federalism

Syllable breakdown

Dictionary meaning

a system of government in which sovereignty and authority are constitutionally divided between a central national government and constituent regional governments — states, provinces, Länder, cantons — each of which has defined spheres of independent authority that the other level cannot unilaterally override; federal systems like those of the United States, Germany, Australia, India, and Canada distribute power vertically, creating multiple levels of government that may cooperate, compete, or conflict in different policy domains; federalism is distinguished from unitary systems — in which the central government is constitutionally supreme and can alter or abolish subnational units — and from confederal systems — in which constituent units retain sovereignty and delegate limited authority upward; the rationale for federal arrangements includes accommodating diversity within large states, preventing concentration of power, and allowing policy experimentation at subnational levels

Examples

• Indian federalism gives states significant powers over agriculture and police while reserving defence and currency for the centre.
• Fiscal federalism determines which level of government has the authority to tax and spend in each policy domain.

The term is used similarly in both American and British English, though the US federal system is far more constitutionally entrenched than the UK's quasi-federal devolution arrangements