Comparative federalism and federation : competing traditions and future directions

Abstract

The resurgence of interest in federalism in recent years on both sides of the Atlantic has renewed the long-standing debate about the meaning an the relevance of the federal principle.Comparative Federalism and Federation addresses this debate by bringing together theexpertise of a number of internationally renowned scholats to provide a comparative and analytical survey of the study of federalism and federation.In a wide-ranging theoretical and empirical survey, the book investigates both the Anglo-American and European federal traditions. It is divided into three main parts. The first considers the concepts of federalism and federation; the second provides the perspectives necessary for comparitive analysis. This theoetical framework is illustrated in the third section by a number of case studies which look in detail at different 'traditions' of federalism (European, American, Canadian, Australian) and a number of country-specific cases (The Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland).Comparative Federalism and Federation provides and timely and valuable analysis of this important political concept for students and researchers of comparative and international politics.