|
Instructors: Prof. Dr. Salvatore Barbaro
Event type:
Lecture
Displayed in timetable as:
Fis. Federal.
Hours per week:
2
Language of instruction:
Englisch
Min. | Max. participants:
- | -
Requirements / organisational issues:
None
Contents:
Federalism refers to a hierarchical structure of governments in which each person is, simultaneously, a citizen of more than one government. The US is an example, as well as Germany. In fact, most countries are organized by a federal system. In a broader sense, supranational institutions like the UN, the World Bank and so on are part of a federalist system.
A federalist structure of governments significantly complicates both the theory and the application of collective-decision rules. The complications lie at the heart of a federalist system that more than one government has jurisdiction over any one person. Given the layered structure, it is all too easy to envision potential inconsistencies and incompatibilities.
Transfers of resources between jurisdictions or even between countries are a significant feature of federalism. We often observe grants-in-aid, mainly if the central government is the foremost collector of total tax revenues. A central government provides grants-in-aid if the legal competence to provide a particular good or service lies in the sub-central states' hands. Otherwise, the central government could encourage or enhance goods or services directly without promoting an efficiency or effectiveness loss.
However, despite the aforementioned remarks, federalism is a big issue in international policy. It is often regarded as a system to enhance peaceful co-existence within conflict-tortured regions. Furthermore, federalism is seen as a mechanism of political competition helping to identify bad-performing policies.
The lecture will deal with several aspects of federalism, foreign aid and in-country grants. We will shed light on political competition and will deal with actual federal institutions like the European Union.
|
