ABSTRACT
To many foreign observers, the practice of American federalism presents itself as something of a conundrum. On the one hand is the extraordinary variety of contrasting public policies displayed by the states. Most states levy an income tax, but ten do not; most have capital punishment, but twelve do not. State-mandated land-use planning is light-years away from the policy agenda in Texas-a state that prides itself on its free market in land-but in Hawaii state planning is a fact of life. In Louisiana laws governing the sale of intoxicating liquors are lax, whereas Utah is close to being a “dry” state with alcohol available only on a very limited basis and mainly in private clubs. On the other hand, American observers repeatedly conclude that federalism is dying-or is even dead; that the federal government has effectively usurped the powers of the states and now
plays the dominant role in American government. Federalism, so goes the message, has been transformed from a system of shared sovereignty with each level of government supreme in its own sphere and converted into a complex web of intergovernmental relations where political and economic forces, not constitutional imperatives, are the key variables.
