Examples Of Cooperative Federalism

Micah Kubr

Kevin M. Baron

POLS 2010-08

14 February 2023

Federalism: Past, Present, and Future Federalism is an idea that has appeared in U.S. political thought since the creation of the constitution. In his book, American Government, author Cal Jillson defines federalism as, “A form of government in which some powers are assigned to the national government, some to lower levels of government, and some, such as the power to tax, are exercised concurrently” (Jillson 42). Essentially, federalism is the idea that neither the federal nor the state governments should have one hundred percent of the power and should be shared to create a power balance. Before the American Revolution, the English colonies acted similarly to a confederation. Jillson’s

After the 1930s American federalism was better described as cooperative federalism than as dual federalism. (Jillson 74)

According to Jillson, cooperative federalism is when the state and national governments work together to implement policies (Jillson 74). During the Great Depression, President FDR implemented his “New Deal” policies. These policies were national policies that were funded by the federal government, however, it was up to the state governments to implement them. For example, the Civilian Conservation Corps was a federal program implemented through the new deal that put young men to work. This program was administered at the state level but it was overseen by the federal government. Shortly following the events of the Great Depression, a new form of federalism (fiscal federalism) arose. Fiscal federalism consists of the government providing categorical grants which gave federal funds to state/local governments on the terms that those funds would only be used for a specific purpose (Jillson 81). After the Great Depression, the federal government gained even more control over the country. By providing financial support to local governments through categorical grants, the federal government was able to control what the money was used

According to Jillson, “Ronald Reagan thought government, national, as well as state and local, was too big, too intrusive, and too expensive. He cut taxes at the national level and cut revenue transfers to the states so that government’s role in American life would shrink” (Jillson 84). President Ronald Reagan believed that the national government had too much influence over state governments. By cutting back on the funds provided by the federal government, local governments were forced to create their own revenue and as a result, taxes increased.

Bill Clinton on the other hand believed that the state and local governments would be better at solving their own problems. Jillson summarizes Clinton’s actions by claiming, “He [Bill Clinton] sought to redirect both financial resources and programmatic responsibilities to the states” (Jillson 84). President George W. Bush agreed with this idea and further moved financial responsibilities to the states. The progress made by Bill Clinton and George W. Bush was reversed during the “Great Recession” that occurred in 2008 and 2009. President Barack Obama provided federal aid (Jillson