A country is federal when both of its national and sub-national governments exercise separate and autonomous authority, both elect their own governors and legislators, and both tax their citizens for the non-exclusive and non-rivalrous provision of public goods (such as national defense, security, law enforcement, education, and infrastructure etc). Federalism requires that a constitution guarantees the administrative, legislative, and judicial powers of the national and sub-national governments. No one can change this constitutional guarantee without the consent of both national and sub-national populations.

America, Canada, Australia, India, Germany, and Switzerland etc generally serve as federal governance systems, but Britain, France, Italy, and Sweden etc do not. Although these latter countries have local governments, they depend on the national government for their powers. These non-federal countries are unitary in the basic sense that the national government can act alone to alter-and-even-abolish the local governments. In contrast, a confederal system exercises the administrative, legislative, and judicial powers of the national government in association with local units of government.

There are more than 89,000 separate governments in America, more than 60,000 of which have the power to levy their own taxes. In America, there are states, counties, municipalities (cities, boroughs, and villages), school districts, and special districts. However, only the U.S. federal government and 50 states receive sovereign recognition in the U.S. Constitution. All local governments are sub-divisions of states. In due course, states create, alter, or abolish these local governments and sub-divisions by amending state laws or constitutions.

U.S. federalism and domestic institutional arrangements - Blog - AYA fintech network platform for stock market investors

U.S. federalism and domestic institutional arrangements

https://ayafintech.network/blog/american-federalism-and-domestic-institutional-arrangements/