Overview
This paper will first examine the different issues pertaining to federalism, intergovernmental relations and fragmegration as related to each other. Federalism will be defined and examined from different perspectives in relation to intergovernmental relations. An analysis will also be made in regard to the relationship between intergovernmental relations and fragmegration in the context of federalism. The different structural models used in the creation of government and political interactions will be considered in coming to a conclusion about the importance of federalism. Representation and legislation will be defined and their inter relationships outlined in order to convey the variable importance that they have in the context of politics. The process by which an issue becomes a legislation and law, will be clearly explained. Finally there will be an analysis made of the difference in the theory of Fenno, Dahl and Lowi as compared to the normal text book definitions in regard to representation and legislation.
Introduction
According to Ginsberg, Lowi and Weir (GLW) “the constitution has had its most fundamental influence on American life through federalism. Federalism can be defined as the division of powers and functions between the national government and the state governments” (Ginsberg, Lowi and Weir, 2007). Indeed federalism is defined as a system whereby the country is organized in a way that the government is vested with formal authority over its lands and people by two or more levels of government. The United States is characterized by a federal government system which implies that there is a constitutional provision for the central government and for one or more sub national government that have the authority to make decisions without the need to seek the approval of each other. In a federal system the responsibilities could be shared or divided and such a relationship is very dynamic between the national and state governments in being subject to change by way of judicial interpretations as also through political, representational and operational means. Federalism has enabled governments to solve dilemmas related to the achievement of national unity and integrity while at the same time enabling and preserving independence for states in regard to socio economic, religious, ethnic and regional diversity. The terms federalism and intergovernmental relations are at most times believed to be interchangeable, but some theorists are of the opinion that there is a difference between the two. Federalism is purely concerned with including political, hierarchical, jurisdictional, legal and constitutional concepts. In this regard, the main institutional actors influencing the federal set up are the judicial, legislative and executive branches, as also the states and bureaucracy. Additionally, the political, fiscal and regulatory processes have influenced the connection between the states and the national government. In contrast, intergovernmental relations are seen to be more administrative, fiscal, functional, multi tiered and encompassing in focusing on the core issues. There is also tendency for them to be more informal and flexible. The concept of intergovernmental relations implies association between government officers as also their preoccupation, actions and attitudes with financial matters.
Intergovernmental relations play a very important role in fiscal federalism. With the beginning of the era of cooperative federalism, the system of federal grants vastly impacted the intergovernmental relations since more money was given to states by way of grants. Currently most of the federal grants are for four differing functions; education, employment, income security and health. The courts have played a very important role in determining the extent and nature of intergovernmental relations. This is because the courts have to often decide between constitutional interpretations of national authority as against state government claims of the federal government encroaching upon their state rights as provided by the constitution. In this context the Supreme Court has been playing an important role in the growth of national authority in regard to the interpretation of the constitution.
Fragmegration as related to intergovernmental relations implies the changes introduced by stretching the well established concepts over towards a new phenomenon. Scholars in this field have made application of the move towards sharing of power among states as also within them. Political decentralization within the states has begun to generate new terms and concepts such as polycentric governance, multi tiered governance and multi level governance. There is also the prevalence of large numbers of jurisdictions each of which are shared by groups of citizens. There are many levels of such jurisdiction in conceiving authority over specific regional and local areas to facilitate provision of goods and services. Such works that extend the polycentric governance into the intergovernmental relations between the federal and state governments are referred to as fragmegration.
Intergovernmental relations are characterized by concurrent tendencies to devolve and centralize. In the US, the decentralization philosophy that came into being during the Reagan administration brought about added authority for state and local governments. Increased flexibility for state governments has resulted with the introduction of block grant programs for welfare and economic development activities, and this combined with the increased authority of the Supreme Court resulted in what has come to be called as the rebirth of federalism. State Supreme Court decisions, legislative action and home rule have brought about consistent increase in autonomy for states. Additionally, local governments have also acknowledged higher levels of cooperation amongst themselves in combating matters that cross political borders. Some policy areas have seen a shift towards centralization. Education has come to be given more importance at the national level during the recent past since higher federal funding in this function has promised more federal involvement at the national level. However, the given trends demonstrate some level of conflict as existing in intergovernmental relations. Although devolution has taken place in most states, some of them continue to be plagued with conflict within their systems. But the relationship between devolution and centralization will continue to grow in the near future at both the state and national levels.
