Proceso de un Plan estratégico:

Federalism constitutes a complex governmental mechanism for the governance of a country. Federalism is the existence of dual government. It seeks to draw a balance between the power in the Centre and those of number of units. A federal Constitution envisages a demarcation of governmental functions and powers between the Centre and the regions by the sanction of the Constitution, which is a written document. Federalism in some form or other has its roots in the remote past, for it was not unknown among some of the city-states of Ancient Greece. We find it again in the middle Ages among some of the cities of Italy, and indeed, since the thirteenth century its history has been continuous in the development of the Swiss Confederation, which was born when the three Forest Cantons banded themselves together for protection in 1291. The federal type of constitution is adopted by a number of newly emergent nations in Africa, Asia and Latin America as a response to their often widely diversified cultural, territorial, and political traditions. Federalism varies in from place to place and from time to time. In its loosest from it is a congeries of states which in fact do not make a state at all.

A federal state requires two conditions for its formation. The first condition is a sense of nationality among the units federating. The second condition is that the federating units, though desiring union, do not desire unity. The federal constitution attempts to reconcile the apparently irreconcilable claims of national sovereignty and state sovereignty. The division of power, however, it may in the various federations of the modern world be carried out in detail is the essential characteristic of the federal state. Basically three ways in which federal states may vary from one another, first as to the manner in which the powers are distributed between the federal and state authorities, secondly as to the nature of the authority for preserving the supremacy of the constitution over the federal and state authorities if they should come into conflicts with one another, and thirdly as to the means of changing the constitution if such change should be desired.

The powers may be distributed in one of two ways, either the constitution states what powers the federal authority shall have and leaves the remainder to the federating units, or it states what powers the federating units shall posses and leaves the reminder to the federal

authority. This remainder is generally called the ‘reserve of powers’. The object of stating

the powers is to define and hence to limit them. When federal constitution defines the powers of the federating units the aim is to strengthen the federal authority at the expense of the separate members of the federation. Such sates are less federal in nature. Where

constitution defines powers of the federal authority, as in the case of US, the object is to check the power of the federal authority as against the federating units. They want a federal state with a real power, through which they can express their common nationality, but they want at the same time to maintain their individual character as states as far as possible. The division of powers implies that both the legislature of the federation and that of the federating units are limited in their scope and that neither of them is supreme. There is something above them, the constitution. In truly federal state the power to maintain equilibrium between centre and states is granted to a supreme court of judges whom should ensure the protection of constitutional provisions.

The word Federalism derived from the Latin word ‘foedus’ which means treaty or

agreement. The term is usually used to mean an association of states. The term "federalism" is used to describe a system of government in which sovereignty is constitutionally divided between a central governing authority and constituent political units such as states or provinces. Federalism is a system based upon democratic rules and institutions in which the power to govern is shared between national and provincial/state governments, creating what is often called a federation. A federal state is a system of two sets of governments within a single state. It represents a compromise between large state and small states.

Federal system: Meaning and Dynamic Implications

Political system of the world are either federal or unitary or a mixture of both. While countries like USA, Switzerland, Canada and India should be placed in the category of federal states, others like Britain, France, Sri Lanka and China are examples of unitary states. Different from both, some countries having a system based on the principles of the division of powers along with very high level of concentration of powers in the hands of central government are treated as quasi-federal.

According to Finer a federal state is one in which part of authority and power is vested in the local areas while another part is vested in the central institution deliberately constituted by an association of the local areas.

According to Daniel J. Elazara, “Federalism provides a mechanism which units separate

polities within an over-arching political system so as to allow each to maintain its fundamental political integrity.”

Dicey defines federation as “political contrivance, intended to reconcile national unity and power with the maintenance of state rights”.

In the words of Hamilton a federal state is an association of states that forms a new one. According to Garner “federal government is a system in which the totality of government power is divided and distributed by national constitution as the organic act parliament creating it, between a central government and the governments of the individual states or other territorial subdivisions of which the federation is composed

FEATURE OF A FEDERATION