Federations
Subtitle: the political dynamics of cooperation
By: Chad Rector.
Publisher: Cornell University Press
Published: 2009
Place of publication: Ithaca
Language: eng
Number of pages: 208
ISBN-13: 9780801447365
Subjects: Confederation of states; Federal government; International cooperation; International relations
Description: "Why would states ever give up their independence to join federations? While federation can provide more wealth or security than self-sufficiency, states can in principle get those benefits more easily by cooperating through international organizations such as alliances or customs unions. Chad Rector develops a new theory that states federate when their leaders expect benefits from closer military or economic cooperation but also expect that cooperation via an international organization would put some of the states in a vulnerable position, open to extortion from their erstwhile partners. The potentially vulnerable states hold out, refusing to join alliances or customs unions, and only agreeing to military and economic cooperation under a federal constitution." "Rector examines several historical cases: the making of a federal Australia and the eventual exclusion of New Zealand from the union, the decisions made within Buenos Aires and Prussia to build Argentina and Germany largely through federal contracts rather than conquests, and the failures of postindependence unions in East Africa and the Caribbean." --Book Jacket.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Cooperation and commitment; title: Contrived symmetry through international and federal institutions; title: Australia's experiments with international organization and federation; title: Political identity in Australia and New Zealand; title: Coercion and union in Argentina and Germany; title: The unraveling of East Africa and the Caribbean.