POL 2101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 11: Fiscal Federalism, Ultimate Power

• School: University of Ottawa
• Department: Political Science
• Course: POL 2101
• Professor: Luc Turgeon

Document Summary

Distinction between a unitary and a federal state. Unitary state: a system of governing in which sovereign authority rests with the central government; regional and local governments are subordinate: doesn"t mean there is no regional government, but they are subordinate to the central state. Ex: france & most scandinavian countries: sovereignty is not divided (the ultimate power) it"s impossible to interfere with the central government. Distribution/separation of executive and legislative authority specific. Supreme ridden constitution that explicitly divides powers (judicial. Salient differences that are organized and expressed largely on the basis of territory (linguistic, history, culture, economic: key objective of federalism: preserve local communities that are territorially concentrated by allowing local management of affairs. Citizens are members of both the national community, embodied in the national government, and of provincial communities reflected in their provincial governments: recognizes that people have multiple. Federalism is intended to provide a balance between unity and diversity.