Federalism: Contemporary political philosophy issues

Abstract

Federalism has important implications for basic philosophical concepts, including authority and distributive justice. Philosophers played key roles in the development of federalism as a(n at least purportedly) normative doctrine. However, federalism remains peripheral in contemporary political philosophy, leading to periodic calls for renewed scrutiny. This article identifies questions that any complete philosophical account of federalism should aim to answer and provides an overview of some dominant responses to those questions offered in contemporary work in law, political science, and the nascent contemporary philosophical work on the doctrine. It first explains why federalism should be considered philosophically important. It then explores issues about the meaning and purpose, paradigm cases, institutional implications, and subjects/objects of federalism. It finally highlights the need to explain federalism's relationships to adjacent concepts, like democracy, subsidiarity, and self‐determination, and possible links between them.

Federalism as an institutional doctrine

“…Yet, partly due to empirical developments, the dominant account outside philosophy now holds that federalism is a normative doctrine promoting a secure political organization combining “shared[‐]rule and self‐rule” and separates this federal “idea” from institutional forms that may realize it (Elazar, 1987; Watts, 2008). Philosophers often begin by accepting this ideological approach (as I discuss further in Da Silva, 2022). 5 Popelier (2021, p. 33) even suggests “all” scholars view this combination as federalism's “normative core.” But philosophical strictures and practical realities demand a more circumscribed approach.…”

“…I use this language in Da Silva 2022. I have since noticed that my schematic discussion there echoes King (1982).…”

“…5 5 Following Da Silva (2022), “ideological” here means “defined by commitment to an idea” and is non‐pejorative. This differs slightly from King (1982).…”