Module 7

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“The Lesson from the Modern American Federalism: A Challenge to Effective Public Policy Performance.”

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The author “suggests that despite the increased complexity of the U.S. federal system, it has evolved in such an appropriate way that would increase the efficiency of the federal system by dividing a clear intergovernmental responsibility on major policy platforms.” Do you think this perspective provides a realistic and applicable understanding of American federalism for public administrators on any U.S. governmental level of government in efficiently implementing public policy? Why or why not?

Your initial response to this discussion should be at least 500 words in length. Be careful to cite sources appropriately.

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ISSN: 2036-5438

The Lesson from the Modern American Federalism:

A Challenge to Effective Public Policy Performance
by

Geiguen Shin

Perspectives on Federalism, Vol. 10, issue 2, 2018

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Abstract

Contemporary U.S. federalism particularly since the late1960s has evolved over the

course of pluralism alternating exercisable governmental powers between the federal and

state governments. The complexity of the power relationship has been observed in a

variety of policies during the past quarter-century as has the discussion of whether or not

contemporary U.S. federalism has developed in a way that increase effective public policy

performance. Focusing mainly on the period of the past 50 years of U.S. federalism history,

this

article suggests that federalism dynamics have not exercised either constant liberal or

conservative influence on public policy performance. Instead, this article suggests that the

clear functional responsibility between the federal government and state and local

governments have characterized contemporary U.S. federalism—more federal

responsibility for redistribution and more state and local responsibility for development,

which in turn increased public policy performance. This feature has been quite substantial

since 1970s. As a result, this article suggests that despite the increased complexity of the

U.S. federal system, it has evolved in such an appropriate way that would increase the

efficiency of federal system by dividing a clear intergovernmental responsibility on major

policy platforms.

Key-words

U.S. federalism, public policy performance, functional responsibility, policy-making

process

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1. Introduction

During the 20th century, there have been constant variations in U.S. federalism. The

period of cooperative federalism (1913-1964) was subject to overlapping responsibilities

between the federal and subnational governments, whereas the period of centralized

federalism (1964-1980) showed a clear expansion of the federal government. The era of new

federalism (1980-2001) was an attempt to transfer the power of the federal government to

state and local governments, and the period of representational federalism (2001-present) does

not contain any constitutional division of powers between federal and

state governments.

Contemporary U.S. federalism, particularly since the late 1960s, has evolved through

pluralism, alternating exercisable governmental powers between the federal and state

governments. The earlier phase of U.S. federalism has drawn a relatively clear form of

cooperative federalism, which aims essentially to expand the supremacy of the federal

government. Similarly, the period of contemporary U.S. federalism since the late 1960s has

been characterized by the increasing coercive power of the federal government over state

and local governments, but it has exhibited a more complex mixture of dual and

cooperative elements than had been shown during earlier periods in the history of

federalism (Kincaid 2008: 10-11; Zimmerman 2008: 2).

Although founding fathers were passionate enough to suggest an idealistic form of U.S.

federalism based on stronger central power, the power relationship between the federal and

state governments has become more complicated due to subsequent constitutional

provisions based on the Supreme Court justices’ view federalism. Looking at the important

decisions of the Supreme Court between 1900 and 1980, the Supreme Court has been

supportive of more federal power over states’ sovereignty. Through the early 1900s, the

Supreme Court had been divided between the limitation of the federal government’s

authority, as shown in the cases of Hammer v. DagenhartI in 1918 and United States v. WheelerII

in 1920, and its expansion, as shown in the case of Swift and Company v. United StatesIII in

1905, Missouri v. HollandIV in 1920, and J. W. Hampton, Jr. & Co. v. United StatesV in 1928.

The Great Depression, however, influenced the Supreme Court to allow even more power

to the federal government by extensively interpreting the Commerce Clause. In the National

Labor Relations Board v. Jones and Laughlin SteelVI case in 1937, for example, the Supreme

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Court ruled that the National Labor Relations Act of 1935 is constitutional, and thus the

federal government can use its authority under the Commerce Clause to regulate interstate

commerce. Other examples that showed the willingness of the Supreme Court to hold the

supremacy of the federal government include the cases of Steward Machine Company v.

DavisVII in 1937, Wickard v. FilbumVIII in 1942, Cooper v. AaronIX in 1958, and Oregon v.

MitchellX in 1970.

Over the past quarter-century, however, the ideology of the Supreme Court has been

back and forth between decisions in favor of increasing federal power and decisions in

favor of defending state sovereignty. Supreme Court cases such as Garcia v. San Antonio

Metropolitan Transit AuthorityXI in 1985, South Dakota v. DoleXII in 1987, U.S. Term Limits, Inc.

v. ThorntonXIII in 1995, Gonzales v. RaichXIV in 2005, and Arizona v. United StatesXV in 2012 has

forced state governments to cooperate with the federal government. On the contrary, the

rulings of New York v. United StatesXVI in 1992, United States v. LopezXVII in 1995, Printz v.

