Abstract
The concluding chapter is highly comparative in nature and it looks at how the European Union, as an example of a “composite” form of federalism, has evolved in response to the challenges of globalization and the need of nation-states in Europe and elsewhere to respond to an increasingly differentiated set of demands concerning economic growth, democratization, and reformed welfare state systems. The systemic responses are then used to analyze economic and social policies and the methods used to govern these areas. With regard to the European Union the argument is made that in terms of economic policy regarding the single market, the single currency, cohesion policy, external trade and competition the mode selected to manage the policy is a quasi-federal one while in relation to social policy — training, education, health, and pensions — the approach is much more intergovernmental in nature. The question raised is whether these forms of policy governance structures are stable over time or whether they tend to change in response to: (1) changes in the treaties empowering the EU to assume policy initiatives; (2) the challenges emerging from the global system, and (3) the nature of the Union.
What changes are necessary in the policy and institutional spheres for a political system to be characterized as a federal system?
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© 2007 Michael A. Pagano and Robert Leonardi
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Pagano, M.A., Leonardi, R. (2007). Conclusion. In: Pagano, M.A., Leonardi, R. (eds) The Dynamics of Federalism in National and Supranational Political Systems. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230625433_14
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230625433_14
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-28570-9
Online ISBN: 978-0-230-62543-3
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