Dual Federalism and Cooperative Federalism

The two concepts that I decided to compare was Dual federalism and cooperative federalism . Dual federalism is based on the idea that the federal government and the State governments are co-equals and each is legislating in a separate sphere. Dual federalism is said to be a theory about the proper relationship between government and the states, portraying the states as powerful components of the federal government nearly equal to the national government.Dual federalism is said to be composed of four essential parts which include 1. The national government rules by enumerated powers only. The national government may rule only by using powers specifically listed in the Constitution.2. The national government has a limited set of constitutional purposes. The national government has only limited purposes.3. Each government unit, the nation and state, is sovereign within its sphere. National and state governments are sovereign in their own spheres.4. The relationship between nation and states is best characterized by tension rather than cooperation. The relationships between the state and national governments are marked by tension.Dual federalism is the  states’ rights, which reserve to the states all rights not specifically conferred on the national government by the Constitution. According to the theory of dual federalism, a rigid wall separates the nation and the states.

Cooperative federalism acknowledges a need for cooperation between state and federal governments. It rejects that state and national government must exist in separate spheres and is defined by three elements which include 1. National and state agencies typically undertake government functions jointly rather than exclusively.2. The nation and states routinely share power.3. Power is not concentrated at any government level or in any agency. The fragmentation of responsibilities gives people and groups access to many venues of influence.


After reading and researching both dual and cooperative federalism, the only things that dual and cooperative federalism have in common are the base cores of federalism. Both dual and cooperative federalism both have national and state levels of government.

The relating  concept in which dual and cooperative federalism is federalism.  Federalism is when two or more governments exercise power and authority over the same people and the same territory. Federalism relates becasue it can include both cooperative and dual federalism. For example, the governments of the United States and Pennsylvania share certain powers (cooperative federalism)(for example, the power to tax) but other powers belong exclusively to one or the other (dual federalism). This form of government was the founders’ solution to the problem of making a single nation out of thirteen independent states.

http://thisnation.com/textbook/federalism-what.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cooperative_federalism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/dual_federalism
http://www.oxfordscholarship.com/oso/public/content/law/9780199238583/toc.html