Federalism     from TCE Standard

Federalism is a type of political system in which legislative power is divided between a central or federal legislature and a number of state or provincial legislatures. The FEDERAL GOVERNMENT has jurisdiction over the entire national territory and population; a PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENT has jurisdiction only over particular portions of territory and population. Both levels of government derive their authority from a written CONSTITUTION. In a centralized federation the powers of provincial governments are relatively narrow; in a decentralized federation the provincial sphere of authority is wider.

Federalism is distinguished from unitary government, in which subnational institutions derive their authority from the central government and are therefore subordinate to it; it is also different from various forms of association, such as economic communities or military alliances, whose members retain sovereign powers and can withdraw from the arrangement at will. A true federation, in the modern sense, means a STATE in which the component units are not sovereign and cannot legally secede (see CONSTITUTIONAL LAW).