In September 2023, Professor Emerita Carol S. Weissert, Ph.D. published a new book entitled, Rethinking Federalism Studies, which discusses federalism research and its future study.
Until her retirement in 2021, Dr. Weissert was LeRoy Collins Eminent Scholar and Professor of Political Science at Florida State University. She has also served as Director of the LeRoy Collins Institute at FSU. Her research has focused on federalism, state politics and health policy. She was editor of the premier federalism journal, Publius: The Journal of Federalism, for ten years. Dr. Weissert also served as the 2016 Fulbright Distinguished Chair in American Government in Australia and won lifetime recognition awards for federalism scholarship in both the American Political Science Association and the American Society for Public Administration. She is a fellow for the National Academy for Public Administration, former President of the Southern Political Science Association, and served on the executive council of the American Political Science Association. At the time of her retirement, she was on the editorial boards of four political science journals.
“In Rethinking Federalism Studies, I evaluate the state of federalism research, identify areas of success, and propose suggestions for future study,” said Dr. Weissert. “For federalism scholars, the book provides an up-to-date, expansive review of the state of our art. Although targeted to federalism and comparative politics and policy scholars, this book is also informative for non-scholars who live in a highly intergovernmental world.”
“The two audiences—federalism scholars and citizens in federal societies—share the need for relevant research—research that informs our understanding of what works and what doesn’t; what is achievable and what might be best dealt with outside government; and what issues are on the horizon—not yet before us but on a clear path of relevance.“
The book highlights how federalism is affected by and affects major societal concerns such as quality of elections, international pandemics, public skepticism of government, and extreme division defining parties and citizens, and a society that seems to consider conflict, not consensus, as the desired behavior.
Dr. Weissert discusses how shared power is the essence of federalism and expands upon how this can lead to confusion about who is responding to crises. When disaster strikes, states are responsible for responding to emergencies and have the primary responsibility to respond to public health threats. The federal government, however, can only provide support and leadership in the case of emergencies. During the COVID-19 crisis, this leadership was not present, which resulted in competition amongthe states for personal protection equipment and highly partisan-based approaches as the pandemic continued, not cooperation.
She found that scholars determined governmental capacity as key in responding to a crisis which affects different parts of a country differently. Additionally, transparency and accountability are important in defining citizen support and engagement. However, Dr. Weissert noted that there has been little effort on the part of policymakers to make changes to avoid intergovernmental problems in the event of another major emergency.
Dr. Weissert also examines two other areas of policy and political relevance: intergovernmental relations and fiscal federalism, saying, “Scholars recognize that the operation of government depends on federal, state, and local elected and appointed officials working in concert. The long and porous lines of responsibilities—which governments should do what—are strained by governors eager for the national spotlight, carrying out immigration policy actions and even rescues of American citizens in times of international crisis, and more importantly, by state attorneys general bringing suit against federal governmental activities couched in political, not legal, rationales. No wonder citizens remain confused about what their governments do—they do it all.”
She expands further in her discussion about fiscal federalism, saying, “As in other federalism subfields, most of this research has focused on developed countries, but several recent scholars have broken the mold by analyzing intergovernmental fiscal relationships in developing countries which tend to be more centralized and more institutionally and policy fluid.”
Dr. Weissert’s book has contributed greatly to the study of federalism and has highlighted key areas that future research can examine. You can find the book here or on Amazon.