Question

The U.S. Constitution is considered one of the most difficult constitutions in the world to amend. Briefly describe the formal way of amending the U.S. Constitution to explain why it is considered hard to amend. Though the process of amending the U.S. Constitution is an intentionally difficult one, each branch of government has found ways to change the Constitution informally. Explain how Congress has found ways to informally amend the Constitution

What three models exist for organizing relations between a central government and local or subnational governments? Compare and contrast the three models in terms of centralization of power. Compare and contrast each model in terms of their advantages and disadvantages

Answer 1

The United States Constitution is the supreme law of the United States.The Constitution, originally comprising seven articles, delineates the national frame of government. Its first three articles entrench the doctrine of the separation of powers, whereby the federal government is divided into three branches: the legislative, consisting of the bicameral Congress; the executive, consisting of the President; and the judicial, consisting of the Supreme Court and other federal courts.

Thirty-three amendments to the United States Constitution have been proposed by the United States Congress and sent to the states for ratification since the Constitution was put into operation on March 4, 1789. Twenty-seven of these, having been ratified by the requisite number of states, are part of the Constitution.

Thirty-three amendments to the United States Constitution have been proposed by the United States Congress until yet.

Congress has really tried hard to found ways to amend Constitution.There are two ways to propose amendments: First, states may call for a convention. This has never been used due to fears it would reopen the entire Constitution for revision. The other way is for Congress to pass amendments by a two-thirds majority in both the House and Senate.There are two additional ways to approve an amendment: One is through ratification by three-fourths of state legislatures. Alternatively, an amendment can be ratified by three-fourths of the specially convoked state convention. This process was used during the Prohibition era. Those in favor of ending Prohibition feared that the 21^st Amendment (set to repeal the 18^th Amendment prohibiting the sale and consumption of alcohol) would be blocked by conservative state legislatures. On December 5, 1933, these so-called “wets” asked for specially called state conventions and ratified repeal. Thus it was proved that a constitutional amendment can be stopped by one-third of either chamber of Congress or one-fourth of state legislatures.

The formal processes of amending the constitution are the processes articulated in Article V of the Constitution. These are the Congressional method and the Constitutional Convention methods.

Local Government and Decentralization are concepts which are very closely inter-related, but they are not synonymous, and they do not always bear the same relationship to each other. In other words, while local government can be said to always represent some form of decentralization, decentralization does not always have to take the form of some type of local government. Additionally, different models of local government may represent different forms of decentralization.

The term "decentralization" embraces a variety of concepts which must be carefully analyzed in any particular country before determining if projects or programs should support the

Political Decentralization

reorganization of financial, administrative, or service delivery systems. Decentralization—the transfer of authority and responsibility for public functions from the central government to subordinate or quasi-independent government organizations and/or the private sector—is a complex multifaceted concept. Different types of decentralization should be distinguished because they have different characteristics, policy implications, and conditions for success.

Types of Decentralization-

• Political Decentralization
• Administrative Decentralization
• Fiscal Decentralization

Forms of Decentralization

Privatization. Privatization can range in scope from leaving the provision of goods and services entirely to the free operation of the market to "public-private partnerships" in which government and the private sector cooperate to provide services or infrastructure. Privatization can include: 1) allowing private enterprises to perform functions that had previously been monopolized by government; 2) contracting out the provision or management of public services or facilities to commercial enterprises indeed, there is a wide range of possible ways in which function can be organized and many examples of within public sector and public-private institutional forms, particularly in infrastructure.

Deregulation. Deregulation reduces the legal constraints on private participation in service provision or allows competition among private suppliers for services that in the past had been provided by the government or by regulated monopolies. In recent years privatization and deregulation have become more attractive alternatives to governments in developing countries. Local governments are also privatizing by contracting out service provision or administration.​