Federalism and Modernization

Canada and the United States

Bibliographic Data

ID6376992
AuthorsMilton J Esman (corresponding author)
Year1984
Publication date1984-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenuePublius The Journal of Federalism (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0048-5950 • E-ISSN: 1747-7107
PublisherOxford University Press (OUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1093/oxfordjournals.pubjof.a037472
OpenAlexW2023304943
LanguageEN
Citations received10

Since World War II, the federal systems in the United States and Canada have moved in opposite directions: the U.S. has become increasingly centralized, while the provinces in Canada have gained power at the expense of Ottawa. These divergences can be explained by such societal factors as economic structures, international commitments, and locations of minority populations; and by institutional factors, such as the number of constituent units, methods by which provincial authorities are represented in federal legislatures, and especially by the contrast between Canada's Westminster-type institutions and the U.S. separation of powers. These differences are illustrated by intergovernmental fiscal processes, energy policies, and federal-municipal relations. They cannot be accounted for by modernization theories, but rather by economic structures, demographic distributions, and especially constitutional and institutional arrangements

Decentralization · Economics · Federalism · fiscal federalism · Legislature · Modernization theory · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Power (physics · Separation of powers · State (computer science · World War II · Canadian Identity and History · Canadian Policy and Governance · Law · Political Systems and Governance · Public Administration