FEDERAL SYSTEMS OF GOVERNMENT 2019

BAHIR DAR UNIVERSITY

Bahirdar Institute of Technology (BiT)

Bsc in Software Engineering

Title: FEDERAL SYSTEMS OF GOVERNMENT

Name………..Alene Eyasu

ID Number…..0900152

Submitted to…………Fikadu(Msc)

Submission Date ……….. Based on agreement

Bahirdar,

Ethiopia

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 FEDERAL SYSTEMS OF GOVERNMENT 2019

Table of Contents
1. Introduction ........................................................................................................................................... 2
2. Advantages of a federal system ............................................................................................................ 2
2.1. Local Governance and representation with citizen stability and satisfaction ............................... 2
2.2. Stability and supervision of governments ..................................................................................... 3
2.3. Competitiveness and Cooperation ................................................................................................ 3
2.4. Protecting of Liberty ..................................................................................................................... 4
3. Disadvantages of a federal system ........................................................................................................ 5
3.1. Drawbacks of federal systems ....................................................................................................... 5
3.2. Inconsistent Legislature ................................................................................................................ 5
4. Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................ 6
5. Reference .............................................................................................................................................. 7

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1. Introduction
Federal systems are governments whose sovereignty is shared between more than one tiers of
government. Over forty per cent of the world relies on a federal system as government especially
for geographically large countries (Twomney, 2007). Countries that adhere to this system include
the United States of America (USA), Canada, Brazil, Germany and Australia. In the instance of
Australia, the country comprises of six states and two territories. These states are governed by a
federal government, state government and territory government. The federal government is
tasked with areas pertaining to taxation, defense, telecommunications, and foreign affairs while
the state government handles matters within their borders such as education, police, hospitals and
public transport. These ways contrast with a unitary government where the powers are held by
one centralized authority. This essay aims to peruse examples of federal systems and to highlight
the merits and demerits of a federal system

Less than half of the world systems rely on a federal system and it receives flak based on
assumptions of it being impractical and old-fashioned. Despite so, many of these assumptions
have been addressed with merits and demonstrates the significance of a federal system. Federal
systems have a myriad of advantages ranging from the function of limiting powers relative to its
citizens, to protecting liberty. Overall, the merits of a federal system outweigh the demerits.
Some of these demerits include a lack of cohesiveness and conflicts of laws which have
measures of seeking redress. This essay will identify these key issues and compare them.

2. Advantages of a federal system

2.1. Local Governance and representation with citizen stability and satisfaction
A federal structure gives people the ability to compare different political systems within the
same country and national government. In Australia, citizens have voted and exercised their right
to compare, choose and exit their respective states in large volumes. This phenomenon has been
observed peaking in between the 1980s and 1990s where locals have migrated from “heavily
governed southern states to the wide-open spaces of Queensland” (Epstein, 1992). This
phenomenon functions as a tool to perform a check on the ability of states by means of a ‘self-
help remedy’ which is easy, inexpensive and efficient. Further, federal systems will also possess
appropriate representation due to the nature of its multi-tier government. This will result in areas

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with specific parameters such as economic, political and religious being tended to with the right
care. Governments of these areas will be equipped with the right knowledge and skill sets to
solve issues specific to area. An example of this is traffic concerns of the state of Hawaii being
best when left to representatives of Hawaii itself to be attended by rather than those of New York
(Dogra, 2016). Further, federal systems give representation to different sets of populations with a
range of cultures, ethnicity and aspirations. These can easily be ignored by a centralized
government. However, if not managed appropriately, this can lead to misunderstandings and
confusion among states and the regions may feel left out of touch from citizens of neighboring
regions. This can also lead to friction between states because of deep disagreements and
unfairness (Knowledge, 2016).

