Home / Ideologies / Federalism
Doctrine that organizes the state through a constitutional division of power between a central government and autonomous regional units, such as cantons or states, with their own competencies, independent courts, and mutual checks against excessive concentration of power.
In one sentence
I want power divided by constitution between a central government and autonomous states, with independent courts checking any excessive concentration.
Political axes
Our Federalism definition includes “doctrine that organizes the state through a constitutional division of power between a central government and autonomous regional units, such as cantons or states”. Territorial autonomy, confederation or jurisdictional competition bears directly on where public decisions reside.
Our Federalism model centers on power divided by constitution between a central government and autonomous states, with independent courts checking any excessive concentration. That core does not specify who can choose, replace and hold political decision-makers accountable. A social or economic objective does not by itself establish elections, popular sovereignty or an unelected ruling elite.
Our Federalism model centers on power divided by constitution between a central government and autonomous states, with independent courts checking any excessive concentration. That core does not specify the permissible use of public coercion versus protected personal autonomy. The form of government does not alone establish the extent of surveillance, repression or civil liberty.
Our Federalism model centers on power divided by constitution between a central government and autonomous states, with independent courts checking any excessive concentration. That core does not specify minority membership, migration and the coexistence of cultural identities. Shared economic interests or a universal philosophical ethic do not alone specify immigration or cultural-integration policy.
Our Federalism model centers on power divided by constitution between a central government and autonomous states, with independent courts checking any excessive concentration. That core does not specify the political role of organized armed force and acceptance of war. Domestic coercion, economic state intervention and national pride do not by themselves establish militarism or pacifism.
Our Federalism model centers on power divided by constitution between a central government and autonomous states, with independent courts checking any excessive concentration. That core does not specify coercive foreign projection into other peoples or states. This axis concerns foreign intervention, not nationalism, domestic regulation, cultural confidence or military preparedness alone.
Our Federalism model centers on power divided by constitution between a central government and autonomous states, with independent courts checking any excessive concentration. That core does not specify ownership of productive assets, land and enterprises. Welfare spending, moral solidarity and expert administration do not by themselves abolish or privatize productive ownership.
Our Federalism model centers on power divided by constitution between a central government and autonomous states, with independent courts checking any excessive concentration. That core does not specify how production and allocation are coordinated through plans or decentralized exchange. Public ownership can coexist with markets, and private firms can operate under directed planning.
Our Federalism model centers on power divided by constitution between a central government and autonomous states, with independent courts checking any excessive concentration. That core does not specify cross-border trade, capital flows and economic integration. Domestic market freedom and international cultural solidarity are different claims from a free-trade policy.
Our Federalism model centers on power divided by constitution between a central government and autonomous states, with independent courts checking any excessive concentration. That core does not specify whether public rules and political authority are grounded in religious doctrine. Personal faith, atheism, religious identity and rejection of a state do not alone establish the source of public rules.
Our Federalism model centers on power divided by constitution between a central government and autonomous states, with independent courts checking any excessive concentration. That core does not specify public attitudes toward inherited customs, family, gender and social change. Economic redistribution, technological novelty and a religious affiliation do not uniquely determine every moral position.
Our Federalism model centers on power divided by constitution between a central government and autonomous states, with independent courts checking any excessive concentration. That core does not specify the priority given to technological transformation versus ecological or bodily limits. Historical age, rural life and scientific reasoning do not by themselves establish acceptance or rejection of all technology.
Leans further toward federal than 79% of the 250 ideologies in the catalog.
Of all the axes, Structure is where it stands furthest from the rest.
On Morality, it sits close to the catalog median.
Here it shares common ground with most ideologies.
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Closest, by dimension
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The most distant
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Also close, by dimension
The most distant
Ideological proximity
Closest within Center
A system in which citizens decide laws directly through referendums, popular initiatives, assemblies and recall of officials, instead of delegating to representatives, as in the Swiss cantons and classical Athens.
Political tradition that places individual freedom at the center, defending rights, tolerance, the rule of law, a market economy, and limits on power, with government subject to the consent of citizens.
Current created by Henry George proposing to fund society with a single tax on land value, holding that land rent belongs to everyone and that labor and capital should not be taxed.
Closest in other spectrums
Economic system based on private property, free markets, and the pursuit of profit, in which production and prices are regulated by competition and supply and demand, with individual initiative as its engine.
Republican tradition that idealizes the small landowning farmer as the basis of civic virtue and liberty, advocating wide distribution of land, limited and decentralized government, and distrust of banks, public debt, industry and large cities.
Current that advocates free markets, deregulation, privatization, and fiscal discipline, reducing the state's economic role and trusting competition and monetary stability as engines of prosperity.
The most distant ideology
Stalinist SocialismRadical Left25%