Exploring Linkages between Federalism and Democracy. Toward a typology of coupling arrangements

Research on comparative federalism and multilevel governance made significant progress in analysing institutional change and continuity. Regarding shifting processes emanating from the separation and sharing of powers in federal, federalizing and decentralizing polities, attempts at capturing these dynamics have been undertaken through the search for suitable indicators and development of respective indices. Yet at the same time, the linkage between federalism and democracy seems to be taken for granted. However, both institutional dimensions interact. The types of federalism and democracy and the way they are linked affects both the operation of decentralized or federalized governments and – in particular – changes in the distribution of powers. For this reason, it remains imperative to establish more analytical clarity on the complex relations between federalism and democracy. This applies not least since tensions arising between federalism and democracy pose an important source of various dynamics. To this end, we propose categories which should be included in indexes of federalization or decentralisation and allow us to precisely distinguish different combinations of federal democracies. Moreover, we include particular modes of multilevel governance and intergovernmental relations constituting patterns of interlinkage between the logics of federalism and democracy, from loose to tight coupling and thus more or less flexible arrangements. Thus, beyond the quest for refining IDF, we seek to introduce an additional avenue for studying dynamics in decentralization and federalism in democratic governments. This can foster moreover an enhanced approach to studying directions of institutional change and continuity in federal and federalizing systems.