Federalism, Federative Systems, and Federations: The United States, Canada, and India.

This article explores "federalism" as an abstract concept of political theory like liberalism and socialism, and "federation" as a descriptive term connoting a system of government. The term "federative systems" connotes the genus of which federations are a species. "Federalism" as a concept has important implications for comparative studies of federations such as the Untied States, Canada, and India. Canada and India began as quasi-federations and have gradually become federations. They are not based on federalism as a concept. The U.S. Constitution was not only the blueprint for a federation, but was inspired by a political theory we call "federalism," a set of interlocking principles of government very different from the parliamentary tradition that Canada and India inherited from the United Kingdom. If these two countries wish to proceed beyond treating federation as the distribution of power, they will have to reappraise their parliamentary tradition and, in due course, evolve their own concept of federalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]