United StatesXVIII in 1997, Clinton v. City of New YorkXIX in 1998, and United States v. MorrisonXX

in 2000 have defended states’ rights over the federal dominance. As a result, the late 20th

and the early 21st centuries of U.S. federalism show that the lines between federal and state

power have become blurred.

The complexity of the power relationship has been observed in a variety of policies

during the past quarter-century as has the discussion of whether or not contemporary U.S.

federalism has developed in a way that increase effective public policy performance.

Indeed, this question has not yet been clearly answered, as U.S. federalism does not draw a

clear line between what is great and aggregate and what is local and particular (Pagano

2007: 9; Walker 2000: 15). This unclear boundary of roles between the federal and state

governments has caused slower policy-making processes and obscured the boundary of

policy responsibility. This essentially increases political and administrative costs, and

thereby producing untidiness, fragmentation, and inefficiencies in public policy

performance (Nathan 2008: 13-25). In conservative periods, there has been a strong belief

that states take substantial regulatory powers over the nation. Thus, states have exerted

more independent political power and economic interest, which is not entirely curbed by

federal power and the Constitution (Grodzins 2007: 57-58). However, in liberal periods,

the federal government has taken many additional responsibilities because they believe that

people can be bettered by the exercise of national governmental power. Leaving this

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inherent and atypical complexity in the U.S. federal system, one substantial question arises:

how effectively has the U.S. federal system evolved to increase public policy performance?

Based on the founding fathers’ idea on U.S. federalism, the ideal shape of federalism

might be result from coordinating the actions of subnational actors in policy subsystems.

This in turn would increase effective public policy outcomes. Although the U.S. federal

system could be successful when it has established a democratic institution by manifesting

the separation of powers between the federal and subnational governments, it is

challenging taking into consideration structural complexities that result from the division of

powers and responsibilities among many different units of government. In terms of power

relationships, U.S. federalism remains mostly a nation-centered one, but there has been a

far more fluid division of power due to the institutional constraints, growing state

operational responsibilities, and sometimes, critical social or economic changes since the

Second World War. However, narrowing down our focus on U.S. federalism to public

policy performance, the contemporary history of U.S. federalism clearly provides some

important lesson about how effectively public policies have been managed in a federal

system, regardless of the changing trends of U.S. federalism, whether in traditional liberal or

conservative political cleavage.

Focusing mainly on the period of the past 50 years of U.S. federalism history, this

article suggests that federalism dynamics have not exercised either constant liberal or

conservative influence on public policy performance. Instead, the clear functional

responsibility between the federal government and state and local governments have

characterized contemporary U.S. federalism—more federal responsibility for redistribution

and more state and local responsibility for development, which in turn increased public

policy performance. This feature has been quite substantial since 1970s. As a result, this

article suggests that despite the increased complexity of the U.S. federal system, it has

evolved in such an appropriate way that would increase the efficiency of federal system by

dividing a clear intergovernmental responsibility on major policy platforms.

2. The Definition of the U.S. Federalism

Under a unitary system of government, a central government possesses ultimate

sovereign power over all other entities within the state. While the small city-states such as

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Singapore and Monaco facilitate centralized policy-decision based on a single-tiered

governing system, the vast majority of countries such as China, France, Italy, Japan, Korea,

Sweden, and the United Kingdom have multi-tiered governments based on a unitary

government system (Rodden 2004: 497; Shah 2007: 4). On the contrary, the federal system

entails a distinctive territorial division of powers (national and subnational governments),

the juristic device of giving legal protection to the authority of subnational governments of

a polity, and certain attitudes embedded in the constitutional and political cultures (Beer

1973: 50-51). The different levels of government exercise separate and autonomous

authority, electing their own officials, and taxing their own citizens. While this definition of

federalism can be generally applied to most countries that adopt the federal system, U.S.

federalism has distinct features in comparison with systems in other countries.

Countries with a federal system vary considerably in terms of the power relationship

between the national and subnational governments. While the Constitutions of some

establish a considerable power with the national government over subnational units of

governments (e.g., Australia, Germany, India, and Mexico), some others delegate a

substantial power, especially taxation power, to subnational governments (e.g., Brazil,

Canada, and Switzerland) (Shah 2007: 4-6). In the form of cooperative federalism, some

countries like Belgium and Brazil exercise a federal system in which all units of

governments have autonomous and equal responsibilities (Shah 2007: 6). However, in the

U.S., the federal government exercises somewhat moderate power over state and local

governments, and the federal system has retained an effective balance that serves both the

liberty of states and the stability of the nation. However, the U.S. federalism is close to a

fluid concept, which does not clearly define the boundary of responsibility between the

federal and state/local governments. Historically, the courts and Congress have defined the

relationship between federal and state governments. Thus, the level of authority of the

federal government has been changing. For this reason, the scholarship in U.S. federalism

has focused more on issues of by which unit of government a policy decision should be

made, rather than the substance of the policies themselves. This indicates that the challenge

to effective public policy performance in the U.S. federal system would result in the

effective policy coordination and accountability to manage policies between federal and

state governments.

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3. Federalism Dynamics: Getting More Liberal or Conservative?

