Elgar Advanced Introductions are stimulating and thoughtful introductions to major fields in the social sciences, business and law, expertly written by the world’s leading scholars. Designed to be accessible yet rigorous, they offer concise and lucid surveys of the substantive and policy issues associated with discrete subject areas. This timely Advanced Introduction explores federalism as a subject of intellectual inquiry, discussion and debate. Alain-G. Gagnon and Arjun Tremblay examine the role federalism plays in achieving fairness, justice and equality, as well as the impact it can have on the survival of political systems. Ultimately, they argue that the constitutional division of powers between levels of government remains a significant institutional blueprint for the present and future of democratic societies. Key Features: Recent and emerging trends in federalism scholarship Illustrates the complex, evolving and distinctly political nature of federalism Explores federalism in the context of postcolonial and settler colonial states The impact of cutting-edge issues including COVID-19, populism and democratic backsliding on federalism Providing an accessible survey of the key concerns and questions surrounding federalism studies, this Advanced Introduction will be vital reading for students and scholars of political science, international studies and international affairs. It will also be an important guide for policy-makers seeking insight into the effectiveness of federal responses to political challenges.

Table of Contents:
Introduction to Federalism 1 1 Studying federalism in the twenty-first century: concepts, concerns, and questions 6 1 Introduction 6 2 Defining federalism and federation: a continuing endeavour 7 3 Examining orders of government 8 4 Identifying processes of centralization and decentralization 9 5 Exploring traditions of federalism 11 6 Distinguishing federalism as a principle 12 7 Comparing federal systems: systematic comparison and nomothetic comparison 13 8 Conclusion 15 2 Federalism, democratization, and democratic backsliding 17 1 Introduction 17 2 Federalism and democracy: conceptual connections? 17 3 Federalism and democratization 19 4 Democratic backsliding 21 5 Federalism and democratic backsliding 23 6 American federalism and democratic backsliding 25 7 Conclusion 28 vi ADVANCED INTRODUCTION TO FEDERALISM 3 Federalism and national diversity 31 1 Introduction 31 2 Multinational state: a definition 31 3 Sidestepping the American tradition of federalism 34 4 Multinational federalism: institutions and practices 36 5 Intercultural federalism: an alternative to multinational federalism 37 6 The development of multinational and intercultural federalism: obstacles and opportunities 39 7 Conclusion 41 4 Federalism and religion 44 1 Introduction 44 2 Daniel J. Elazar on the biblical roots of federalism 44 3 John Winthrop on federal liberty 47 4 Johannes Althusius on ‘consociational federalism’ 48 5 Comparative and case study approaches to religion and federalism 50 6 Federalism and secularism in Canada 52 7 Conclusion 53 5 Federalism and immigration 57 1 Introduction 57 2 Immigration federalism: four key features 57 3 Immigration federalism in the United States 59 4 Exploring new avenues of inquiry 64 5 Conclusion 66 6 Federalism and gender 71 1 Introduction 71 2 What is gender? Why do federalism studies need gendered analysis? What is gender-and-federalism research? 71 3 Gendered analysis and the comparative study of federalism 73 4 Gendered analysis and case studies of federations 75 CONTENTS vii 5 Gendered analysis of the American Federation 78 6 Conclusion 80 7 Federalism and local government 85 1 Introduction 85 2 New federalism and local governments in the United States 85 3 No longer at the margins? The study of cities and municipalities in Canada 87 4 The Constitution, ethnic federalism, power-sharing and local government in Ethiopia 89 5 India’s third tier of government 91 6 Cross-national perspectives: comparative concerns and theoretical debates 93 7 Conclusion 95 8 Federalism and populism 99 1 Introduction 99 2 Populism and populists in the twenty-first century 99 3 Donald Trump and American federalism: three different takes 101 4 Narendra Modi and Indian federalism: has power centralized? 102 5 Andrés Manuel López Obrador and Mexican federalism: two different trends 104 6 Jair Bolsonaro and Brazilian federalism: more pressing scholarly concerns? 105 7 Populism and federalism in Italy and the Philippines 107 8 Conclusion 108 9 Federalism and the COVID-19 pandemic 115 1 Introduction 115 2 COVID-19 and federalism in Brazil 115 3 COVID-19 and federalism in Australia 117 4 COVID-19 and federalism in Germany 118 5 COVID-19 and federalism in India 119 viii ADVANCED INTRODUCTION TO FEDERALISM 6 COVID-19 and federalism in Canada 121 7 COVID-19 and federalism in the United States 122 8 Comparing federal responses to COVID-19 123 9 Conclusion 125 10 Federalism in Post-Colonial and Settler Colonial States 131 1 Introduction 131 2 Federalism and post-colonial states 131 3 Federalism and settler colonial states 134 4 The future of federalism in post-colonial and settler-colonial states: ways forward and warnings 139 5 Conclusion 141 Conclusions on Federalism 144 1 What do federalism and federation mean? 144 2 Has there been any significant change to orders of government? 144 3 Are federations centralizing or decentralizing? 145 4 Which tradition of federalism is best suited for longstanding and emerging federal states? 145 5 What has happened to the federal principle? 146 6 What do comparisons of federal systems reveal? 146 7 Closing words 147 Index 148