Choudhry, Sujit; Hume, Nathan --- "Federalism, Devolution and Secession: From Classical to Post-conflict Federalism" [2011] ELECD 380; in Ginsburg, Tom; Dixon, Rosalind (eds), "Comparative Constitutional Law" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2011)

Book Title: Comparative Constitutional Law

Editor(s): Ginsburg, Tom; Dixon, Rosalind

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781848445390

Section: Chapter 20

Section Title: Federalism, Devolution and Secession: From Classical to Post-conflict Federalism

Author(s): Choudhry, Sujit; Hume, Nathan

Number of pages: 29

Extract:

20. Federalism, devolution and secession: from classical
to post-conflict federalism
Sujit Choudhry and Nathan Hume



1 INTRODUCTION

Federalism has long been a topic of study for comparative constitutional law. However, the
scholarly literature on federalism is in a process of transition. For most of the twentieth
century, the study of federalism was oriented around a standard set of cases in the developed
world: Australia, Canada, Switzerland and the United States of America. These cases
provided the raw material for certain fundamental questions: what is federalism? Why should
federations be adopted? What role is there for courts? For the most part, these questions
appear to have been answered, often with the aid of comparative analysis. To be sure, impor-
tant debates persist. For example, scholars disagree over the relative priority to be given to
the different goals served by federalism and how those goals should shape the allocation of
jurisdiction. In the area of environmental policy, for example, new opportunities for democ-
ratic self-government and policy experimentation argue for greater regional authority but also
generate inter-jurisdictional externalities, which argue against it. This debate relies on an
implicit understanding of its terms and range, and participants in such discussions of federal-
ism often draw on the same standard set of jurisdictions as illustrations of models to be
followed and dangers to be avoided.
Recent developments in the practice of constitutional design have challenged this consen-
sus. Many states in the developing world, such as Ethiopia, Iraq, Nigeria and Sudan, ...