American Federalism
Our system of American federalism has evolved considerably since the founding days. As discussed in course content, numerous metaphors and terms have been used in the past to describe the federal structure and intergovernmental relations.
These have included such adjectives as dual, cooperative, competitive, creative, horizontal, coercive, and centralized to name a few. Yet, many terms have failed to accurately capture the nature of national-state-local relations in modern times.
For this first essay, begin by creating a metaphor or term / short phrase which captures the nature of American federalism and intergovernmental in the twenty-first century.
Next, conceptualize the term, and write a 4-5 double-spaced paper that identifies several characteristics that draw upon relevant examples and theories.
Some considerations are: how does your term reflect the nature of relationships across tiers of government?
How has power and responsibility for policies and programs shifted to existing arrangements?
What are related to legal, political, or administrative aspects?
How does your metaphor or term express intergovernmental interdependence (or the lack of) in how tiers of government interact?
This essay meets course learning objective.
Your paper should be double-spaced and include a centered title. Any sources used should be properly cited in MLA format.
1: Demonstrate an understanding of the nature of the American federal system, course learning objective
2: Demonstrate an understanding of the nature of public, private, and nonprofit organizations and how they interrelate, and course learning objective
3: Demonstrate an understanding of changes in the federal system and the bearing of these changes on state and local government, and the private and nonprofit sectors.