2.2. Stability and supervision of governments

Since a federal government is condensed, it can deal with issues at hand in smarter manners.
These manners include setting government institutions against each other and are favored by a
majority (Galligan, 1987). This is visible in voting patterns for constitutional referendums.
Stability in government is quintessential too and inspires confidence in citizens. Besides stability,
operational costs of governments are reduced because of a decrease in programmes and
employees at a state level; this in turn leads to lower revenue of tax. This is due to efficient
control when mattes are at a smaller scale (Calabresi, 1994).

2.3. Competitiveness and Cooperation

With federal systems comes competitiveness and cooperation in Australia which brings a myriad
of positive effects. It brings about efficiency and performance in the economic sector by
innovation. The six states continuously seek to develop cost-effective means of achieving better
policies (Twomney, 2007). Aside from economic success, federal systems can bring out sporting
talents due to interstate competiveness. An example of this would be the selection of athletes for
the Olympics and FIFA World Cup. With a federal system, it would force and promote friendly
rivalry among states and regions with the motive of success for the nation.

Cooperation among the states are a by-product of federal systems because it forces states to work
together to eradicate controversial proposals. This brings the nation together to tackle and resolve
these controversial proposals by ensuring thorough analysis and legitimacy (Twomney, 2007).
Due to this, policies tend to be moderate and force governments to place their case in a public

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sphere ensuring accountability. A reflection of this is visible in Australia’s anti-terrorism policies
where the laws were not hastily posited in parliament because the national government had to
explicitly and publicly clarify its proposals through debates and amendments made to regulate
the law

The final advantage of federal systems is its ability to uphold principles of democracy. This is
done by preserving values of freedom and equality by means of varying resources using the
principles of fiscal equation. In Australia, varying resources involve making sure all citizens
receive services at the same tax rates regardless of their location. This is after factoring in the
different ability of states to generate revenue at different expenses inspite of the parameters of
geography and age structure of the population. Another way of upholding equality is by
administering more chances for participation in government and opportunities with nearer
proximities to their home (Sawer, 2009)

2.4. Protecting of Liberty

Because of the features of federal system and the way powers are decentralized, spread and
shared about; it works as a safeguard against central government. Similar sentiments were shared
by Thomas Jefferson and Lord Bryce. Lord Bryce also said, “Federalism prevents the rise of a
despotic central government, absorbing powers, and menacing the private liberties of the citizen”
(Bryce, 1995). Even famous critic of federalism Geoffrey Sawyer from the Australian National
University agreed that federalism was a mean of protection of individual liberty (walker, 2000).
Distinct examples of the merits of federalism have been demonstrated in the 1991 political
broadcast bans by political leaders.

Unlike a unitary system of government, the central government possesses supreme authority to
posit any law within any region of the country. Governments are also less susceptible to tyranny
because it is more difficult for head of states to apply themselves on areas that are already part of
a state. Furthermore, they also do not hold or control power spanning an entire nation but rather
it is combined with leaders of other states. Examples of countries under tyrannical governments
include North Korea, Cambodia, Zimbabwe and Cuba – all nations with a centralized
government. Similar observations have been made between the struggle between democracy and
tyranny of East Germany during between 1914 and 1989 until the demolition of the Berlin wall
(watts, 1994). During this time, the success of democracy led to the removal of justification for a
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centralized government based on the requirement to maintain an economy to be mobilized
(Walker, 1987)

3. Disadvantages of a federal system

3.1. Drawbacks of federal systems
Despite many countries and majority of large countries adopting features of federal system, there
are its demerits too. These demerits include potential for corruption because of the sheer number
of people appointed to office and steep costs associated with federal systems. Furthermore,
because of the number of representatives, there are many overlapping roles. Other than this,
federal systems can also lead to irregular distributions of wealth because of different distribution
of geographic and socio-economic features such as natural resources, industrial developments
and employment opportunities. This leads to wealthier states being able to offer more
opportunities to its citizens in comparison to poorer states. Regionalism is also a by-product of
federal systems making state governments self-centered and overly concerned only for their
states’ development.

An example of this would be policy making that could only entail the states’ interest however
adverse to neighboring states.