In earlier periods, there was a strong belief that the states should reserve substantial

powers, and each state ought to pursue a different mix of commercial, financial, and other

economic policies. Traditionally public opinion has expressed distrust of the federal

government and placed great value in the strength and reliability of state and local

governments (Conlan 2017: 177). There was also the opinion that ‘[t]he constitutional

restraints on the expansion of national authority are less important and less direct today

than they were in 1879 or in 1936’ (Grodzins 2007: 59). As a result, states attempted to

increase more independent political power as well as economic interests, which were not

entirely curbed by federal power or the Constitution during the early 1900s. However, in

recent years, political conflict over federalism has tended to follow traditional ‘liberal’

political cleavage, which means that liberals enhance the power of the national government

because they believe that people can be bettered by the exercise of national governmental

power. The Constitution also defines the superior power of the federal government, and

there have been some decisive moments behind the incremental growth of the federal

power since World War II. For instance, the regulatory power of the federal government

during the decade following World War II was much greater than the previous era because

‘the agencies that had been expanded during the war to cope with unique war-related

problems, were able to hold on to part of their new resources and authority by relying on

pressure from special interests and inertia in the political process’ (Rockoff 1999: 261).

First, some critical events transformed decentralizing tendencies to centralizing

tendencies. The serious financial crisis immediately following World War II forced the

federal government to take more responsibility for economic recovery. The Great

Depression lasted throughout the 1970s dramatically changed the role of the federal

government to take more substantial policy responsibilities. More recently, centralizing

statutes have been adopted in the aftermath of wars and natural disasters. These

centralizing tendencies were highlighted in response to the terrorist attacks of September

11, 2001 and the U.S. occupation of Iraq. These events prompted the immediate passage of

the USA Patriot Act of 2001 (Conlan and Dinan 2007: 280). Furthermore, the occurrence

of Hurricane Katrina came with passage of the Defense Authorization Act of 2007, which

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allows the president to federalize the National Guard without the permission of a governor

(Dinan 2008: 383).

Second, constitutional constraints have affected the expansion of federal power. For

example, the Garcia v. San Antonio Metropolitan Transportation Authority case in 1985 dealt with

the Fair Labor Standard Act (FLSA), which ‘establishes minimum wage, overtime pay,

recordkeeping, and child labor standards affecting full-time and part-time workers in the

private sector and in Federal, State, and local governments’ (United States Department of

Labor 2016: 1). In Garcia, the U.S. Supreme Court expanded the congressional power to

directly exert its legislation in matters traditionally reserved to the states (Wright 1988: 40-

42). The case arose after Congress directly ordered state and local governments to pay

minimum wages to their employees. The decision was made by the Court’s belief that state

interests will be protected by the political safeguards of federalism. In another sense,

despite the constitutional restraints on the increase of the federal authority, the Garcia case

indicates that the Supreme Court has flip-flopped on some major issues and does not draw

a clear line of responsibility between the federal and state governments. Looking at four

major previous decisions regarding FLSA including the Garcia case, first in Maryland v.

Wirtz,XXI the Court held that FLSA can be applied to states, and then in National League of

Cities v. Usery,XXII it held that it cannot be applied to states, but in Garcia v. San Antonio

Metropolitan Transportation Authority,XXIII the Court reverted back to the decision that it can

be applied to the states, and again, in Alden v. Maine,XXIV the Court ruled that it cannot be

applied to the states (Friedman 2000: 249-250).

Third, public and interest groups have influenced the expansion of federal power. For

example, the National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984 required all states to limit the

legal age for alcohol to 21 years old. This Act was the result of a strong citizens’ lobby,

including groups such as Mothers Against Drunk Driving. Thus, public opinion supports

the federal government more than state governments when their interests can be better

protected or enacted by the central authority.

Finally, the fiscal power defined by the Constitution allows for the expansion of federal

power. Especially, the centralizing tendencies resulted from Congress restricting ‘the states

from taxing much—such as the retirement income of nonresidents,XXV internet access,XXVI

or interstate business with limited nexus’XXVII (Gamage and Shanske 2016: 547). The Tax

Reform Act (1986) increased federal power over taxation although they possess their own

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taxation authority protected by the Constitution (Pagano 1988: 37-38). While it can be seen

that the sharp increase in the number of preemption statutes has substantially limited the

discretionary authority of states over tax policies, it is noteworthy that the federal

government has gradually increased spending on redistributive areas as well as increased its

taxing authority. Indeed, ‘[a] series of tax acts starting with the 1986 Tax Reform Act—and

running parallel to the erosion of the traditional welfare system—has increased assistance

to the working poor through expansions of the Earned Income Tax Credit’ (Eissa and

Hoynes 2011: 689).

