In this updated and extensively revised third edition, Ronald Watts provides a clear analysis of the design and operation of a wide range of federations. There is much that can be learned from the experience of federal systems throughout the world. At present there are 25 functioning federations in the world (containing over 40 percent of the world's population). A distinctive feature of the popularity of federalism in the contemporary world is that its application has taken a variety of forms and has included some new variants and innovations.
This third edition has been fully updated and now encompasses reference to a much wider range of federations and federal experiments, including mature federations such as the United States of America, Switzerland, Canada, Austria, Germany and India; emergent federations such as Mexico, Malaysia, Pakistan, Spain, Brazil, Belgium, Russia, Argentina, Ethiopia, South Africa, Nigeria and Venezuela; micro-federations such as Micronesia, Belau, St. Kitts and Nevis, and Comoros; federal-confederal hybrids such as the United Arab Emirates and the European Union, and post-conflict federal experiments such as Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sudan, Iraq and Congo; it also examines federations that have failed. Watts compares the interaction of social diversity and political institutions, the distribution of powers and finances, the processes contributing to flexibility or rigidity in adjustment, the extent of internal symmetry or asymmetry, the character of representation in federal institutions, the role of constitutions and courts, the provisions for constitutional rights and secession, the degree of centralization and non-centralization, and the pathologyof federations.

Ronald L. Watts

Institute of Intergovernmental Relations Published for the School of Policy Studies, Queen's University by McGill-Queen's University Press

Montréal: Published for the School of Policy Studies, Queen's University by McGill-Queen's University Press

3rd ed, Kingston, Ontario], Montreal, 2008

Canada - English Language, Canada

1, 2008

"Institute of Intergovernmental Relations".
Includes bibliographical references: p. [199]-205.

"In this updated second edition, Ronald Watts provides a clear analysis of the design and operation of a sample of federations chosen for their relevance to Canadian issues. There is much that can be learned by Canadians from the experience of federal systems elsewhere. At present there are 24 federations in the world (representing over forty per cent of the world's population). A distinctive feature of the popularity of federalism in the contemporary world is that its application has taken a variety of forms and has includes some new variants and innovations." "Countries studied include the United States, Switzerland, Australia, Austria, and Germany as examples of developed industrial societies; India and Malaysia as examples of multilingual and multicultural federations; Belgium and Spain as examples of emerging federal systems that illustrate bicommunal and asymmetrical approaches; and Czechoslovakia and Pakistan as examples of bicommunal federations that have failed. Watts compares the interaction of social diversity and political institutions, the distribution of powers and finances, the processes contributing to flexibility or rigidity in adjustment, the extent of internal symmetry or asymmetry, the degree of centralization and decentralization, the character of representation in federal institutions, the role of constitutions and courts, the provisions for constitutional rights and secession, and the pathology of federations."--Back cover.

"In this updated and extensively revised third edition, Ronald Watts provides a clear analysis of the design and operation of a wide range of federations. There is much that can he learned from the experience of federal systems throughout the world. At present there are 25 functioning federations in the world (containing over 40 percent of the world's population). A distinctive feature of the popularity of federalism in the contemporary world is that its application has taken a variety of forms and has included some new variants and innovations."--Jacket

xvi, 205 p. : 23 cm
"Institute of Intergovernmental Relations"
Includes bibliographical references: p. [199]-205

2023-06-28