Federalism or Arrogant Capital

Federalism: Political Identity and Tragic Compromise

Author: Malcolm Feeley

"This is a brilliant book that all who consider are interested in the Constitution---judges, lawyers, and professors---must read."
---Erwin Chemerinsky, Alston and Bird Professor of Law and Professor of Political Science, Duke University School of Law

"Professors Feeley and Rubin clearly define what is and is not federal system. This book should be required for serious students of comparative government and American government."
---G. Ross Stephens, Professor Emeritus of Political Science, University of Missouri, Kansas City

"At last, an insightful examination of federalism stripped of its romance. An absolutely splendid book, rigorous but still accessible."
---Larry Yackle, Professor of Law, Boston University

"A thought-provoking book on the nature of national-state relations in the United States federal system."
---Joseph F. Zimmerman, Professor of Political Science, Rockefeller College, University at Albany

Federalism refers to a system in which a centralized national government shares power with member states. Beyond this most basic definition, however, scholars debate the applications and implications of the term. Joining the concept of identity from political science with legal principle, Malcolm M. Feeley and Edward Rubin propose a theory of federalism and test the relevance of federalism for the United States today.

Essentially, federalism represents a compromise among groups who refuse to yield autonomy yet acknowledge the benefits of forming a nation. As in the African and Asian nations forged from former colonies, federalism allows the member states---often dominated by ethnic minorities---to remain largely self-governing. In this way, a youngnation can avoid secession and civil war while the people within its borders gradually abandon their local identities and come to view themselves as citizens of the nation.

The United States, Feeley and Rubin remind us, faced a similar situation in the eighteenth century as thirteen regionally distinct, ethnically diverse, and highly independent British colonies came together to found a nation. Despite the Civil War and the upheaval of the Civil Rights Movement, the federalist strategy ultimately succeeded. For the United States in the early twenty-first century, thanks to the rise of a strong national identity and a ubiquitous bureaucracy, federalism has become obsolete. This bold argument is certain to provoke controversy.

Malcolm M. Feeley is Claire Sanders Clements Dean's Chair Professor of Law at the University of California, Berkeley.

Edward Rubin is Dean of the Vanderbilt University Law School and the school's first John Wade-Kent Syverud Professor of Law.

Interesting book: The Hacker Crackdown or Network Maturity Model

Arrogant Capital: The Acclaimed Indictment of Entrenched Washington

Author: Kevin Phillips

Washington -- mired in bureaucracy, captured by the money power of Wall Street, and dominated by 90,000 lobbyists, 60,000 lawyers, and the largest concentration of special interests the world has ever seen -- has become the albatross that our Founding Fathers feared: a swollen capital city feeding off the country it should be governing. Using history as a chilling warning, Kevin Phillips compares the paralysis in today's Washington to that of formerly mighty and arrogant capitals like Rome and Madrid. Unchecked, Washington will -- like other great powers before it -- lead the country to its inevitable decline and fall.

Kevin Phillips's unique blueprint for a revolution in politics and government puts Washington on notice and sounds a cry for immediate action, offering a wide variety of remedies -- some quasi-revolutionary, others more moderate, but all controversial.

Table of Contents:

	Preface to the Paperback Edition	xi
	Acknowledgments	xxix
I	The End of Self-Renewal in Washington and in American Politics
1	Washington and the Late-Twentieth-Century Failure of American Politics	3
2	Imperial Washington: The Power and the Glory--And the Betrayal of the Grass Roots	27
II	The Critical Shortcomings of U.S. Politics, Parties, and Government
3	The Crisis No One Can Discuss: U.S. Economic and Cultural Decline--And What It Means	69
4	The Financialization of America: Electronic Speculation and Washington's Loss of Control over the "Real Economy"	95
5	The Principal Weaknesses of American Politics and Government	139
6	The Fading of Anglo-American Institutions and World Supremacy	173
III	The Revolutionary 1990s and the Restoration of Popular Rule in America
7	The 1990s: Converging Revolutionary Traditions and Post-Cold War Jitters	205
8	Renewing America for the Twenty-first Century: The Blueprint for a Political Revolution	227
	Notes and Sources	271
	Index	279