FEDERALISM

FEDERALISM 

Introduction

1. federalism based on features of US constitution
2. latin word 'foedus', which denotes contract
3. federalism= govt by contract
4. US= coming together federation
5. motivation for federalism
1. security: can't defend on own
2. economic: big market, seamless flow of goods
6. Dicey: federalism is 'political contrivance' among those who desire unity without uniformity
7. features of federalism
1. set of rules: constitution
2. independent judiciary
3. division of power
8. many models other than US
9. Granvile Austin: each model is sui generis. eg- US has dual federalism, Canada initiated cooperative federalism 
10. different forms
1. unitary: sub-national govt can exist depending upon devolved or delegated powers. eg-UK
2. Federation: sub-national govt draw power from constitution. decentralisation
3. Confederation: power of centre given by units
11. Confederation vs Federation
1. US Supreme court: federation is indestructible union
1. units loose external sovereignty completely
1. no right to secede
2. no right to conduct separate foreign policy
2. confederation is destructible
1. loose federation
2. can conduct independent foreign policy. eg- India-Tajikistan even before disintegration of USSR
12. art 253: division of powers won't apply in case of international treaty or agreements.
13. comparison between indian and US model
1. Prof. KC Wheare: india is quasi-federal.
1. federal in form, unitary in spirit
2. constitution has subsidiary federal features, prominent unitary features
2. limitation of approach of KC Wheare
1. approach is legal-institutional, ignores dynamic aspect of federalism
3. Prof MP Singh: federalism needs to be understood in socio-cultural context.
1. federalism is dynamic concept. eg- Indian, US
2. Roosevelt declared it as 'New Federalism' after introducing welfare state which denotes centralising trends
3. strengthening of states since 1989 due to coalition politics, new economic policy
4. Balveer Arora: India moving from quasi-federal to quasi-confederal
5. suhas Plalshikar: BJP system is emerging
1. domination in centre and states
6. KC Wheare is ethnocentric who took US federalism as model
7. Granville Austin: whichever country faces secessionist trend will have strong centre
1. indian model is cooperative federalism
8. Prof. MP Singh: concept of cooperative federalism emerged in 1930s when US introduced welfare state.