WHAT IS FEDERALISM?

WHAT IS FEDERALISM?

Let us get back to the contrast between Belgium and Sri Lanka that we saw in the last chapter. You would recall that one of the key changes made in the Constitution of Belgium was to reduce the power of the Central Government and to give these powers to the regional governments. Regional governments existed in Belgium even earlier. They had their roles and powers. But all these powers were given to these governments and could be withdrawn by the Central Government. The change that took place in 1993 was that the regional governments were given constitutional powers that were no longer dependent on the central government. Thus, Belgium shifted from a unitary to a federal form of government. Sri Lanka continues to be, for all practical purposes, a unitary system where the national government has all the powers. Tamil leaders want Sri Lanka to become a federal system.

Federalism is a system of government in which the power is divided between a central authority and various constituent units of the country. Usually, a federation has two levels of government. One is the government for the entire country that is usually responsible for a few subjects of common national interest. The others are governments at the level of provinces or states that look after much of the day-to-day administering of their state. Both these levels of government enjoy their power independently of the other.

Though only 25 of the world’s 193 countries have federal political systems, their citizens make up 40 percent of the world’s population. Most of the large countries of the world are federations. Can you notice an exception to this rule in this map?

In this sense, federations are contrasted with unitary governments. Under the unitary system, either there is only one level of government or the sub-units are subordinate to the central government. The central government can pass on orders to the provincial or the local government. But in a federal system, the central government cannot order the state government to do something. State government has powers of its own for which it is not answerable to the central government. Both these governments are separately answerable to the people.

Let us look at some of the key features of federalism :

1.  There are two or more levels (or tiers) of government.

2.  Different tiers of government govern the same citizens, but each tier has its own JURISDICTION in specific matters of legislation, taxation, and administration.

3.  The jurisdictions of the respective levels or tiers of government are specified in the constitution. So the existence and authority of each tier of government is constitutionally guaranteed.

4.  The fundamental provisions of the constitution cannot be unilaterally changed by one level of government. Such changes require the consent of both levels of government.

5.  Courts have the power to interpret the constitution and the powers of different levels of government. The highest court acts as an umpire if disputes arise between different levels of government in the exercise of their respective powers.

6.  Sources of revenue for each level of government are clearly specified to ensure its financial autonomy.

7.  The federal system thus has dual objectives: to safeguard and promote the unity of the country, while at the same time accommodate regional diversity. Therefore, two aspects are crucial for the institutions and practice of federalism. Governments at different levels should agree to some rules of power-sharing. They should also trust that each would abide by its part of the agreement. An ideal federal system has both aspects: mutual trust and agreement to live together.

The exact balance of power between the central and the state government varies from one federation to another. This balance depends mainly on the historical context in which the federation was formed. There are two kinds of routes through which federations have been formed. The first route involves independent States coming together on their own to form a bigger unit so that by pooling sovereignty and retaining identity they can increase their security. This type of ‘coming together’ federations include the USA, Switzerland, and Australia. In this first category of federations, all the constituent States usually have equal power and are strong vis-à-vis the federal government.

The second route is where a large country decides to divide its power between the constituent States and the national government. India, Spain, and Belgium are examples of this kind of ‘holding together’ federations.  In this second category, the central government tends to be more powerful vis-à-vis the States. Very often different constituent units of the federation have unequal powers. Some units are granted special powers.

Conversation

Some Nepalese citizens were discussing the proposals on the adoption of federalism in their new constitution. This is what some of them said:

Khag Raj: I don’t like federalism. It would lead to reservation of seats for different caste groups as in India.

Sarita: Ours in not a very big country. We don’t need federalism.

Babu Lal: I am hopeful that the Terai areas will get more autonomy if they get their own state government.

Ram Ganesh: I like federalism because it will mean that powers that were earlier enjoyed by the king will now be exercised by our elected representatives.

Activity:

1. What do we call the Indian government? Is it Union, Federal or Central?

2. If federalism works only in big countries, why did Belgium adopt it?

Let’s find out

1.  If you were participating in the above conversation what would be your response to each of these?

2.  Which of these reflects a wrong understanding of what federalism is?

3.  What makes India a federal country?

Source: This topic is taken from NCERT TEXTBOOK