However, the evidence of centralizing tendencies of U.S. federalism does not

necessarily mean that the federalism dynamic has exercised a constant liberal trend to

increase federal power over states. This is because policy implementation and output in the

policy process are not constant to one dominant power either by the federal or state

governments. That is, as many scholars have observed in the pattern of policy changes in

institutions, the power between the federal and state governments to influence policy

outputs has changed over time (e.g., Baumgartner and Jones 1993: 25-38 ; Kingdon 1984:

1-17; Lindblom 1959: 79-80; Sabatier and Weible, 2007: 189-190). I suggest three

phenomena of the federalism dynamics in public policies: first, the linkage between the

federal and state governments is an interdependent relationship; second, the balance of

power between two different units of government is unstable; and third, states and local

governments have pushed for more discretionary power in policy making.

First of all, many public policy outputs show evidence that the federal and state

governments interact with each other to make better policy. The interdependent

relationship began with cooperative federalism that implies the existence of two planes of

government. In this perspective, the federal government offers scores of assistance

programs to states and localities in exchange for their agreement to implement a program.

Department of Housing and Urban Development in the early 1970s and the mid-1980s is

an example of successful bargaining between federal and local governments. The Great

Depression of the 1930s forced the federal government to recover the national economy

especially by taking more responsibility for poverty and unemployment, and states were

also supportive of and cooperative with the federal policy to do it but by increasing their

investment on economic development programs. Most recently, the state governments

have been increasingly cooperative to the immigration and homeland security policy, and

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this was particularly true in 2005, with the passage of the REAL ID Act requiring state

driver’s licenses to be brought into compliance with national standards (Dinan 2006: 334).

These cases indicate that there has been no dominant power of either federal or state

governments to drive public policy performance, but the power has been balanced between

the federal and state governments to increase the efficiency of federalism.

Second, public policy output is not fixed by either federal or state governments. That

is, a policy output is temporal according to the changing perspective between the federal

and state governments. A good example is education policy. Traditionally, authority over

public education is given to the discrepancy of states or local governments. The

Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 was narrowly targeted on inputs and

contained few federal mandates. However, the federal government has increased control

over education, because the quality of public schools has been low. Responding to the

federal government’s increasing responsibility to ensure quality public education, President

George W. Bush signed into law the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, which

dramatically expanded the federal role in elementary and secondary education policy.XXVIII

However, NCLB’s performance has been the subject of extensive criticism due to a lack of

consensus on policy details between different units of government (Krane and Koening

2005: 2; MaGuinn 2005: 60). This example shows that there is temporal variation of

federalism, which may cause intergovernmental conflict.

Third, subnational governments have exercised their own power over public policy

making. An era of new federalism was a critical time that Richard Nixon shifted power away

from Washington and expanded the power of state and local governments. One of Nixon’s

most ambitious initiatives was to establish a program of revenue sharing from the federal

level to state and local governments. Likewise, Ronald Reagan pledged to reduce the size of

the national government, in part, for the purpose of reducing the increased government

deficit. One of his practices to this end was administrative simplification. While Nixon

preferred a system that provided more extensive federal aid to states, Reagan’s variant of

New Federalism was a transfer of national responsibility to the states as well as significant

cuts in federal grants (Bohte and Meier 2000: 40). In the early 1980s, federal aids were

reduced, some programs like General Revenue Sharing and anti-recession fiscal assistance

grants were eliminated (Stephens and Wikstrom 2007: 132-137).

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As an example of policy output, states have dramatically increased their power over

even international commerce. Some economically interdependent states have attempted to

take the economic incentives from the global market into their own market (Fry 1998: 67-

76; Kline 1999: 112-113). States often act to address problems when the federal

government has failed to do so. Partial preemption statutes have been enacted in an

innovative manner to increase the discretionary authority of states. Examples of such laws

include the Marine Sanctuaries Act Amendments of 1984 and the Riegle-Neal Interstate

Banking and Branching Efficiency Act of 1994.

4. Lessons from Modern U.S. Federalism

Overall, the federalism dynamic did not exert a steady and inexorable liberal influence

during the past several decades. The reality of U.S. federalism is that all levels of

government have independent power over public policy performance. Although the federal

government is firmly established by exercising its power in the U.S. government, state and

local governments have also enhanced their power. The Tenth Amendment has

significantly expanded the state power by designating ‘in whose favor (the states) powers

not delegated to the United States are reserved, contingent, however, on each state

government’s ability to meet the affirmative demands of its own constitution’ (Van Alstyne

1987: 770). Although state governments influence local governments, they have

considerably influenced ‘street-level’ policy performances (Lipsky 2010: 48-53). Local

governments have exerted independent power over even international affairs. Some good

examples are the economic sanction impositions of the city of San Francisco against

Myanmar. More recently, New York City’s comptroller banned certain Swiss banks from

bidding on billions of dollars in bond offerings. In contrast, in fiscal policy, state and local

governments remain dependent on the fiscal support of federal government. It is

indisputable that the fiscal role of the federal government may limit the subnational

governments’ discretionary power to implement public policies. For example, the

Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 was introduced by President

Bush to cut the federal income-tax, and it caused revenue decline for those states that base

their income-tax amounts on taxpayers’ federal income-tax payments.

