Federal Constitutional Values and Citizen Attitudes to Government: Explaining Federal System Viability and Reform Preferences in Eight Countries

Abstract

This study presents a measure of federal constitutional values as a dimension of federal political culture derived from four key features of federal systems. Tested in six federal and two non-federal countries, we find the measure is stable and taps enduring values, including confirmation that citizens who support devolutionary reform have stronger federal constitutional values. Defining federalism success as a system where citizens have strong federal constitutional values and high satisfaction with their current polycentric system, our results find Switzerland and Canada being the most viable, followed by the United States, Australia, and Germany, while Belgium is not very successful. In the non-federal countries, substantial support for devolution and possibly federalism is found in France, but devolution is more contested in the United Kingdom. The results affirm the importance of public attitudes and political culture in understanding the performance of federal political systems and public support for federalist-type reforms.

Federal political culture: federalism's glue?

“…Indeed, quantitative research on federal political culture is important for understanding the deeply held beliefs of citizens about federalism that form the societal basis for a country's constitutional arrangements that divide and share political power. For instance, a recent study illustrated how citizens who have high levels of federal political culture are more likely to support devolutionary reforms (Brown, Deem, and Kincaid 2022). Exploring the relationship between federal political culture and support for, or opposition to, devolution will undoubtedly lead to more interesting research in the future.…”

“…The instructor could use examples from such federal countries as the United States and Germany to illustrate different parts of the concept of federal political culture such as support for sharing power between different orders of government. Further, students and the instructor could explore if there can be federal political culture in non-federal countries (cf., Brown, Deem, and Kincaid 2022) or if different parts of a country can have different federal political cultures. There could be a discussion about how different nations within a country or different territories within a country view federalism in different ways, therefore constituting competing federal political cultures in the same country.…”

Lobbyierende Kantone

“…Auch halten es hierzulande 88 Prozent der Bürgerinnen und Bürger für «wünschenswert» bzw. «sehr wünschenswert», dass die Kantone in der Bundespolitik mitbestimmen; ein bemerkenswert hoher Wert, der im Mehrländervergleich vonBrown et al (2022) in keinem anderen der untersuchten Länder übertroffen wird (vgl. Abbildung 10.1).…”