What are the advantages and disadvantages of federalism in the USA?

Another important advantage of federal system in USA is the cooperation within the country. By the power of the 16th Amendment, “the federal government has the ability to generate significant amounts of revenue.” Because of that the federal government has to assist state and local governments in terms of finances, for the reason that “state and local governments cannot meet all their funding needs.” What is more, it is common for the sates to cooperate with each other in so-called "inter-local agreements" various organisations. Because of these agreements states can share the expense of their policies, which makes it much cheaper to achieve them. As a result of that building and e.g. road maintenance coasts may be divided between the states and, what is more, ‘investor states’ can benefit from it together.

It is also important to notice that because of the federal system in USA administrative efficiency is promoted. “Because of the power division into state and local governments, state and local needs can be met.” In state terms, governments can take care of their own policies, making them much quicker and efficient. Because that, federal government doesn’t have to deal with things like state economy, education, healthcare, law enforcements, state roads and highways and many other policies which concert given state only. It is also significant to point out that local governments also deal with needs of the people that, however, happens on much smaller scale. Each district within the state provides services for its citizens e.g. leisure places, water and waste management, or things like public safety and public place maintenance. These all things factors make the work of government much more efficient.

Another important advantage of the federalism is that public can contribute to its state and local policy. With approximately one million elective offices nationwide people have "multiple points of access" to participate in the political changes. Citizens can take part in various volunteer commissions that report to elected lawmakers or join various groups which can address lawmakers at their meetings and therefore influence the decision within the government and city.

Federalist government of USA is also known for its encouragement of innovation in terms of improvement of political system. “There are approximately 88,000 state and local governments in the USA” commonly known as “laboratories of democracy.” The name emphasises their ability of quick problem solving, as well as developing new strategies and ideas in order to improve the political system, services and therefore quality of life. One of the most famous cases of that unconventional law enforcement is “Community Policing” which was introduced in New York in the 1980s. This scheme was designed to combine both civil and police forces in order to reduce crime rate within neighbourhoods and, what is important, improve the relationship between people and police. This idea was a great success, because both citizens and police had one thing in common- the wanted reduce crime rate and wanted to feel safe. Because of that scheme work of police service became much more efficient, for the reason that it was preventing the crime, rather than fighting it. This idea, because of its success in NY, was introduced in the rest of the country and it is still fairly popular.  

There are, however, also disadvantages of the federalism in USA. One of them cam be conflict within the country over power. Federalism can lead to a dangerous struggle between opposition, which can turn in a civil war. USA is not the only example of federal system in which such a drastic actions took place, however the American Civil War is probably the most famous one. The conflict was based on the disagreement whether the nation should apply “sate centred” (States being either equall or superior to the government) or “nation centred policy” (USA being one nation recognising the constitution as the "supreme law of the land" and that states are neither superior nor equal to the government) and the war was to decide.

It is also important to mention that state and local governments can simply ignore minor groups, whereas reach communities will benefit from services provided by the state. Historically speaking, governments in USA have put their efforts in the groups which participate in politics and have an overall effect on forming of the economy. Low-class groups, however, with no power to affect the government can be simply put aside, which in fact abolishes the given right to influence the politics.

Another disadvantage of US federal system might affect the law-making process. There are 51 separate and independent court systems (50 states and the District of Columbia). That may lead to the overall and confusion in applying of the law. Each state is responsible for setting its penalties and therefore is in power to actually define the crime. Because of that there are many differences between the state law policies, which can be very frustrating to the common citizen. Laws in terms of capital murder, for example, are similar throughout the country; child support guidelines laws, on the other hand, differ with each state which might be discriminating to some of the citizens of USA.

Finally, because of the equal distribution of power among the states there is much greater chance of a bureaucracy to accrue with many more people involved in the decision-making process. That might affect two major parts of government- decision making and problem solving. Because of such a number of governments within a single country, it is very difficult to improve government services and solve a given problem in an efficient and quick way. This can create problems when attempting to develop nationwide responses. The disaster of Hurricane Katrina can be a great example if discussing that issue. Because of the lack of cooperation and quick decision making of the federal government and authorities responsible for New Orleans district, many problems accrued which, unfortunately, cost many lifes of innocent citizens.

Although the federal system has many disadvantages as well as advantages, it remains an ideal political system within USA. It is partly because of the diversity throughout the whole country and partly due to the great desire of freedom and independence which, one can argue, became an unarguable gospel of the whole nation. Although many Americans disagree on the distribution of the power amongst the local and national governments, federal system of USA remains as flexible as it was when adopted and described in 1787 by the Founding Fathers in an Articles of Confederation.

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Bibliography

-  Beer, Samuel H.         “To make a nation: the rediscovery of American federalism” (Belknap, 1993)

-  Samuel H. Clovis, Jr.,         Federalism: “A Case Study in the Development of Public policy, Homeland Security and National Preparedness” Volume II, Issue 3: October 2006

-  Hawkings, R.B.        “American Federalism”, (Institute for Contemporary Studies, 1982)

-  Phoebe S Liebig PhD,         “Federalism and Aging Policy in the 1980s: Implications for Changing Interest Group Roles in the 1990s”, pp 17 – 33,Journal of Aging & Social Policy, Volume: 4 Issue: 1/2

-  Elazar, D.        “The Evolving Federal System” in “Proceedings of

                                Academy of Political Science Vol. 13, No 2, 1981

-  McKay, D.        ‘Theory and Practice of Public Policy: the case of the New Federalism’. Political Studies, Vol. 33, No. 2, 1985

-  William Prindle        “Innovation at the state level”, November 2003, Report number E031

-  Kincaid, John (ed.)        “American Federalism: the Third Century”  (1990).

-  Conlan, Timothy         “New Federalism: intergovernmental reform from Nixon to Reagan Washington” (Brookings Institution, 1988)

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