Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-m6dg7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-09T13:59:31.620Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Rethinking The Origins of Federalism: Puzzle, Theory, and Evidence from Nineteenth-Century Europe

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 June 2011

Daniel Ziblatt
Daniel Ziblatt
Affiliation:
Harvard University
Get access

Extract

This article examines the paradox of how federal political institutions are created: how can a state-building core be unyielding enough to forge a union but accommodating enough to grant federal concessions to subunits? A comparison of the trajectories of national unification in nineteenth-century Germany and Italy indicates that the formation of federations does not come about exclusively through voluntary “contract”; instead, coercion and cooperation go hand in hand in the formation of all states, including federations. Whether the outcome is federal or unitary depends on the level of subunit infrastructural capacity at the moment of founding.

The article finds that where the constituents of a potential federation are parliamentary and well governed, they can deliver the benefits of state formation, assuring their continued existence in a federation. Where such subunits are patrimonial and poorly governed, they are absorbed within a unitary model of governance. This institutional explanation supplements accounts emphasizing the cultural sources of federalism and revises arguments that only militarily weak founding cores make federal concessions to their constituents.

Type
Research Article
Information
World Politics , Volume 57 , Issue 1 , October 2004 , pp. 70 - 98
Copyright
Copyright © Trustees of Princeton University 2004

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 Mann, , The Sources ofSocial Power (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993), 2: 59–61CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

2 Romeo, , Risorgimento e capitalismo (The risorgimento and capitalism) (Bari: Laterza, 1959)Google Scholar.

3 Additionally, in both settings, the political cores (Prussia and Piedmont) were wealthier than the states they absorbed. Recent estimates of preunification regional GDP per capita demonstrate that Prussia was on average 1.9 times wealthier than the states it absorbed. Piedmont was 1.7 times wealthier than the states it absorbed. This finding undercuts the notion that the different institutional choice in the two cases reflected deep underlying differences in regional socioeconomic inequality. See Esposto, Alfredo, “Estimating Regional per Capita Income: Italy, 1861–1914,” Journal of European Economic History 26, no. 4 (1997), 589Google Scholar; see also Frank, Harald, Regionale Entwicklungsdisparitäten im deutschen Industrialisierungsprozess, 1849—1939 (Regional development disparities in the German industrialization process, 1849–1939) (Munster: Lit Verlag, 1996), appendix 8, p. 30Google Scholar.

4 There were at least three intellectual strands that were self-consciously federal in nineteenth-century Italy: the neo-Guelphs such as the priest Vicenzo Gioberti, who advocated a confederacy of princes under the lead of the pope; liberals such as Carlo Cattaneo and Ferrera; and regional autono-mists in Italy's south.

5 Binkley, , Realism and Nationalism, 1852–1871 (New York: Harper and Row, 1935), 197Google Scholar.

6 Woolf, Stuart, The Italian Risorgimento (New York: Barnes and Noble, 1969), 7Google Scholar.

7 Smith, Denis Mack, Cavour (London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1985), 249Google Scholar.

8 Salomone, William, Italy in the Giolittian Era: Italian Democracy in the Making, 1900—1914 (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1960), 13CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

9 It should be noted that post-1871 German federalism, often dubbed “executive federalism,” contrasts with the classic American “dual federalism,” insofar as most important legislation was national but was implemented by independent state-level bureaucracies. See Gerhard Lehmbruch, “Der uni-tarische Bundesstaat in Deutschland: Pfadabhängigkeit und Wandel,” Discussion Paper 02/2 (Cologne: Max-Planck-Institut für Gesellschaftsforschung, 2002). See also the discussion in Ziblatt, Daniel, Structuring the State: The Formation of Italy and Germany and the Puzzle of Federalism (Princeton: Princeton University Press, forthcoming)Google Scholar.

