Resumen de Institutions and powers in decentralized countries

Enric Argullol i Murgadas (dir.), Clara Velasco Rico (dir.), Christoph Degenhart, Antonio María Hernández, Anne Twomey, Anna Gamper, Veronika Tiefenthaler, Gustavo Binenbojm, Francis Delpérée, Thomas Bombois, José Woehrling, Robert Agranoff, Carles Viver i Pi-Sunyer, Maite Vilalta, Mahendra Pal Singh, Francesco Merloni, José María Serna de la Garza, Urs Thalmann, Scott L. Greer

• A basic definition of federalism emphasizes: first, two separate areas of power attributed to two different levels of government; and, second, the lack of power of the federal government to modify the territorial distribution of powers. Broadly speaking, these two characteristics are met in all cases analyzed in this book, except for the United Kingdom given the peculiarities of its “devolution” system.

  This book analyzes the scheme adopted in the most wellknown systems of territorial distribution of power (U.S., Canada, Australia, India, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, UK, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, Italy and Spain), be them called federal or not, in order to identify the main characteristics of their evolution and to find out which institutions have been transferred from one system to another. The comparative perspective allows us to underline the peculiarities of each system and to identify and highlight common patterns established to address specific phenomena or events.

  This book is an excellent and updated source of information for both students of comparative federalism and for those readers who are curious about possible future developments in federal systems