ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book examines the concept of federalism, laying out the underlying conjectures about the processes and conditions that are assumed to provoke its failure. It outlines the development of the federal idea in the West Indies in the colonial period and offers a detailed account of its institutionalization during the transition of the West Indies from British rule to post-colonial sovereignty in 1950s. The book explains the failed Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland and also suggests that the failure of federal structures to negotiate between the black and white identity communities; each adopting distinct interests and normative convictions; precipitated the dissolution of the federation. It provides a historical outline of the formative process of the Czechoslovak federation and describes the institutional and political dynamics that led to the 'Velvet Divorce' between Czechs and Slovaks.
