Demokracja i federalizm
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Date
2010
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Wydział Nauk Politycznych i Dziennikarstwa UAM
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Abstract
In terms of law, federation is a complex political, economic, administrative and social system,
whose individual components enjoy a significant level of independence. Political authority
is organized so as to protect the identity of national, ethnic, linguistic and cultural
minorities living in the territory of this multidimensional federal structure. From the constitutional
point of view, federalism has two principal functions. Firstly, it unifies a state that was
once disintegrated, thus allowing for the establishment of a political union and of some form
of authority, which is a prerequisite of forming a somewhat broader identity; alternatively, it
unifies various states. This function consists of the unification of what used to be separated
and disintegrated.
The other function concerns the task of maintaining the unity of those who underline the
legitimacy of the authorities and reject their governance, because they feel harmed and oppressed
by the political regime, or they believe that their interests are not guaranteed in the
framework of a constitutionally determined autonomy. This is usually connected with their
striving to become separated. In this case, federalism is a reaction to the threat of the state’s
disintegration, when different identities emerge in its internal structure, although they are not
mutually excluded, and they do not exclude one another from this state yet. Then, federalism
becomes a form of identification of various subjects with the federal state in a broader than local
perspective. The second function of federalism refers us to the issue of a state comprising
numerous nations, languages, cultures and religions.
Modern democracy is both a political ideology and a political system. It generates increasing
dissatisfaction with the way it operates on a practical level. The choice between a unitary
and a federal approach does not mean a choice between a democratic or nondemocratic system,
yet, from the long-term historical perspective, it appears that a federal system cannot operate
without democracy, despite the obvious tensions between a democratic ideal and
political reality.
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Przegląd Politologiczny, 2010, nr 1, s. 7-16.