Federalism Concepts Q&A

1. What type of federalism will we discuss in this presentation?
Answer:
The type of federalism that we will discuss is mostly about the federal system of the United States of America.

Federalism and the Budgetary “Justice”

The term justice here is not used to refer to justice pronounced by courts by applying and upholding the law. It refers to the “justice” that would be brought by a better system.

Federalism and the Economy

The natural resources of every state are different from the others. In a federal system, for example, if a particular state intends to promote tourism, its congress could appropriate bigger budget for that purpose. It could create more tourism police instead. It could incorporate in their school curriculum how to treat tourists and visitors. It could pass laws that are supportive and conducive to tourism.

Federalism and the Government Closer to the People

In the federal system, some of the highest governmental powers would be devolved to the states, which are closer to the people in terms of presence, location, and accessibility.
As an illustration, upon the taking effect of the federal system, our existing local government code would still be applicable in every state but every state would have the power to revise or amend it. We could anticipate that there would be different sets of local government code in every state,

Federalism and the “Laboratory” States

US advocates called it a laboratory state. A new policy would be implemented in a particular state, without involving the entire nation of such experiment. If it failed, that state alone takes the consequences to the exclusion of others. On the other hand, if it succeeds, other states including the national government would follow, duplicate, or replicate it.

Federalism and the Separation of Powers

In our present system, there is already separation of powers of the government. It is divided among the three great branches of the government, namely the executive branch, the judicial branch, and the legislative branch of the government. The executive power is vested in the President, the judicial power is vested in the Supreme Court and in other lower courts created by law, and the legislative power is vested in the Senate and in the House of Representatives.

Federalism and the Poor Provinces

Federalism will not result into the abolition of the national government and the latter may extend assistance to a poor province of a particular state. The issue about the poor provinces could be remedied by forming states in such a manner that not all poor provinces will be group into one state. The grouping should be strategic enough to include richer provinces so that a poor province will not be neglected by a particular state. (Please read again Question & Answer No. 13)