10 See Riker, especially, Federalism: Origins, Operation, Significance (New York: Little Brown, 1964)Google Scholar.

11 Ibid., 10; Rui de Figueiredo and Barry Weingast, “Self-Enforcing Federalism” (Manuscript, Stanford University, 2001).

12 Riker (fn. 10), 9.

13 Ibid., 12, emphasis added.

14 Ibid.

15 The relative military power of Piedmont and Prussia is established by estimating each state's control over population, territory, and military expenditures (before unification) as a proportion of the future territory of each unified nation-state (that is, excluding Austria in both cases) after 1871. Italy's population figures are for 1861, from Zamagni, Vera, The Economic History of Italy, 1860–1990 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1993), 14Google Scholar; Italy's territory figures are for 1857, from Fried, Robert, The Italian Prefects: A Study in Administrative Politics (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1963), 54Google Scholar; German population figures are for 1865, from Nipperdey, Thomas, Germanyfrom Napoleon to Bismarck, 1800–1866 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1996), 86Google Scholar; Germany's territory data are from Rolf Dumke, German Economic Unification in the Nineteenth Century: The Political Economy ofthe Zollverein (Munich: University of the Bundeswehr, 1994), 55; Germany's military expenditure data are from Knut Borchard, “Staatsverbrauch und Öffentliche Investitionen in Deutschland, 1780–1850” (State expenditures and public investments in Germany, 1780—1850) (Ph.D. diss., University of Göttingen,1968), 183–85; military personnel data are from J. David Singer and Small, Melvin, National Material Capabilities Data, 1816–1985 (Computer file) (Ann Arbor, Mich.: ICPSR, 1993)Google Scholar.

16 Gibson, Edward L. and Failed, Tulia, “Unity by the Stick: Regional Conflict and the Origins of Argentine Federalism,” in Gibson, ed., Federalism and Democracy in Latin America (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2004)Google Scholar.

17 This definition of “infrastructural capacity” borrows from Mann (fn. 1), 59–61.

18 On patrimonialism, see Bendix, Reinhard, Max Weber (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1977), 334Google Scholar.

19 “Institutionalization” refers to the degree to which a political system has acquired value and stability, indicated by the adaptability, complexity, autonomy, and coherence of organizations and procedures. See Huntington, Samuel, Political Order in Changing Societies (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1968), 12Google Scholar.

20 “Cavour to Victor Emanuel, Baden-Baden, July 24, 1858,” in Santore, John, Modern Naples: A Documentary History, 1799–1999 (New York: Italica Press, 2001), 164CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

21 Stefan Oeter, Integration und Subsidiarität im deutschen Bundesstaatsrecht: Untersuchungen za Bun desstaatstbeorie unter dem Grundgesetz (Integration and subsidiarity in German federal constitutional law: A study of federalism theory in the constitution) (Tübingen: J.C.B. Mohr Siebeck, 1998), 29.

22 Bismarck, Otto von, “Rede in der Kommissionssitzung des Abgeordnetenhauses zur Beratung einer Adresse an den Konig vom 17.8 1866,” in Scheler, Eberhard, ed., Otto von Bismarck: Werke in Aurwahl (Otto von Bismarck: Selected works) (Stuttgart: W. Kohlhammer Verlag, 1965), 3:799Google Scholar.

23 Ibid., 755. These terms come from a memo from Otto von Bismarck to his ambassador in Paris on July 9, 1866.

24 Smith, Denis Mack, Cavour and Garibalidi:A Study in Political Conflict (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1954), 50–51Google Scholar.

25 “Cavour to Victor Emanuel, Baden-Baden, July 24,1858,” in Santore (fn. 20), 164.

26 Marriott, J. A. R, The Makers of Modern Italy (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1931), 125–26Google Scholar.

27 Craig, Gordon, The Politics ofthe Prussian Army, 1640–1945 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1955), 200Google Scholar.

28 Oncken, Hermann, ed., Die Rheinpolitik Kaiser Napoleon III von 1863–1870 (The Rhineland politics of Emperor Napoleon III between 1863 and 1870) (Stuttgart, Berlin, Leipzig: Deutsche Verlagsanstalt, 1926)Google Scholar.

