Federalism and Intergovernmentalism in the EU and Canada

Abstract

This panel under the section entitled Canadian and European Political Science in Conversation focuses on a set of challenges pertaining to federalism and intergovernmentalism. Many federations rely on systems of intergovernmental relations for their operations. That is notably the case with the EU and Canada but it is an intrinsic feature of all federations. These two cases - EU and Canada - are often understood as harbouring strong elements of executive dominance that stem from how they conduct intergovernmental relations. The broader underlying issue that will be examined is the driving force behind intergovernmental relations and the potential consequences in terms of executive dominance. A second issue that will be discussed is that of asymmetry (across sub-units and levels of governing). In the EU this problem has become acute with the euro-crisis and suggests that the EU may become a distinctive case of a differentiated polity. To what extent are the patterns of differentiation we see in the EU unique to it and to what extent are these shared in other federations, with particular emphasis on Canada? The third issue is that of representation. The federation connects citizens to the polity along two lines of representation: through collectives (sub-units) and individuals (citizens). Federations vary considerably in how subunits are represented: directly in the central institutions (Germany and the EU); through popularly elected representatives from each sub-unit (US Senate); or through elected bodies representing citizens respectively in their sub-unit (provincial) capacity and in their central (federal) capacity as is the case in Canada. The EU has established a very complex system of representation that also connects parliaments across levels. What are the possible lessons Canada and the EU can learn from each other's system of representation?

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