Federalism is a system of government in which the power is divided in between the central authority and constituent political units. It is political arrangement that covers the relationship between the federal government and the states including the laws and rights of the citizen that can either be taken care of by the federal government or the state. Nowadays, many countries are embracing federalism, moving away from the other forms of the government.
I think federal governments are effective forms of government to bring the development. United States is the best example of a country which has adopted the federalism. Federalism is best matched for the big countries. In this form of the government, the power is divided into units. It consists of the central government that is left with some unshared federal power and the unit government that allows to enjoy the states right. The divided unit states are under the central government that unites all the other small groups.
Before evaluating the effectiveness of the federalism on the present context referring to the history of the Texas, let’s know the type of federalism on detail. Dual federalism was the new phase in the evolution of the United States’ federalism. It is the model that restricts the strength of the national government to those strictly listed in the constitution. It started during the late eighteenth century.
During this stage, the role of federal government was delayed to firm constitutional description by courts. But it lasted till the late nineteenth century. Another model of federalism is Marble cake federalism, which is also known as Cooperative federalism. In this model, state and the national government works cooperatively to give service effectively.
It is also known as New deal era since during this period the cooperation of the federal government and the state government was involved. Then, there is Picket-fence federalism, which is a cultured form of cooperative federalism where the policy makers within the area of policy, work cooperatively throughout the different level of government. Another model is Competitive federalism, which is a model of federalism in which various states compete with one another to grow the jobs and businesses by the help of the policies they adopt. Lastly, new federalism is the currently prevailing federalism in the United States of America. In this phase, the federal government gives the block grants to the state government too settle the issues regarding the society. Comparing the form of federalism, that prevailed from the beginning of the phase to create the modern United States, I found Picket-fence model that has been consistent with the political culture of Texas throughout the history of the state.
The political culture of Texas is defined by the two major characteristics: Traditionalism and Individualism. The traditionalism behavior is depicted by the conservative social order where the poor societies were not given the right to vote. And the individualistic characteristic of the state is portrayed by the social and economic behavior as it supports the individual politics superiorly. The modern Texas is strongly industrialized as the state is forward in the information and technology. The government of Texas has the regional government as it’s member which has been highly affected by the state and national government. The local government of Texas is obliged by the state government.
Also, the fact that the regional government is very important to the public of Texas cannot be neglected. The election policies and structure of the local government heavily contribute for the selection of the winning candidate regarding who is more profitable for the sake of the government and it’s public. The state has not accomplished the fairness in educational system in the public schools, yet the impartiality is there as the legislative system forces it to be. Other than this, the state and federal courts have been making several efforts to settle and solve the disputes with abortion, surrogacy, individual expression.
As defined previously, Picket-fence federalism is a cultured form of cooperative federalism. That means it involves all level (national, state and local) government in it’s policies and programs. So, describing the political culture, I felt the picket fence federalism to be more consistent with the government of Texas. The federal government has constant authority over the state. Also, the national government has provided more power to the state government. Furthermore, the federal and the state government are constantly working together to remove the social problems and bring positive changes in the state.
Bringing all form of governments to work together on specific programs has been an important characteristic of the picket-fence federalism. However, majority of the public servants in the health and agriculture departments do not interact with the department of education. The state and national government are helped in funds by the federal government to solve the financial challenges. Lastly, the federal government of Texas operates the state legislation and rules. Under the picket-fence federalism, the role of federal government is to create programs, appropriate funds, different categories for programs and distribute the funds to state programs in federal categories.
The state government applies for federal grants, implements policies, creates specific programs that fit the federal categories and then distribute funds to programs referring to federal guidelines. Local government applies for federal and state grants, agrees with citizen to implement policies, helps local cooperatives and administer the state and federal policy on local level. All these roles of different form of government, are fulfilled under this model which affects the political culture of Texas. This model not only makes the body of government interdependent to each other but also shows how they are related to each other. I think it has always been implied significantly to expand the role of national government to achieve the desirable outcome.
? Works Cited Essays, UK. (November 2013). Political Culture of Texas. Retrieved from https://www.ukessays.com?vref=1