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The fact that neither centralizing nor decentralizing tendencies on public policy

performance has been constant suggests that the interaction between federal and state

governments has not been so well coordinated. However, this does not necessarily mean

that the U.S. federalism has evolved in the considerable structural complexity and thus has

produced ineffective public policy performance. As seen in the cases of major policies,

policy making and output have consistently changed along with the power shifts between

national and subnational government, but the policy responsibility has been clearly divided

between the federal and state governments. This raises an important but unanswered

question: what lessons do we learn from the changing U.S. federalism during the particular

past 50 years?

From colonial times through much of the early nineteenth century, state and local

political institutions played a large role in shaping their economies. By the time of the

revolution, the American colonies were accustomed to practice English mercantilism,

which stressed centralized forms of authority in order to promote commerce and industry.

Although the new nation was willing to sustain a government intervention in nurturing

economic development, the early U.S. colonial governments attempted to mitigate a

shortage of capital resources by providing such incentives as stimulating legal frameworks

and direct aids to private enterprise (Brace 1993: 1-3). States became active in promoting

economic development through the first third of the nineteenth century. For example, the

state of New York achieved enormous economic success by constructing the Erie Canal.

This brought about a large economic growth in the state by reducing the cost of

transportation from the farm to the market transportation costs. The success of this canal

encouraged other states, including Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Virginia, and South Carolina, to

build an extensive infrastructure in order to facilitate the growth of their economies. In the

middle of the nineteenth century, however, states experienced a fiscal crisis due to ‘the

result of substantial government expenditure without fiscal coordination’ (Brace 1993: 20).

During the late nineteenth century, the states’ ability to control their economy was

strongly limited by federal intervention. After the Civil War, federal revenue increased as a

result of industrialization and a higher protective tariff allowed the federal government to

pay off the Civil War debt. The aftermath of the Civil War increased federal governmental

spending. This era has been described as ‘the era of national subsidy’ (Schlesinger 1999:

234). Furthermore, a decade after the Granger cases—a series of cases in 1877 which

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concluded that states have the power to regulate businesses that served a public interest—

the Supreme Court took a conservative turn and started to limit states’ role in economic

development. In the Wabash Case in 1886, the Court declared that an Illinois statute

violated the exclusive power of Congress over interstate commerce. In Chicago, Milwaukee

and Saint Paul Railroad Co. v. Minnesota in 1890, the Supreme Court held that the railroad rate

regulation by a state legislative commission is unconstitutional (Brace 1993: 21). By the

1890s, the Supreme Court had greatly curtailed the regulatory power of states, and thus,

increased the role of federal over the U.S. economy.

By the beginning of the twentieth century, the federal government exerted even more

power in the economic realm. Theodore Roosevelt expanded the regulatory role of the

federal government when facing both an economic depression and a banking panic in

1907. Woodrow Wilson also maintained the strong role of the federal government in order

to preserve fair competition. The Great Depression through the 1930s affected the federal

government to adopt more substantial responsibilities at the expense of the states. As

noted by Webber and Wildavsky (1986: 411), ‘the New Deal was acceptance by the U.S.

public of the doctrine that the federal government has ultimate responsibility for the

economy.’ Furthermore, after World War II, the economic role of the federal government

dramatically increased. Paradoxically, however, the increased poverty rate after the Great

Depression motivated Washington to achieve their economic goal in a way that transferred

the increased economic gains to the underrepresented regions or citizens lacking in

economic resources. Indeed, states have been delinquent to increase the redistributive

efforts in an ever more integrated economy (Peterson 1995a: 92-93).

The Great Recession between the late 2000s and early 2010s caused many state

governments to compel Congress to pass an economic stimulus measure in excess of three

quarters of a trillion dollars. The Obama administration established ‘legislation to reform

the entire federal economic regulatory structure, including provisions to consolidate federal

regulatory responsibilities, enhance the power of the Federal Reserve, and create a new

systemic risk overseer for the marketplace as a whole’ (Kantor 2010: 3). However, as

shown in the details of the enactment of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act,

the stimulus package allocated more than 60% of total funds to welfare programs and tax

cuts. This means that a significant portion was not spent directly in stimulating the growth

of physical infrastructure or providing financial incentives to the existing industries and

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businesses. Rather, federal money was spent on increasing economic growth indirectly by

helping temporarily economically underrepresented populations to re-enter the labor

market. Instead, state governments have been more willing to take initiatives in stimulating

economic development because their decisions were driven by market forces and political

pressures (Brace and Mucciaroni 1990: 152-154; Eisinger 1989: 9).

Based on an objective perspective, many scholars assert that ‘policy problems occur

because intergovernmental hierarchy, in terms of communication or organization, breaks

down, because member of the Congress play politics with intergovernmental programs, or

because local governments are not committed to federal policies’ (Ellison 1998: 36). As

such, the solution to coordinate different levels of government can be achieved by

exercising effective governance and by structuring a pivotal institution. Good governance

can enhance the balance and coordination among levels of government. ‘Governance

generally refers to the means for achieving direction, control, and coordination of wholly

or partially autonomous individuals or organizations on behalf of interests to which they

jointly contribute’ (Lynn et al. 2000: 235). Good governance requires agreement about

common goals, clear communication, and a division of labor to make use of scarce

resources (Roberts 2008: 3-14). However, it is difficult to define how to achieve it. One

argument is whether centralization or decentralization can enhance coordination and

accountability among levels of government. Although none of scholars confirm which type

of government structure is better, there is the inclination to believe that a clear functional

and operational dispersion helps to coordinate different units of government in policy

subsystems (Peterson 1995a: 50). This leads to policy responsibility of all units of

government and to more effective public policy performance.

