ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses Constitutionalism and the Many Faces of Federalism. Integrative federalism refers to a constitutional order that strives at unity in diversity among previously independent or con-federally related component entities. Devolutionary federalism, on the contrary, refers to a constitutional order that redistributes the powers of a previously unitary State among its component entities; these entities obtain an autonomous status within their fields of responsibility. The constitutional systems quoted in relation to both integrative and devolutionary federalism are five national ones and a supranational one. This reality reflects the balance struck by Swiss federalism between unity and diversity. Societal pluralism coexists with a drive for common decision-making in economic and military affairs. Swiss federalism, therefore, is integrative, even though its main effect - if not its main purpose - is to acknowledge the existence of societal pluralism as being consistent with a constitutionally defined political unity. Finally, Switzerland displays a good deal of "executive federalism".
