Federalism: Political Identity and Tragic Compromise - Hardcover

Feeley, Malcolm M.; Rubin, Edward

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0472116398 ISBN 13: 9780472116393

Publisher: University of Michigan Press, 2008

Synopsis

Federalism is one of the most influential concepts in modern political discourse: a building block of modern governance, but also the focus of immense controversy. As esteemed scholars Malcolm M. Feeley and Edward Rubin show, much of this controversy stems from theoretical vagueness inherent in contemporary definitions of the term. The multiethnic states that emerged from the imperial collapses at the turn of the twentieth century - and which generally moved toward stable, democratic governments in the ensuing decades - have given rise to almost limitless variations on the basic federalist premise of a coordinated central government sharing power with subnational units.This proliferation has eroded hopes for a single, coherent definition of federalism. Instead, ambiguity has left the concept susceptible to use as an instrument of rhetoric and ideology. Feeley and Rubin expose the ambiguities of modern federalism, offering a powerful but generous treatise on the modern salience of the term.This book provides a new analysis of a fundamental concept in politics and law, by a pair of influential and respected scholars.

About this title

About the Author

Malcolm Feeley is Claire Sanders Clements Professor of Law and Social Policy at Berkeley's Boalt Hall School of Law, a former director of Boalt's Center for the Study of Law and Society, a former chair of the Program in Jurisprudence and Social Policy, and a past president of the Law and Society Association. Edward Rubin is Dean of the Vanderbilt University Law School and the school's first John Wade-Kent Syverud Professor of Law.

About this edition

• Publisher: University of Michigan Press
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0472116398
• ISBN 13: 9780472116393
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 280