Ten cultural keys to the understanding of American federalism

Abstract

This essay aims to analyze the success – though a relative one – of federalism in the U.S. from what is considered their dependence on historical, cultural and geographical factors which are specific to them and which would have played a role as or more important than their own political and legal bases represented in its founding documents and governmental institutions they engendered. These factors enabled the assembly of a system in which individuals, local governments and the federal government share power within a legal framework which demands and allows constant negotiations between the power of the parties and that of the central authority