AP Gov
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Class Notes Federalism
Federalism
A. Definition: way of organizing a nation so that two or more levels of government have formal
authority over the same area and people
B. AKA Fism
C. Most governments are unitary (all power resides in the central government)
D. Confederation: the national government is weaker than the components that make it up
Dual Federalism
A. Def: federalism in which states and the national government each remain supreme in their own
spheres
B. Initial inception of the United States until the 1930s
C. Example:
D. AKA Layer Cake Federalism
Cooperative Federalism
A. Def: federalism in with mingled responsibilities and blurred distinctions between the levels of
government through the use of categorical grants-in-aid
B. From 1930s onward
C. Example: Speed Limit
D. AKA Marble Cake Federalism
Regulated Federalism
A. Def: A variant of cooperative fism whose focus is on the national government exerting control
by threatening to withhold grants-in-aid
 Suffers from “unfunded mandates” (ex: NCLB)
B. From the 1960s onward
C. Example: ADA, environmental issues, poverty, civil rights
D. AKA Marble Cake Fism
New Federalism
A. Def: A variant of dual fism whose effort is to decentralize national policies mainly through
combining and reformulating categorical grants into block grants.
 Power “devolves” from the national government to the state/local level.
B. From the early 1970s onward (intermittently, trading off with regulated fism)
C. Example: Welfare
D. AKA Layer Cake Fism
Fiscal Federalism
A. Def: a way of viewing federalism that is focused on how money is used to affect the process