Throughout the history of American federalism, we can observe that the policy

examples of changing power between the federal and state government can be explained by

three larger policy roles of governments, national security/safety, redistributive and

developmental policies. While there have been few challenges that states take more

authority on defense and security policies over the federal government throughout the U.S.

history, the contemporary history of U.S. federalism has shown that two different units of

governments have exercised cooperative and divided responsibilities largely in two

different forms of public policies: redistributive and economic development policies.

Functional theory provides a potentially powerful explanation of how the federal and state

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governments have been cooperative based on policy implications. According to functional

theory, each level of government establishes the function that it can run more effective and

efficient. Traditionally, the federal government has focused more on redistributive policy

reallocating economic resources from the rich to the poor—the elderly, the disabled, the

unemployed, the sick, the poor, etc.—while state governments have been more interested

in pursuing economic growth policy including developmental programs—physical

infrastructure such as roads, mass transit systems, public parks, etc.—and social

infrastructure such as personal property protection, education, etc (Peterson 1995b: 8). In

this sense, there is no dominance of either the federal or state governments in driving

policy making process. In other words, although the past several decades have shown that

the federal government has increased its coercive power over states, its increase was just

the growth of federal power to take more responsibility on social welfare programs in that

states have been reluctant to participate.

As a result, the U.S. federalism can be viewed as a substantial contribution to the

growth of both the federal and state governments by exercising comparative advantages

that each level of government can best perform. In particular, the practice of democratic

values and improvement in the efficiency of U.S. federalism has increased the extent of the

role of all units of governments on public policy. This is basically a byproduct of

advantages inherent to U.S. federalism. The federal system clearly has the advantages of

enabling state and local governments to develop and to implement programs that they

want to develop more. ‘Uniformity of policy and administration can be achieved in national

affairs to the extent needed while states retain control over their respective internal affairs’

(Zimmerman 2008: 5). The U.S. federal system as democratic institution of pluralism has

increased cycles of activism alternating between federal and state governments, depending

on the goal of achieving effective governance and maximizing democratic values (Nathan

2008: 13-25). The overall effect of these variations over time has increased the roles and

responsibilities of both the federal and state governments in major public policies as a

whole. Looking at the past 50 years, indeed, the U.S. federalism draws a clear line between

what is general and aggregate and what is local and particular. As probably Peterson (1995:

191-195) wanted to see, the U.S. federal system at least for the past 50 years has been

evolving in a way that respects the comparative advantages of each level of government.

Both federal and state governments have strengthened the cooperative intergovernmental

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relationship that produces efficiency policies and performance. This essentially decreases

political and administrative cost.

5. Conclusion

Looking back to the past 50 years, the U.S. federal system was characterized by ‘the

increasing concentration of political powers in national government flowing from

congressional preemption statutes removing completely or partially regulatory powers from

subnational governments and generally broad U.S. Supreme Court interpretations of the

scope of the delegated powers of Congress’ (Zimmerman 2008: 2). The U.S. federal

system, however, has not clearly exercised any one direction of traditional liberal or

conservative political cleavages on policy-making processes. Such complexity is more

obvious in recent decades. National Federation of Independent Business v. SebeliusXXIX in 2012

upheld congressional powers to enact provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable

Care Act. Regarding a landmark civil rights case, however, United States v. WindsorXXX in

2013 and Obergefell v. HodgesXXXI in 2015 cases suggest that the federal recognition of

marriage to apply only to opposite-sex couples is invalid, but that the marriage is not yet

clearly defined by the Supreme Court. Based on the Court decisions, in United States v.

Windsor case, any same-sex couples who were married in states that permitted same-sex

marriage legally are treated the same under federal law as married opposite-sex couples, and

in Obergefell v. Hodges case, all fifty states must recognize the same-sex marriage on the same

conditions as the opposite-sex marriage (Harr et al. 2018: 104). As a result, while the

former cases meant the respect of the federal government to states’ autonomous

interpretation on marriage as the Court recognized states that permitted the marriages of

same-sex couples, the latter case indicates the increase of the federal authority as the Court

decision enforced states that are against the legitimacy of same-sex marriage. However, this

trend does not mean that the U.S. federal system has been evolving in ineffective ways to

design and administer public policies. Rather, the U.S. federalism has become ‘a dynamic

and flexible one characterized by fluidity in the distribution of formal political powers

between Congress and states over time’ (Zimmerman 2008: 55). I agree with Walker’s

argument: after World War II, ‘the direction of U.S. federalism does not tend to any one

direction, as many have contended, but is of an ambiguous nature, given the many

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conflicting trends within various arenas of intergovernmental action. In the regulatory,

judicial, program, and fiscal areas, no one tendency is consistently dominant’ (Walker 2000:

2).