Main body
Representation in politics means the process with which political power is isolated from a given set of members of a political group and given to a select few for a specific time period. Such representation is in the context of referring to representative democracies in which the officials who are duly elected, speak nominally about the constituents in the specific bodies. Most often it is only citizens who are given such representation rights by way of voting rights in the government. Representation can be done on the basis of population and area, but in most cases it refers to descriptive representation whereby representatives are chosen on a symbolic and passive basis. The idea is to elect candidates in a democratic set up so that they represent gender and ethnic constituencies as also minority groups, instead of the population at large. This embodies the basic principle that an elected body should reflect a representative sample of the people that they represent.
Legislation refers to law that is enacted and promulgated by a governing body or legislature. It could refer to one law or to collective bodies of laws. A single law is normally referred to as a statute. Until an item of legislation is to become law, it is known as a bill and continues to be known as legislation while it is under consideration of the legislative authority. Legislation proposes to bring about authorization, regulation, sanctioning, granting and restricting in regard to the several matters that are put up before the authority for enactment as law. The means with which representation is brought about in forming representative bodies and authorities have also to be brought about by the due process of law starting from legislation and then on to become a matter of law. The representative matters have to be proposed for legislation by the executive or a member of the Congress before they can be passed by Congress.
Conclusion
Through the works of Fenno, Dahl and Lowi, the analysis of representation and legislation pertains to the several other forms that they respectively take in defining the job of the representative in being a delegate for his constituents in keeping with the ambiguous and conflicting views of the state or district in Congress. Members of the Congress are considered as trustees who represent their constituents in exercise of their judgment of the interest of the state or district. It is difficult to be an effective trustee and a good delegate at the same time. The authors see a representative as a politico who mainly believes in emphasizing on issues that are vital for his constituents and those that he represents. Hence it becomes a dilemma for many members of Congress constituents to agree to specific issues as regard to when they should act as delegates in exercising their own discretion. In this context, Congress can be taken as being a trustee or a delegate of the country. As a delegate Congress has to bring in enactment that reflects public opinion which is nationwide. As a trustee Congress will have to introduce a policy which is in keeping with its own judgment about the ultimate interest of the country, irrespective of the imbalance in regard to the public opinion at the given time.
The Congress is always in the process of serving the two purposes of law making and representation. Members of the senate and House represent and work for individual states or districts, but they have to collectively act in making the law. Issues that are divisive entail collective action by way of compromise and bargaining amongst the Senate and the House as also amongst the members of each house. If a compromise is to be worked out a few members will have to back track from their commitment to their respective districts and states. It is the courage in the legislative politics which will make a compromise possible and such a process can lead to ugly and messy situations such as Congress bashing which is considered to be common in the politics of America. It is thus essential to be adequately evaluated in understanding the conflicting expectations in regard to the politicians who are the representatives of the different institutions.
The Congress does play a constructive role in passing bills that provide for the grant of essential rights for women, environmental protection, protection to minorities, disabled and children, reduction of barriers in regard to voter registrations, higher funds for college students etc. Such actions enable representatives to cater to the requirements of their districts and states and can garner further credibility for themselves. Despite being required to perform tasks of national and international importance, the Congress becomes a complex place in view of the several committees, parties and procedures that have been built in the process over the last two centuries. It is however frustrating to see that the legislations are often accompanied with several controversies, bargaining and partisanship. The widespread use of wheeling and rhetoric are an integral part of such legislative politics that takes within its purview all representatives thus imposing a challenge that is directly related to the welfare of the masses.
References
Ginsberg, Lowi and Weir “We the People”, 1997, 6th Edition, W. W. Norton.