federalism

federalism Political system that allows states united under a central government to maintain a measure of independence. Examples include the USA, Australia, Canada, Germany, India, and Switzerland. Central government has supreme authority, but the component states retain a considerable amount of autonomy in such matters as education and health.

federalism A political system and philosophy which, within a particular nation-state, recognizes a central government for the whole country and autonomous regional governments for constituent states or provinces. The powers and functions of government are divided between the two levels. Federal systems must embody a means of resolving conflict between the centre and regions or between any two regions. Regional authorities are given specific duties and protected by rights from encroachment by the centre. Both levels of government have the right to legislate for tax. Switzerland and the United States are contemporary examples of federal political systems. The term is sometimes also applied to commercial and other organizations, as for example in the case of federal (as against centralized) labour movements, but its main application is with regard to systems of government.

federalism, in an Irish context, meant the creation of a local executive and legislature that would deal solely with domestic affairs, and would remain subordinate to the Westminster parliament. It was proposed in the 1840s, notably by William Sharman Crawford, as a middle position between repeal and the maintenance of the Act of Union in its existing form, but never developed an organized following. Isaac Butt initially described his proposals for Irish self‐government as federalism, but the term was quickly eclipsed by the less precise but, partly for that very reason, more attractive ‘home rule’.