Federalism, Separation Of Powers, Checks And Balances

Federalism, separation of powers, checks and balances
Federalism can be described as a political system that constitutes local units of government and a single national government that can both facilitate a decision with respect to governmental activities and whose existence if fully protected by the constitution (Van Hove et al. 12). Federalism allows for the sharing of sovereignty so that at some point the state governments are supreme while at some point the national government is supreme. In the recent years, the federal mandates have increased on both local and state governments. This has been witnessed by the national government attempts to have control over the states government. Some of the Federal mandates refer to the regulations that have been imposed by the federal government on state governments as a way of obtaining federal grants that the states pay the costs of certain defined national programs. In federalism, if the central government becomes too powerful, the federal government is likely to transform into a unitary state, where the federal government has the supreme mandate and authority and controls the power that the units
6). The term was coined in the 18th century by a French thinker known as Baron de Montesquieu (May et al. 9). Separation of powers was mostly applied by the Greeks, however in United States; the structure is based on separate government branches with different roles and responsibilities. In United States, Power is separated in two different ways; the first power is divided into state government and national government, while the second power is divided between the three major branches of the national government. The three major branches are; the legislature, executive and