29 G. Felloni, “La Spese Effettive e II Bilancio degli Stati Sabaudi dal 1825 al I860,” in Archivio Economico dell'Unificazione Italiana (Archive of Economic Unification of Italy), ser. 1, vol. 9 (1959), 5.

30 This argument has a long pedigree. For the German case, see Helmut Böhme, Deutschlands Weg Zur Grossmacht (Germany's path to great power status) (1966; Cologne: Kiepenheuer und Witsch, 1972); for the Italian case, see Clough, Shepard, The Economic History ofModern Italy (New York: Columbia University Press, 1964)Google Scholar.

31 See Riall, Lucy, The Italian Risorgimento: State, Society, andNational Unification (London: Rout-ledge, 1994)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

32 Luigi Izzo, La Finanza Pubblica: Nel Primo Decennio Dell'Unita Italiana (Public finance in the first decade of Italian unification) (Milan: Dottore a Giuffre Editore, 1962), 3—4.

33 For a description of these rural uprisings, see Charles, Louise, and Tilly, Richard, The Contentious Century, 1830–1930 (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1975), 124CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

34 See Commissione Editrice dei Carteggi Di Camillo Cavour in Count Camillo di Cavour, Carteggi di Cavour: La Liberazione del Mezzogiorno e laformazione del Regno d'ltalie (Cavour's correspondence: The liberation of the mezzogiorno and the formation of the kingdom of Italy), vol. 2 (Bologna: Nicola Zanichelli, 1961).

35 For examples of repeated efforts at negotiation, see the collection of diplomatic correspondence in the multivolume work, Carlo Pischedda and Rosanna Roccía, eds., Camillo Cavour Epistolario (Camillo Cavour's letters) (Florence: Leo S. Olschki Editore, 2000).

36 Ibid. Evidence of these diplomatic reports between Cavour and his envoy in Florence can be seen in “Da Carlo Bon Compagni di Mombello,” Doc. 380, March 18 (p. 352); see also “A Carlo Bon Compagni di Mombello” (p. 619).

37 Ibid. “Da Carlo Bon Compagni di Mombello,” Doc. 800 (pp. 628–29). These are Cavour's envoy's words describing the situation in Tuscany in his April 27,1859, report.

38 Ibid.

39 Riall, Lucy, Sicily and the Unification ofItaly (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1998), 106CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

40 Pischedda and Roccía (fn. 35), August 16,1860, Doc. 639 (p. 94).

41 Ibid., August 2,1860, Doc. 528 (p. 8).

42 Caracciolo, Alberto, Stato e societa civile (State and civil society) (Turin: Giulio Einaudi, 1960), 119Google Scholar.

43 James Albisetti, “Julie Schwabe and the Poor of Naples” (Paper presented at the annual meeting of the International Standing Conference for the History of Education, Birmingham, England, July 12–15, 2001).

44 Pischedda and Roccia (fn. 35), August 17, 1860, Doc. 647 (p. 99).

45 Riall(fn.39),84.

46 These three measures correspond to the concepts of “extraction, conscription, and control,” in Tilly, Charles, “Reflections on the History of European State-Making,” in Tilly, ed., The Formation of National States in Western Europe (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1975), 50Google Scholar.

47 In response to the criticism that this measure and the other two might simply reflect underlying socioeconomic differences, it is instructive that the correlation between regional GDP per capita and; each of the measures is very weak, suggesting that institutional capacity has a conceptual weight of its own. For GDP per capita data on the Italian states, see Esposto (fn. 3), 585–604.

48 Riall (fn. 39), 90.

49 Ibid.

50 Fried (fn. 15), 75

51 Ibid., for a summary of these debates.

52 Ibid.

53 Grimm, Dieter, Deutsche Verfassungsgeschichte, 1776—1866 (German constitutional history, 1776–1866) (Frankfurt: Suhrkamp, 1988), 112Google Scholar.

54 Reinhard Mussgnug, “Die rechtlichen und pragmatischen Beziehungen zwischen Regierung, Parlament, und Verwaltung,” in Kurt Jeserich, Hans Pohl, and Georg-Christoph von Unruh, eds., Deutsche Verwaltungsgeschichte (German administrative history) (Stuttgart: Deutsche-Verlags Anstalt, 1983), 2:96.

