ABSTRACT
This chapter explores federalism, intergovernmental relations, and the administrative structure of the major governments found in the United States. The management, politics, and laws of federalism and intergovernmental relationships are so perplexing that they have emerged as areas of activity and study to which some have devoted their entire professional careers. To accommodate the preexisting sovereignty of the states and deal with the representational problem, the framers devised a form of federalism incorporating three central features: dual sovereignty, bicameralism, and multiple layers of representation. Administrative decentralization coincides with federalism when states or provinces serve as administrative districts of the national government. Administrative decentralization convey sovereignty to the subnational administrative units, whereas federalism does carry with it the notion that some subnational political units are vested with a measure of sovereignty. Federalism was developed as a political solution to the problem of large and diverse nation states such as the United States.
