Federalism: A Conceptual and Theoritical Perspective

Abstract

Federalism, according to Elazar (1995), is an inevitable heterogeneous field that is rather difficult to discuss satisfactorily on a conceptual and theoretical level. Although the greatest strength of federalism is its adaptability or flexibility, this adaptability leads to ambiguity and creates significant conceptual and theoretical challenges, as mentioned by Erk (2006, p. 105) in a tangled mess of federalism definitions and context. Due to the fact that federalism already takes into account several perspectives, the terminology has been interpreted in various ways and adapted to match the various issues. Federalism is context-based, and context determines meaning. Since there is no commonly accepted definition of federalism (Ogunnoiki, 2017), federalism theories have also become a bigger, more complex topic that has gotten scant attention (Paleker, 2006). Given that the context of federalism is multifaceted and applied or understood differently by different people or perspectives, this paper compiles federalism concepts and theories used by scholars and researchers from various perspectives.