Prymat władzy federalnej w amerykańskim modelu państwa federacyjnego – ujęcie prawnokonstytucyjne

• Authors: Artur C. Wróblewski

Title variants

EN

Predominance of Federal Governance in the American Model of a Federal State – Legal and Constitutional Aspects

• Languages of publication: PL

Abstracts

EN

The aim of the article is to present the evolution of federal government powers towards the establishment of federal hegemony system in which the predominance of the powers of Washington within the formula of cooperative federalism – or dual federalism – is not questioned any more. Due to the key role of the Supreme Court on the individual stages of the federal governance consolidation, the most important political events will be illustrated by court decisions which show that with the use of the right to supervise the constitutionality of law (judicial review), the Court decided on the course of changes in the state. The activeness of the judges of the Supreme Court in the field of interpretation of central government’s role in the United States can be divided into two periods. In the first one, i.e. the 19th century, the judges extended the influence of the federal government so to speak when protecting the economic philosophy of laissez-faire and the oligarchic interests of big business circles (substantive due process). In the second period, starting in the 1930s, the Supreme Court, under the pressure of public opinion and social and economic changes, decided to protect a new interpretation of citizens’ rights and freedoms (procedural due process of law). Reflection on the transformations of the American political system and the evolution of complex relations between Washington and individual states towards bigger centralization in the context of the European Union institutional transformations after the Treaty of Lisbon entered into force inspires to assess the possibility of comparing the American model of federalism and experience with the European routes to integration. Could American experience in state creation be useful in the process of creating effectively functioning Europe?

Keywords

EN

American federalism; federal hegemony; cooperative federalism; dual federalism

• Publisher: Uczelnia Łazarskiego. Oficyna Wydawnicza
• Journal: Myśl Ekonomiczna i Polityczna
• Year: 2010
• Issue: 3(30)
• Pages: 203-240

Contributors

author

Artur C. Wróblewski

• Lazarski University in Warsaw