Cooperative Federalism
The concept of cooperative federalism was mentioned for the first time in the beginning of the 20th century. Cooperative Federalism marks the time period from 1901 to 1960 and consists in a greater levels of cooperation and collaboration between different levels of the government (Boyd n.p.). In other words, cooperative federalism suggests a mutual, collaborative intergovernmental interaction, which is targeted at solving common problems and regulating certain thematic issues.
The examples of implementation of cooperative federalism in the USA are numerous. Block grants are one of them, since they perfectly reflect the shared responsibility of tax payment between local and national governments. Such practice demonstrates the financial cooperation between the governments and entirely acknowledges the core principles of cooperative federalism (Brandt & Edward 496). Another example of this concept is represented by drug enforcement. In this practice, again, both governments hold responsibilities for passing drug laws and controlling the general situation with the help of local police (O’Hear 789).
Cooperative federalism concept includes the two major disadvantages. Because of the numerous states within one country, the United States fails to have a single policy issues and instead has fifty-one policies, which often results in certain confusions. In addition, cooperative federalism often leads to misunderstandings when it comes to accountability. The obvious overlap of boundaries among the governments, again, makes it confusing to affix blame to any side for failed policies (Watts, n.p.).
Having considered the concept of cooperative federalism, it can be concluded that block grants and drug enforcement are the perfect examples of its implementation within the United States. However, despite its cooperative and collaborative concept and the policy of shared responsibilities between the governments, cooperative federalism still includes a couple of considerable shortcomings such as failure to have a single policy and lack of accountability.
Works Cited
Boyd, Eugene. "American Federalism, 1776 To 1997: Significant Events". Usa.Usembassy.De, 1997, https://usa.usembassy.de/etexts/gov/federal.htm#coop.
Brandt Jr, Edward N. "Block grants and the resurgence of federalism." Public Health Reports 96.6 (1981): 495.
O'Hear, Michael M. "Federalism and Drug Control." (2004).
Watts, Ronald L. "Origins of cooperative and competitive federalism." Territory, Democracy and Justice. Palgrave Macmillan UK, 2006. …
