Comparing Federal Systems. 2nd ed.

Jeffrey J. Cormier is a Ph.D. candidate specializing in Canadian society
at McGill University.

This updated version of Watts’s concise analytical comparison of 11
federal political systems is a timely contribution to the recently
renewed interest in the role federations can, and do, play in
contemporary politics. For his general comparative survey, Watts singles
out four distinct categories of federations, mainly because of the
possible lessons they have for Canada. First, the United States (1789),
Switzerland (1848), Australia (1920), and Germany (1949) are used as
examples of long-lasting federations in highly industrialized countries.
Second, India (1950) and Malaysia (1963) are offered as as examples of
federations in developing countries. Third, Spain (1978) and Belgium
(1993) are presented as examples of relatively new federations in
already industrialized countries. Finally, Czechoslovakia and Pakistan
are used as examples of federations that—for various reasons explored
by Watts—eventually failed. Beneath the great variation of federal
forms in practice, Watts suggests, there exists a common struggle to
deal with deep social and cultural diversity. In fact, it is the
constant interaction between political institutions and social life that
tends to be the hallmark of federal politics.

These themes structure Watts’s analysis. He examines how both
political power and financial resources are distributed within
federations. He inquires into the variety of institutions in place to
deal with intergovernmental collaboration. He looks at the influence
political and constitutional asymmetry have on power relations between
governmental units, as well as the impact that membership in a larger
federation (e.g., NAFTA) has on provincial or state autonomy. Finally,
he attempts to measure the degree of decentralization contained in all
11 federal systems. While Canada is not the most decentralized
federation (that title goes to Switzerland), it is on several grounds
one of the most decentralized.

Some of Watts’s greatest insights are left until the end of the book.
He suggests that we abandon the stark options of either a rigid status
quo federalism or Quebec independence. Recent Canadian political history
has demonstrated that whole-scale constitutional change is bound to fail
as well. Rather, Watts argues for “incremental piecemeal
constitutional adjustment and ... pragmatic political adaptation ” as
our best options.