55 For a description of these reforms, see Huber, Ernst Rudolf, ed., Dokumente zur Deutschen Verfassungsgeschichte (Documents of German constitutional history) (Stuttgart: W. Kohlhammer Verlag, 1964), 2:182–223Google Scholar.

56 See the description in Sheehan, James, German History, 1770–1866 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1989), 439Google Scholar.

57 The extension of the North German Constitution to southern Germany in 1871 might have represented an opportunity for further renegotiation, but instead it was not renegotiated. See Karl Bosl, “Die Verhandlungen uber den Eintritt der süddeutschen Staaten in den Norddeutschen Bund und die Entstehung der Reichsverfassung,” in Theodor Schieder, ed., Reichsgründung 1870–71 (Founding of the the empire, 1870–71) (Stuttgart: Seewald Verlag, 1970), 148–63.

58 The term “negotiated peace” is from Gall, Lothar, Bismarck: The White Revolutionary (Boston: Allen and Unwin, 1986), 307Google Scholar.

59 That Saxony was left intact and Hannover completely annexed can be explained by two factors. First, Hannover was of greater strategic and geographical importance, allowing Prussia to link its western and eastern provinces, creating a “tenable territory.” For more on this point, see Stehlin, Stewart, Bismarck and the Guelph Problem, 1866–1890 (The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1973), 34–41CrossRefGoogle Scholar. The second reason for the contrasting fates of Saxony and Hannover was that Saxony's independence, unlike Hannover's, was insisted upon by both French and Austrian powers. See correspondence “Graf Goltz an Bismarck,” July 23,1866, no. 224, in Oncken (fn. 28), 372–75.

60 Otto von Bismarck, in Scheler (fn. 22), 755.

61 Huber (fn. 55), 212–20.

62 Otto von Bismarck, in Scheler (fn. 22), 739–40.

63 Text of treaty is in Huber (fn. 55), 224–25.

64 Gall (fn. 58), 317.

65 Erich Brandenburg, Die Reichsgrundung (The founding of the empire), 2nd ed. (Leipzig: Quelle und Meyer, 1923), 219.

66 Gall (fn. 58), 317.

67 For an overview of these negotiations, see Becker, Otto, Bismarcks Ringen Um Deutschlands Gestaltung (Bismarck's struggle in the shaping of Germany) (Heidelberg: Quelle und Meyer, 1958), 290–371Google Scholar.

68 Jacob, , German Administration since Bismarck (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1963)Google Scholar.

69 Of the universe of seventeen cases, the only three in which state building gave rise to federal outcomes, Switzerland (1848), Germany (1871), and Austria (1920), all had regional-level parliaments, constitutions, and systems of administration in the constituent states at the moment of the first modern national constitution. In the remaining fourteen cases, state building resulted in unitary outcomes. Of these fourteen cases, only one case, Denmark (1849), had modern subnational parliamentary institutions at the moment of polity formation. In all other cases, including the Netherlands (1815) and Italy (1861), unitary institutions were adopted in a context where subnational parliamentary institutions were absent. The single exception, Denmark, might be explained by the absence of a federal ideology in 1849, which undermined the prospects of federalism. For further systematic testing of the infrastructural account vis-à-vis other arguments, see Daniel Ziblatt, “The Federal-Unitary Divide: Lessons of Seventeen European Nation-States,” Center for European Studies Working Paper (Cambridge, Harvard University, 2005).

70 For a discussion of the limits of the European model in the African context, see Herbst, Jeffrey, States and Power in Africa: Comparative Lessons in Authority and Control (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2000)Google Scholar. For a discussion of the limits of European models in Latin America, see Centeno, Miguel, Blood and Debt: War and the Nation-State in Latin America (University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2002)Google Scholar.

71 See, for example, Amoretti, Ugo and Bermeo, Nancy, eds., Federalism and Territorial Cleavages (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2004)Google Scholar.