3.2. Inconsistent Legislature

Federal systems have received much controversy and been a subject of much criticism because
of its multiple and inconsistent laws. In the case of the USA which was 50 states, there will be 50
variations of legislature. The same application can be said for Australia and the variation
between intestate laws and grey areas can cause much confusion for citizens. It can be said that
having a consistent system for nations would be simpler to adhere to. An example of these grey
areas includes family law in Australia where neither the state nor the Commonwealth possess
comprehensive legislative competence. Further, children of unmarried parents were irrelevant to
the state of Western Australia between 1986 and 1990 (Croucher, 2014). As for the
inconsistencies, the powers required for marriages and divorces were incoherently divided and
not uniform throughout the country for many years till the formation of the Matrimonial Clauses
Act 1959 and the Marriage Act 196. These inconsistencies have been resolved with Section 109
of the Constitution of Australia which dictates “when a law of a State is inconsistent with a law

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of the Commonwealth, the latter shall prevail, and the former shall, to the extent of the
inconsistency, be invalid”.

Similar inconsistencies have been observed in within the USA with the controversial Marijuana
and firearm laws. Due to the inconsistent laws, one may comply with state laws yet remain at
legal risk. At present, 44 states are legal for medical consumption of marijuana however only
eight for recreational use. Besides consumers feeling the frustration, business owners in this field
have been hindered by federal laws when it comes to banking administration (Reed, 2017). As
for firearm laws in the USA, there are huge differences in the different states, ranging from age
limits to the prohibition of registration of firearms. In Colorado, the Supreme Court ruling
allowed students and staff to carry concealed weapons overturning the ban on campus by
Colorado University. Further, some states require reporting of firearm losses and registration
however in the state of Nebraska, reporting a loss is merely a suggestion and in states of Idaho
and Alaska, authorities are not allowed to register firearms(Cage, 2013).

4. Conclusion
In a nutshell, considering the size of Australia and USA and many other countries with a federal
system, it would be bizarre otherwise. This is after factoring the myriad of advantageous reasons
for adopting and staying put with a federal system. After all, 40% of the world’s population is
governed by federal systems and this number is growing. Furthermore, federal systems generate
half of the global gross domestic product. Federal systems come with slight drawbacks which
have been and are in the process of rectification and reform. Lastly, because federal systems
shield citizens from tyranny and prevent a concretion of power, the advantages of federal
systems outweigh the disadvantages.

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5. Reference
 State and Territory Government, (Australian Government), Available
http://www.australia.gov.au/about-government/how-government-works/state-and-
territory-government (Accessed: 14/05/2017).
 R. Watts, `Contemporary views on federalism', in B. de Villiers (ed.), Evaluating Federal
Systems, Juta & Co., Dordrecht, South Africa, 1994, pp. 1, 5
 G. Walker, Initiative and Referendum: the People's Law, Centre for Independent Studies,
St Leonards, NSW, 1987, ch. 1.
 R. Epstein, `Exit rights under federalism', Law and Contemporary Problems, vol. 55,
1992, p.165
 DerKriger, D. (19/12/2011), Federalism and the end of Tyranny, (RedState), Available
http://www.redstate.com/diary/DerKrieger/2011/12/19/federalism-and-the-end-of-
tyranny/ (Accessed: 14/05/2017)
 Knowledge, I. (17/07/2016), Federalism; Meaning, Advantages and Disadvantages,
(Important India), Available http://www.importantindia.com/23270/federalism/
(Accessed: 14/05/2017)
 Nivola, P. (01/01/2005), Why Federalism Matters, (Brookings), Available
https://www.brookings.edu/research/why-federalism-matters/ (Accessed: 14/05/2017).
 Wiseman, R. (03/04/2011), Advantages and Disadvantages of Federalism, (Bloomp),
https://bloomp.net/articles/benefits_federalism.htm (Accessed: 14/05/2017).
 Twomney, A. (26/04/2007), Federalism, the good, the bad and the opportunities,
(Analysis &Policy Observation), http://apo.org.au/node/6516 (Accessed: 14/05/2017)

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