Comparative Federalism and Intergovernmental Agreements
Subtitle: Analysing Australia, Canada, Germany, South Africa, Switzerland and the United States
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Group
Published: 2014
Language: eng
Number of pages: 266
ISBN-13: 9781138018105
Subjects: Federal government; Central-local government relations; Comparative government; Public administration
Description: "Intergovernmental agreements are an important instrument in federal systems, establishing new social programs, regulating agricultural practices, and even changing constitutions. Despite their importance, there have only been limited attempts to understand agreements in a comparative context or to provide a theoretical framework for their study. This book addresses both of these deficiencies by comparing the use of agreements in six federations (Australia, Canada, Germany, South Africa, Switzerland and the United States) and considering why certain federations form more agreements than others. Parker analyzes the data using an institutional framework that considers the effects of seven variables, including the constitutional division of powers, the system of intergovernmental transfers, the size of the welfare state and the nature of governing institutions. In addition, the study provides the first ever comparative database of national intergovernmental agreements -- a new resource for future research.