Re-Conceptualizing Democratic Federalization

The point of departure for this paper is that we need to develop an analytical approach to democratic federalization that is suitable for today’s interdependent world. Democratic federalization refers to the process of establishing the federation (with the process being subject to democratic norms and arrangements), and to the outcome, a democratic federation. Federal democracy is very much about representation, in a distinct shape, namely as compounded representation, where citizens are incorporated in one universal constituency and multiple sub-unit constituencies – organized along the precepts of shared rule and self-rule. There is at present no theory of democratic federalization that properly captures the central role of representation in the process of developing the federation and in terms of structuring relations among the various communities involved (federal and sub-unit). This paper will show that Michael Saward’s model of the representative claim can be reformulated to provide such a theory. Saward’s representative claims framework can be used to depict the distinct nature of federal claims, which is vital to understand the commitment to federalize. Further, Saward’s model is relevant for capturing the dynamic process of establishing the federation through the onus on the constitutive role of representation. Finally, Saward’s model helps to zoom in on and address the normative problems and challenges involved.