However, such a conventional debate whether the U.S. federalism dynamic is getting

more liberal or conservative does not provide any useful information to evaluate the

efficiency of U.S. federalism on public policy performance. From Montesquieu to Madison

to Riker, there have been issues of whether U.S. federalism should be centralized or

decentralized, and whether it should be more cooperative or competitive. Popular attitudes

on domestic policy issues still vary according to a local-by-local and a state-by-state basis.

The U.S. federal system shows, however, that a mix between more federally- and state-

driven policy initiatives has produced both directly and indirectly beneficial policies to

increase policy outcomes. As the functional theory of U.S. federalism suggests, American

states have proven to be more resourceful than the federal government on economic

development ventures. However, such growing globalization issues as national security,

environmental protection, and the growing volume of trade expand the role of the federal

government, which would benefit regional governments. Paradoxically, the decentralizing

features of contemporary U.S. federalism caused by the financial crisis necessitates that the

federal government leans more toward a state-centered creed by delegating to the states, a

substantial amount of power to manage economic development policies, while the federal

government takes more responsibility for taking care of the poor by increasing its spending

on social welfare areas. As a corollary, the complexity of issues makes it much simpler to

expect that in the future U.S. federalism will be evolving to increase its efficiency by

separating the functional responsibilities on such policies that each unit of government can

best perform.

Perhaps, a better evaluation for the contemporary as well as future U.S. federalism

dynamic might be made, as many federalism scholars have done, by examining ‘how

government should look according to some normative benchmark, be it efficiency,

democracy, or representation’ (Erik 2006: 166). In another way, the character of the future

federalism dynamic would be evaluated by examining the extent of operational federalism

such as ‘the funding, running, and accounting of public programs, whether inter-

governmentally or by separate levels’ (Walker 2000: 321). It still needs, however, to clarify

not only how well U.S. federalism based on many varieties balances or harmonizes

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distribution of policy responsibility among different levels of governments, but how

effectively it reflects changing public demands in the democratic creed. Justice Louis

Brandeis describes federalism as ‘the laboratories of democracy’ (Pagano 2007: 6). The

federal system, grounded in democratic values, can improve political and policy

performance on all levels of government. Although scholars and politicians contest

whether federalism is still a core value in American political culture, no one may disagree

that the American federalism should be rooted in a healthy and balanced intergovernmental

association by increasing the cooperative production of public policy.

Geiguen Shin is a post-doctoral research associate of the School of Public Affairs and Administration at
Rutgers University-Newark, New Jersey, USA. His research focuses on federalism and intergovernmental
relations, public management, and regional economic development. The author would like to thank Professor
Lois Warner for her patient editing assistance. Email: geiguen.shin@rutgers.edu; geiguen@gmail.com.
I 247 U.S. 251 (1918). The Court ruled that ‘the Keating-Owen Child Labor Act was outside the Commerce
Power and the regulation of production was a power reserved to the states via the Tenth Amendment.’
https://www.oyez.org/cases/1900-1940/247us251
II 254 U.S. 281 (1920). ‘In all the states, from the beginning down to the establishment of the Articles of
Confederation, the citizens possessed the right, inherent in citizens of all free governments, peacefully to
dwell within the limits of their respective states, to move at will from place to place therein, and to have free
ingress thereto and egress therefrom. A consequent authority resided in the states to forbid and punish
violations of this right. P. 254 U. S. 293.’ https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/254/281/
III 196 US 375 (1905). In this case, the Court held that ‘congressional power under the Commerce Clause
justified regulations of the meat trust.’ https://www.oyez.org/cases/1900-1940/196us375
IV 252 U.S. 416 (1920). The Court held that ‘the national interest in protecting the wildlife could be protected
only by national action.’ https://www.oyez.org/cases/1900-1940/252us416
V 276 U.S. 394 (1928). The Court held that ‘Congress, within ‘defined limits,’ could vest discretion in
Executive officers to make public regulations and direct the details of statutory execution. The Court argued
that the same principle that allowed Congress to fix rates in interstate commerce also enabled it to remit to a
rate-making body under the control of the Executive branch.’ https://www.oyez.org/cases/1900-
1940/276us394
VI 301 U.S. 1 (1937).
VII 301 U.S. 548 (1937). The Court held that ‘the tax under the Social Security Act was a constitutional
exercise of congressional power.’ https://www.oyez.org/cases/1900-1940/301us548
VIII 317 U.S. 111 (1942). The Court ruled that ‘Congress may use its Commerce Power to regulate or prohibit
activities provided the economic effects of such activities are substantial.’ https://www.oyez.org/cases/1940-
1955/317us111
IX 358 U.S. 1 (1958). The Court held that ‘the Arkansas officials were bound by federal court orders that
rested on the Supreme Court’s decision in Brown v. Board of Education.’
https://www.oyez.org/cases/1957/1_misc
X 400 U.S. 112 (1970). The Court held that ‘Congress had the power to enact the amendments that changed
the voting age for federal elections, abolish literary tests at the polling station, and abolish state residency
requirements for presidential and vice presidential election.’ https://www.oyez.org/cases/1970/43-orig
XI 469 U.S. 528 (1985). The Court held that ‘the guiding principles of federalism established in National
League of Cities v. Usery were unworkable and that SAMTA was subject to Congressional legislation under
the Commerce Clause. The Court argued that the structure of the federal system itself, rather than any
‘discrete limitations’ on federal authority, protected state sovereignty.’ https://www.oyez.org/cases/1983/82-
1913
XII 483 U.S. 203 (1987). The Court held that ‘Congress, acting indirectly to encourage uniformity in states’
drinking ages, was within constitutional bounds. The Court found that the legislation was in pursuit of ‘the
general welfare,’ and that the means chosen to do so were reasonable.’

