FEDERAL ANALYSIS
The united states of America form of government are based on federalism. Federalism is a set of governance where two or more levels of government form one major level of governance (Domhoff, 2017). The system of federalism entails shared governance between the states and the national governments. Both the state and the national governments have exclusive and concurrent functions as well as powers. Negotiation of power is done based on these exclusive powers and functions. Adoption of policies is mainly done at the state level. This explains the reason why different states have different policies for a particular subset of issues. A federal system of government emerged in the united states of America came about as a result of different states being different colonies in the past as well as different cultures that make each state have distinct cultural practices. The distinct cultures have different needs, and therefore, policy acceptability will vary from state to state. In this paper, a federal analysis of how governance between the national government and the state will be done.
Principle methods of interaction between the state and national governments
The first principle of interaction of state governments and national governments is based on federal tolerance (Abrams, Knapp, Paveglio, Ellison, Moseley, Nielsen-Pincus & Carroll, 2015). Interaction primarily occurs through federal action. Through federal tolerance, several conditions are set to determine instances where federal actions are required. Federal action is applied when only when the nation’s interests are at risk and calls for intervention of the national government on some state actions. In maters that are within the national scope, federal action may be required. In another instance, federal action is limited to situations with clear constitutional authority.
In the second principle, federal action should be avoided in instances where the national government may interfere with state laws and policies. In areas where primarily state responsibility should take cause such as education, criminal justice, state security regulation, and insurance regulation should be free from national government interference.
The congress is then regulated so that it doesn’t interfere with state revenue systems. State revenue systems should be independent as per the demands of the federal government systems. States should be allowed to come up and manage their financial systems independently without congress interference.
In another principle, the judicial arm of the government is encouraged to respect the authority of the state. Court orders that provide remedies to law challenges should respect state authority by limiting time and scope of injunctive relief to provide for the exercise of rights enshrined in the constitution.
Another principle based on interaction emphasizes the design of federal-state programs. By doing this helps in enhancing administrative efficiency. Coordination helps in federal funding of state projects according to state laws. States are also emphasized to promote cooperative effort in the development of policy and administrative procedures.
Independence of states in current federal systems.
As observed earlier, states are independent of various functionalities (Spykman, 2017). The state’s financial systems are independent, and each state is responsible for coming up with its financial system and manage it. States collect taxes independently and manage the finances collected in implementation of state projects. Some states are independent to the point that their gross domestic product is capable of sustaining them as an independent country would. In another dimension of independence, states are given primary responsibility for functions such as criminal justice, education, and functions such as insurance regulation responsibility. Each state has its independent judicial branch. These judicial branches operate within the scope of state laws and policies. With the functionality of having a governor in place who is in charge of a state that is enshrined in the constitution, this has enabled the states to be more independent as states have the right to have management they want. This has helped in ensuring the voice of each state is heard through the governor.
Role of interstate competition and cooperation of states in the United States of America
Analyzing the policy-making role of an elected official about the competition of states on the grounds of commerce and economic development, we can make the inference of the roles played by this (Quark & Slez, 2014). Tax competitions between states are good for states but have an impact on politics. Policies by political leaders on taxes impact the decision-making process of citizens during elections. Leaders with good policies are usually likely to be elected than those with relatively poor ones. Citizens of states have tended to be more inclined to take voting patterns of electing leaders who they believe put their state in a better position of economic competition with other states. Interstate competition has led to the Congress enact more mandated that preemptions and conditions as well as other regulations that affect the state as well as local governments. The main role that is played by interstate competition is viewed by the interjurisdictional cooperation created as a result of provisions enshrined in the constitution (Tickner,2014). For example, states are prohibited from imposing duties and taxes on other states from imports of goods. This asks for the cooperation of the states with Congress. Constitution explicitly seeks to ensure interjurisdictional co-operation and to prohibit the most destructive forms of interjurisdictional competition. This calls for coordination between different political leaders.
References
Abrams, J. B., Knapp, M., Paveglio, T. B., Ellison, A., Moseley, C., Nielsen-Pincus, M., & Carroll, M. S. (2015). Re-envisioning community-wildfire relations in the US West as adaptive governance. Ecology and Society.
Domhoff, G. W. (2017). The power elite and the state. Routledge.
Quark, A. A., & Slez, A. (2014). Interstate competition and Chinese ascendancy: The political construction of the global cotton market, 1973–2012. International Journal of Comparative Sociology, 55(4), 269-293.
Spykman, N. J. (2017). America’s strategy in world politics: the United States and the balance of power. Routledge.
Tickner, A. B. (2014). Colombia, the United States, and security cooperation by proxy. Washington Office on Latin America, 1, 1.