ABSTRACT
Federalism is simply a territorial expression of the core creed of democracy, that is, respect for and management of political pluralism both within and among the territorial components of a nation-state. Democracy can prosper without federalism, as it does in France or Norway, but a federal division of power, territorial political pluralism, is contrary to the concentration of all power in the hands of a single party presidium, junta, or fascist or military dictator. In contrast to federal unions and their basic commitment to building a new nation, in a confederation there is no emotional or institutional commitment to building a suprasovereign community, a new “nation,” only an amicable–temporary or perpetual–consociation of sovereign member entities. In the United States, various militant groups have occasionally attempted to endow blacks with a territorial dimension. In democratic federal systems, the territorial components may become, through time, less assertive than the nonterritorial cleavages.
