POL 102 Chapter Notes - Chapter 3: Patient Protection And Affordable Care Act, Tangled, Dual Federalism
9 Aug 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
Federalism is the relationship between different levels of government, sharing and squabbling over power. Source of creativity and innovation, but it makes effective and efficient governance far more difficult. History gave america two choices about how to organize a union: a unitary government or a confederation; americans invented a third. Unitary governments: a national polity governed as a single unit with the central government exercising all or most political authority. Confederation: a group of independent states or nations that yield some of their powers to a national government, although each state retains a degree of sovereign authority. Delegates devised an innovative hybrid: a federal system in which power is divided and shared between national and state governments. Because each level is independent and their powers overlap, conflict is built into the system. Constitution balances power and authority between state and national governments. Local leaders derive their authority from the state governments.
