ABSTRACT
Michael Burgess, in whose honour this Festschrift is edited, stands out with a threefold contribution to comparative federalism. There is, first and foremost, his Sartorian insistence on thorough conceptualization before engaging in data collection (see, for example, Burgess, 1993). Second, his keen interest in comparing – the UK, the EU, Canada, the US and other ‘classic’ federations – has never shied away from wanting to better understand other, more recent and/or complex cases of federalism and/or federation, such as Nigeria, Iraq or Bosnia and Herzegovina (see Burgess, 2006). His third important contribution, finally, has been to revive the interest in and resuscitate appreciation for some all but ‘forgotten’ federal scholars and philosophers, notably Althusius, Proudhon, EA Freeman or William Livingston (most thoroughly in Burgess, 2012).
