ABSTRACT
Explaining Federalism is a study that puts society before the state. This brings the approach closer to the political sociology tradition. According to Reinhard Bendix and Seymour Martin Lipset, “political science starts with the state and examines how it affects society, while political sociology starts with society and examines how it affects the state.”1 Giovanni Sartori has also drawn attention to the different approaches that political sociology and political science employ: “The independent variables – causes, determinants, or factors – of the sociologist are, basically, social structures, while the independent variables – causes, determinants, or factors – of the political scientist are, basically, political structures.”2 Therefore, it is only natural that structuralist approaches are more prevalent in sociology.3
