nation States in theTwenty-First Century: A Conceptual Overview / Thomas O.Hueglin

15. Federalism and the Nation State: What Can Be Learned from theAmerican Experience? / Samuel H. Beer

16. Canada and the United States: Lessons from the North AmericanExperience / Richard Simeon

17. Federalism, Democracy, and Regulatory Reform: A Sceptical Viewof the Case of Decentralization / Robert Howse

18. Federalism, the Charter, and the Courts: RethinkingConstitutional Dialogue in Canada / Katherine Swinton

19. Central and Eastern European Federations: Communist Theory andPractice / Victor Knapp

20. Disintegration of the Soviet 'Federation' and the'Federalization' of Ukraine / Volodymyr Vassylenko

Part Five: Conclusion

21. Multinationalism and the Federal Idea: A Synopsis / JohnMeisel

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