Federal system is solved by the system itself

                                                                                             Taye Kebede

Many countries including Ethiopia follow federal system of governance. And they decide to do it out of their country’s history, realities on the ground and desire of their people. And on this article, I will touch upon the meaning of federal system and the benefit it could bring to countries with diverse people like our own by citing evidences. I will also try to point out the system has a strong political space to solve problems that may arise at any moment.

As it’s known, federalism is a system that divide government power and tasks between federal government administration and regional states through the constitution. In this system, the power, responsibility, administration, tax collection and financial resource decision will not be made at one center – they will be divided in various power centers or areas. And this shows us that the main expression of the federal system is decentralized government power, responsibility, administration and decision making.

[Federal system is a type of system that establishes more than one government structures in a single political community – shared rule and self-rule. In such type of systematic structure, the federal and regional administrations don’t have a vertical relationship. Although the power and independence each have is ensured, governmental process will inevitably demand support and link between the two separate administrations. Thus, there will be some responsibility overlap and support between the two administrations. And this is a characteristic every federal systems share.

Countries that follow federal system have written constitution. In addition to this, they give special attention to supremacy of constitution. The main reason for this not only has to do with the fact that constitution is the supreme law they used to setup the federal system, but also because it is the main legal framework the country’s social, economic and political laws is based upon.

Constitution is the highest legal and political covenant document where a single political community shows their interest to establish shared government administrative institutions, and self-administration. It is stipulated that every administration should be mandated to the constitution. Any entity that subverts or contradicts with the constitution within this system will not have acceptance by the law. So, it can be said that accepting the supremacy of the constitution is the key issue for the implementation of the federal system. What makes the responsibility of respecting and protecting the constitution in federal countries important is the fact that the identity and existence of the feral and regional administrations within the system comes as a result of the constitutions.

Although the aforementioned common features of federations are exhibited, every federation cannot possibly follow the same type of structure. So, every federation is supposed to have huge differences. This is because the historical, political, social and economic realities that drove the countries to setup federal system is different from one another.

As Blindenbacher and Watts, two academics of the field, have said on their 2011 book “federalism in a changing world: A conceptual framework”, there are variation among federations which includes: the degree of cultural or national diversity which they attempt to reconcile; the number, relative size and symmetry or asymmetry of the constituent units; the distribution of legislative and administrative responsibilities among governments.

The variations also include: the allocation of taxing powers and financial resources; the degree of centralization or decent; the character and composition of their central institutions; the processes and institutions for resolving conflicts and facilitating collaboration between interdependent governments; the procedures for formal and informal adaption and change; and the roles of federal and constituent unit governments in the conduct of international relations. And I think this shows how various countries follow different federal structural process.

Of course federalism can be used to unite people that live under various political sectors while having a shared language and culture for people who have diverse language and culture, but want to be in a shared political sector as members. The unity that is created by federalism should not be takes as a destroyer of the uniqueness of the member state administrations within the federation.

Federalism is a system that gives constitutional guarantee of self-administration and involvement in shared administration for the members. After all, federalism has the objective of maintaining unity and self-rule at the one and same time. With this, it is possible to build all-encompassing and shared rules in the federal system. Federalism is a system that helps protect military attack that may come from outside and threat of war, and ensure peace and security. Behind all successful federations, such value of joint protection against attack and threat is displayed.

For instance, it has served as important value in America in jointly protecting against foreign attack or threat of war and ensuring peace and security. One of the main reason countries in the American confederation established federation is to foil wars they may face from outside and war threats they may face, and create a strong defense.

And then there is the example of countries like India and Belgium. Although these countries used to have centralist government, information show that they transferred to federal government system not to out of anticipated danger from the outside, but out of aspiration for shared rule that comes from having various social diversities.

Of course when we look into the reason why these countries are forced to choose federalism, we find out that it is to protect their unity from getting eroded by forces created within them. All in all, it is not that hard to understand from the two examples that federalism is a political system that services as a tool to undertake the above values.

In addition to this, federalism plays a key role in strengthening freedom and democracy. Federalism not only divides the government into the usual legislative, executive and judiciary branches, it also plays a role of ensuring political space by dividing it horizontally in federal administration and member regional states (ensuring political space and freedom to individuals and communities) by levying additional limitations on the power of the government.

For instance looking into the federations within America, the system is known for creating and nurturing political and legal framework where every individual and political groups will participate , and for expanding the opportunities where citizens gets involved in decision making at federal and regional level. It explains that this right enables each nation, nationalities and people of Ethiopia to establish self-administration, and setup a government structure that enables them protect their individual right.

In addition, federalism hastens economic development and growth by creating common economic unity and by dismantling limitations in a business activity. By giving self-administration as per the constitution, and by formulating policies that takes into account the interest of the people, it is possible to give a better service to the people. And the federalism arrangement creates benefits to the community by creating the opportunity for policy experiments in some areas. And the positive competition that will be created between various power centers will help in bringing rapid and beneficiary results.

Federalism is a political system which is a tool to diffuse problems that are created based on differences that can arise in any society/communities. Federations create suitable institutional framework that are suitable for peaceful negotiation In order to lessen conflicts that erupt in any society as they have many power centers and political space. This is earmarked as federalism’s main attribute by the academics of the field.

In addition to this, a federation has the institutional basis to answer nation, nationalities an peoples’ self-determination demands. And on this fact, am academic of the field Larry Diamond under his book ‘Developing Democracy Towards Consolidation’ has said, “Federalism gives guarantees to harmonize multi-ethnic democracy while maintaining the language, culture and religions of minorities. I think this shows how much federalism is helpful for countries that have various nation, nationalities and people like our own in terms of maintaining single political community whilst foiling conflicts and solving them within its political space.

Of course countries like our who have many nation, nationalities and people can benefit from federalism like ensuring they are the ultimate holders of sovereign power, protecting the country against foreign attack, bringing rapids development, resolving conflicts and creating a common economic unity etc ... It shows how the system can be solution to the problems or challenges that may arise. So, I say it should be understood that the problems that are caused within the federal system is solved by the system itself.