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Chandler: Federalism and political parties. In Federalism and the Role of the State, Herman Bakvis and Willia

Disclaimer. Don't rely on these old notes in lieu of reading the literature, but they can jog your memory. As a grad student long ago, my peers and I collaborated to write and exchange summaries of political science research. I posted them to a wiki-style website. "Wikisum" is now dead but archived here. I cannot vouch for these notes' accuracy, nor can I say who wrote them.

Chandler. 1987. Federalism and political parties. In Federalism and the Role of the State, Herman Bakvis and Willia. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

In Brief

Key question: How do "variations in regionalism or territorial politics impinge on the role of political parties within federal systems and how [do] political parties in turn shape the forces of regionalism"?

Key argument: Federalism based on a jurisdictional division of labor leads to party bifurcation between the federal and provincial level. A functional division of labor encourages party integration between levels.

Key conclusion: Parties can serve an integrating function only if the federal structure is functional. Jurisdictional federalism leads to bifurcation.

Jurisdictional vs Functional Divisions

A "jurisdictional" division of labor has two autonomous levels of government (the usual form of federalism):

A "functional" division of labor (federal government sets policy; regional governments implement it) is a different form of federalism, mostly seen only in Germany, but also in Belgium:

Research on similar subjects

Tags

Chandler, William (author)Comparative PoliticsFederalismParties

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