Federalism is the structure of government where power is divided
among different levels. It comes with its own advantages and
disadvantages.
PROS
- Protects against the tyratyranny- division of power among
central and state government acts as a system of checks and
balances and protects from tyranny.
- Decentralisation of power- division of power among three
branches of government ensure that power is not centralised in one
single authority which can lead to autocracy.
- Provides efficiency÷ as power is divided, state government
solve some of the problems by themselves providing more
efficiency.
- Increases level of participation of individuals- as state
government is elected by local people, people are closer to the
elected officials. Which also ensures more loyalty of
citizens.
- Encourage cooperation- the needs of different states are
different, so instead of making everyone follow the same rule,
different foundation can be created that suits best for that
state.
- State government becomes more responsive as it is closer to the
citizens.
CONS
- It creates inequality between the states as some states are
able to spend more and some spend less on public policies.
- States will start competing among themselves and welfare of the
society as whole will be reduced.
- It Is biased towards majority.
- State governments sometimes block the activities of national
government even though they are beneficial.
- Lack of accountability can be seen due to overlapping
boundaries of state and national governments.