ABSTRACT
Internationally, federalism permits nation-states to retain control over matters considered vital to national interest and identity while cooperating in matters in which it is advantageous to coordinate policy and share burdens. Interest in federalism arose with the revival of republicanism in modern times when theorists and statesmen alike reasoned that if republics must be small to be viable and to avoid the dangers of overcentralization, confederation or federation with some degree of consolidation would enable them to avoid the dangers of weakness due to small size. The same considerations that make federalism seem essential to republicanism also apply to democracy. Without a way of breaking up the units of government and devolving authority to the local level, democratic government must be remote from most citizens, and large constituencies must be content with only administrative functions but little or no political life of their own.
