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Federalism Vs. Cooperative Federalism

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Federalism is a critically important concept in helping to understanding the American political system. The Founding Fathers of the United States had to answer important questions on how to handle power and responsibility between the states and national government. They did not want to have a situation where the federal government had all the power. They had just fought a war against Britain because of that idea. However, they did not want each individual state doing essentially whatever they wanted. There are differences between dual federalism and cooperative federalism. However, it is important to fully address and understand what federalism is and why it was created.
Federalism is a concept that refers to a system of government in which power is shared between the national and non-national governments (Federalism, 2014). Dual federalism is a term used to describe a circumstance in which national and state governments are sovereign and equal within their constitutionally allocated spheres of authority (Federalism, 2014). Cooperative Federalism is a model of federalism in which all governments are linked and participate in the administration of programs. It is now referred to as New Federalism. Creative Federalism was a term used to describe the Great Society program of Lyndon Johnson (Federalism, 2014). President Johnson sought to devolve powers to the states using creative federalism. The devolution of responsibilities to the states began under President Nixon, but were

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