'Examine the reasons for change in the balance of power between the federal and the state governments since 1980'

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Vanessa Bowen 13FA

Mrs Sharman

‘Examine the reasons for change in the balance of power between the federal and the state governments since 1980’

When evaluating the causes of reform in the balance of power since 1980 among the federal and state governments, one needs to concentrate on several key factors: the reasons why states increased their power, the reasons for growth in federal authority and an explanation for the change which took place.

Each federal system is unique in the sense that the relationship between federal [national] government and state [regional] government is determined not just by constitutional rules, but also by a complex of political, historical, geographical, cultural and social circumstances. Both central government [the federal level] and regional government [the state level] possess a range of powers that the other cannot encroach upon. These include at least a measure of legislative and executive authority and the capacity to raise revenue and thus enjoy a degree of fiscal independence. However, the specific fields of jurisdiction of each level of government and the capacity of each to influence the other vary considerably.

The basic principle of federalism is fixed in the Tenth Amendment [ratified in 1791] to the Constitution which states: ‘The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people’. The Constitution set up a division of power between the federal and state governments, which initially limited the federal unit to the fields of defence, foreign affairs, the control of the currency, and the control of commerce between states. However, over the years this division of power has been eroded, so that today the federal government has functions that have been extended and touch on nearly all aspects of life for American citizens.

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Both Presidents Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan have tried to cut back the power of the federal government and give back to the states power that was deemed to have been taken from them. This period was regarded as ‘New Federalism’

Introduced in the 1960s as a reaction against the continuing expansion of the federal government’s activity and expenditure, President Nixon was committed to a system of ‘new federalism’ to resolve the proper balance of power, regaining some of the states former authority. In order to do this, Nixon proposed two important innovations: general revenue sharing and block ...

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