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https://www.oyez.org/cases/1986/86-260
XIII 514 U.S. 779 (1995). ‘The Constitution prohibits States from adopting Congressional qualifications in
addition to those enumerated in the Constitution.’ https://www.oyez.org/cases/1994/93-1456
XIV 545 U.S. 1 (2005). The Court held that ‘the commerce clause gave Congress authority to prohibit the local
cultivation and use of marijuana, despite state law to the contrary.’ https://www.oyez.org/cases/2004/03-
1454
XV 567 U.S. 387 (2012). The Court held that ‘the federal immigration laws preclude Arizona’s efforts at
cooperative law enforcement and preempt the four provisions of S.B. 1070 on their face.’
https://www.oyez.org/cases/2011/11-182
XVI 505 U.S. 144 (1992). It was a decision of the Supreme Court, ‘reasoning that Congress had the authority
under the Commerce Clause to use financial rewards and access to disposal sites as incentives for state waste
management. The third provision, the ‘take-title’ qualification, stipulated that states must take legal ownership
and liability for low-level waste or by the regulatory act.’ https://www.oyez.org/cases/1991/91-543
XVII 514 U.S. 549 (1995). The Court held that ‘the 1990 Gun-Free School Zones Act is, forbidding individuals
from knowingly carrying a gun in a school zone, unconstitutional because it exceeds the power of Congress
to legislate under the Commerce Clause.’ https://www.oyez.org/cases/1994/93-1260
XVIII 521 U.S. 898 (1997). ‘Using the Necessary and Proper Clause of Article I as justification, the Court held
that Congress can temporarily require state CLEOs to regulate handgun purchases by performing those
duties called for by the Brady Bill’s handgun applicant background-checks.’
https://www.oyez.org/cases/1996/95-1478
XIX 524 U.S. 417 (1998). The Court ruled that ‘the President’s ability to selectively cancel individual portions
of bills, under the Line Item Veto Act, violate the Presentment Clause of Article I.’
https://www.oyez.org/cases/1997/97-1374
XX 529 U.S. 598 (2000). The Court held that ‘Congress lacked the authority to enact a statute under the
Commerce Clause or the Fourteenth Amendment since the statute did not regulate an activity that
substantially affected interstate commerce nor did it redress harm caused by the state.’
https://www.oyez.org/cases/1999/99-5
XXI 392 U.S. 183 (1968). The Court held that ‘the inclusion of commercial enterprises is constitutional
because otherwise commercial enterprises that utilize substandard wages and excessive hours would have an
advantage over other companies.’ https://www.oyez.org/cases/1967/742
XXII 426 U.S. 833 (1976). The Court held that ‘Congress may not regulate the labor market of state employees.
The Tenth Amendment prohibits Congress from enacting legislation which operates to directly displace the
States’ freedom to structure integral operations in areas of traditional governmental functions.’
https://www.oyez.org/cases/1974/74-878
XXIII 469 U.S. 528 (1985). The Court held that that the guiding principles of federalism established in National
League of Cities v. Usery were unworkable and that the San Antonio Metropolitan Transit Authority was
subject to Congressional legislation under the Commerce Clause. https://www.oyez.org/cases/1983/82-
1913
XXIV 527 U.S. 706 (1999). In response to ‘a group of probation officers that sued their employer, the State of
Maine, in 1992 alleging that the state had violated the overtime provisions of the 1938 Fair Labor Standards
Act,’ the Court held that ‘Congress may not use its Article I powers to abrogate the states’ sovereign
immunity.’ https://www.oyez.org/cases/1998/98-436
XXV 4 U.S.C. section 114.
XXVI Internet Tax Freedom Act, 47 U.S.C. section 151 note.
XXVII P.L. 86-272
XXVIII NCLB was replaced to the Every Student Succeeds Act on December 2015, which basically returns the
substantial power to manage education policy to state governments.
XXIX 567 U.S. 519 (2012). The Court held that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, commonly
called Obamacare, was ‘an unconstitutional assertion of Congress’ power to regulate commerce among the
several states, but was nonetheless sustainable under Congress’ power to tax’ (Reynolds and Denning 2012:
807)
XXX 570 U.S. __ (2013).
XXXI 576 U.S. __ (2015).

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