Research Paper (undergraduate) from the year 2020 in the subject Politics - Political Systems - Germany, grade: 1,3, Fairleigh Dickinson University, College at Florham, language: English, abstract: What are the main differences between the federalist model of Germany and the dual federalism of the USA? How do the federalism designs in the US compared to Germany affect their ability to respond to the COVID-19 Pandemic? This paper is intended to show the status of the German federal states in the Federal Council model and the position of the American states in the Senate model. The author examines which role the member states play in the two very different concepts and shows how individual state interests can be perceived at the federal level. Federalism is a widely used form of government. In addition to Germany and the United States, for example, Canada, Argentina and Nigeria are also federally organized. All states have in common to be territorially divided into individual member states. However, there are clear differences in the number, size and competencies of these states, in addition to the degree of federalism.

The COVID-19 pandemic bared the inadequacies in existing structures of public health and governance in most countries. This book provides a comparative analysis of policy approaches and planning adopted by federal governments across the globe to battle and adequately respond to the health emergency as well as the socio-economic fallouts of the pandemic. With twenty-four case studies from across the globe, the book critically analyzes responses to the public health crisis, its fiscal impact and management, as well as decision-making and collaboration between different levels of government of countries worldwide. It explores measures taken to contain the pandemic and to responsibly regulate and manage the health, socio-economic welfare, employment, and education of its people. The authors highlight the deficiencies in planning, tensions between state and local governments, politicization of the crisis, and the challenges of generating political consensus. They also examine effective approaches used to foster greater cooperation and learning for multi-level, polycentric innovation in pandemic governance. One of the first books on federalism and approaches to the COVID-19 pandemic, this volume is an indispensable reference for scholars and researchers of comparative federalism, comparative politics, development studies, political science, public policy and governance, health and wellbeing, and political sociology.

Faced with major crises, policymakers are at risk of various pathologies Even in the absence of such pathologies, governments, when faced with a major crisis such as the COVID-19 pandemic, have strong incentives to try to go it alone at the national level: Both policy implementation and political accountability still mostly take place at the national level. Federal political systems, such as Germany, face similar challenges at the sub-national level. At the same time, Louis Brandeis' classic depiction of U.S. states as "laboratories of democracy" reminds us that federalism offers opportunities for trying different policy responses and learning from the differing results, especially when federalism has "experimentalist" characteristics to encourage feedback and learning. We provide a brief overview of the public and political discourse in Germany, as well as the German federal and state-level policy responses, during the first months of the pandemic and an early, tentative assessment of commonalities, divergence, pathologies, and learning - as well as broader implications for conflict and cooperation in Europe and beyond.

Legislators, agency officials, and the public have a lot to learn from the United States' experience in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. If policymakers take seriously their responsibility to identify past mistakes, and then act now to prepare for future viral outbreaks, the nation can do better in the next crisis. One needed change will take the form of clarifying the essential role for the national government and its leadership in responding to pandemics. The United States needs to create a structure for a pandemic federalism that temporarily but responsively allows for a reconfiguration of public health authority, such that the federal government can lead a rational, nationally coordinated strategy that meets the challenges posed by an interstate public health emergency. That national coordination worked best with the United States' rapid development and availability of COVID-19 vaccines. But in all other respects, the nation's track record with the pandemic has been otherwise abysmal, as the nation has suffered more than a million deaths along with inestimable grief, pain, and economic dislocation. The United States' federalist tradition of governance--which has historically given states the primary role for addressing public health--has contributed to the nation's unnecessarily excessive losses. Federalism has complicated governance and contributed to a disorganized and fractured public health response. States' assertions of sovereign authority during the pandemic have repeatedly muddied, if not undermined, effective risk communication, as national and state officials delivered conflicting messages to Americans about the importance of mask-wearing and vaccination. Federalism also enabled national officials to disclaim their own responsibility in responding to the crisis, such as by leaving states early in the crisis to fend for themselves in procuring personal protective equipment. Key court decisions, handed down with federalist principles expressly in mind, have also constrained the national government's authority to act to protect the public health in the face of an interstate emergency. Congress will need to enact legislation to supersede these legal decisions and clarify the national government's vital authority and responsibility to act in response to future viral outbreaks.

This comprehensive scholarly book on comparative federalism and the Covid-19 pandemic is written by some of the world’s leading federal scholars and national experts. The Covid-19 pandemic presented an unprecedented emergency for countries worldwide, including all those with a federal or hybrid-federal system of government, which account for more than 40 per cent of the world’s population. With case studies from 19 federal countries, this book explores the core elements of federalism that came to the fore in combatting the pandemic: the division of responsibilities (disaster management, health care, social welfare, and education), the need for centralisation, and intergovernmental relations and cooperation. As the pandemic struck federal countries at roughly the same time, it provided a unique opportunity for comparative research on the question of how the various federal systems responded. The authors adopt a multidisciplinary approach to question whether federalism has been a help or a hindrance in tackling the pandemic. The value of the book lies in understanding how the Covid-19 pandemic affected federal dynamics and how it may have changed them, as well as providing useful lessons for how to combat such pandemics in federal countries in the future. This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of politics and international relations, comparative federalism, health care, and disaster management. The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.

Examining 36 democracies from 1945 to 2010, this text arrives at conclusions about what type of democracy works best. It demonstrates that consensual systems stimulate economic growth, control inflation and unemployment, and limit budget deficits.

Early Americans were suspicious of centralized authority and executive power. Casting away the yoke of England and its king, the founding fathers shared in this distrust as they set out to pen the Constitution. Weighing a need for consolidated leadership with a demand for states' rights, they established a large federal republic with limited dominion over the states, leaving most of the governing responsibility with the former colonies. With this dual system of federalism, the national government held the powers of war, taxation, and commerce, and the ability to pass the laws necessary to uphold these functions. Although the federal role has grown substantially since then, states and local governments continue to perform most of the duties in civil and criminal law, business and professional licensing, the management of infrastructure and public services: roads, schools, libraries, sanitation, land use and development, and etc. Despite the critical roles of state and local governments, there is little awareness-or understanding-of the nature and operations of the federal system. This Very Short Introduction provides a concise overview of federalism, from its origins and evolution to the key events and constitutional decisions that have defined its framework. Although the primary focus is on the United States, other federal systems, including Brazil, Canada, India, Germany, Russia, South Africa, Switzerland, and the EU, are addressed.