Federal States and Federal Societies,With Special Reference To Canada

Abstract

This article relates federalism to the evolving paradigm advanced in Canada by Alan Cairns, and more generally by Eric A. Nordlinger in The Autonomy of the Democratic State, which affirms the autonomy of the state from social forces and the considerable capacity of the state authorities to shape those forces. The contradictory society-centered view of federalism as advanced most persuasively by William S. Livingston cannot explain the persistence of this form of government in Australia and the Federal Republic of Germany or the continuing strength and vitality of the Canadian provinces other than Québec. A corollary argument is made that institutional structures do matter, that the way in which power is organized within political systems is an important determinant of the outputs of these systems.

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