ABSTRACT
This conclusion presents some closing thoughts on the key concepts covered in the preceding chapters of this book. The book discusses a theoretical framework for the comparative analysis of intergovernmental agreements in federal systems. This institutional approach was applied to six federations in an effort to understand why some appear to create more agreements than others. It summarizes and reviews the findings and explains their significance and limitations before suggesting further avenues for future research. This study of intergovernmental agreements furthers our understanding of federal institutions, how federations operate, and it provides an institutional explanation for both constitutional and non-constitutional change in federal systems. This study has attempted to begin to fill a significant gap in the literature on federalism and intergovernmental relations by exploring the topic of intergovernmental agreements. These federations can be compared and analyzed by studying the institutional features of federal systems because variations in these structures can account for much of the differences in agreement formation.
