BibTeX
@MISC{Bednar_1authoritymigration,
author = {Jenna Bednar},
title = {1Authority Migration in Federations: A Framework for Analysis},
year = {}
}
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Abstract
Why does one federation succeed while another fails? Federations may fail for exogenous reasons: foreign invasion, collapse of its currency, or global market forces. If we focus on endogenous factors, the possible reasons for failure include diversity, where populations drift apart or clash too often, or jealousy from redistributive asymmetry, with unequal shouldering of costs or dispersion of benefits, and, of course, corruption and insurrection. While potentially significant, these problems are not particular to federalism; they threaten all democracies. There is, however, one threat that afflicts federations in particular. It is the one that perplexed and animated James Madison in the American context: opportunistic authority migration between levels of government. Authority may be manipulated by two kinds of actors: the public and the governments themselves. Authority migration can be beneficial: the distribution of authority may be adjusted to make governments more efficient. When initiated by public demand, authority migration demonstrates governmental responsiveness. But it can also be harmful. It can occur not by benevolent design or by majority demand, but instead to 2serve particular interests, often at the cost of the general welfare. In these cases, authority
Keyphrases
authority migration endogenous factor particular interest possible reason general welfare global market force opportunistic authority migration foreign invasion benevolent design unequal shouldering redistributive asymmetry american context majority demand exogenous reason james madison public demand governmental responsiveness
