Challenges to Federalism and Intergovernmental Relations and Takeaways Amid the COVID-19 Experience

• Author: J. Edwin Benton
• Published date: 01 August 2020
• Date: 01 August 2020
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/0275074020941698
• Subject Matter: Public Management Opportunities & Challenges in the Era of COVID-19Intergovernmental Collaboration & Conflict

https://doi.org/10.1177/0275074020941698

American Review of Public Administration

2020, Vol. 50(6-7) 536 –542

© The Author(s) 2020

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DOI: 10.1177/0275074020941698

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Intergovernmental Collaboration & Conflict

Introduction

It was inevitable that the challenges posed by the COVID-19

pandemic would thrust the American political system—more

specifically, the country’s federal form of government—into

both the national and global spotlight. History has taught us

that crises are the ultimate testing ground for the sufficiency

and durability of any political system. At this still early stage

in dealing with the pandemic that has had both severe health

and economic consequences, how has the federal system of

government—but especially the ability of the national (fed-

eral), state, and local governments to work together for the

“general welfare”—graded out? The purpose of the article is

to provide some early answers to this question.

But, before addressing the fundamental question posed

above, it is important to present some fundamental contex-

tual information about the U.S. federal structure of govern-

ment and the subsequent evolution of relations between the

three levels of government.

Background

When the U.S. Constitution was ratified in 1789, few, if any,

people probably knew how relations would play out between

various levels of government in this unique federal form of

government that Tocqueville (1999) referred to as the “great

American experiment.” It is doubtful that even the Framers

of the Constitution could have foreseen the development of

and nuances in the relations among the national, state, and

local governments. What was known in those early years of

the Republic was that the national government had been del-

egated specific powers, whereas the “reserved” or “residual”

powers of the states were less clear given the wording of the

10th Amendment. And, in spite of the fact that the Constitution

referenced some national/state “concurrent” or “shared”

powers, there was uncertainty how this grant of joint author-

ity would work. The role of local governments, however,

was the least clear as the Constitution was silent on these

governments, although anecdotal thinking seemed to suggest

that states would continue to create and use them as adminis-

trative arms or political subdivisions.

941698ARPXXX10.1177/0275074020941698The American Review of Public AdministrationBenton

research-article2020

1University of South Florida, Tampa, USA

Corresponding Author:

J. Edwin Benton, School of Interdisciplinary Global Studies, University of

South Florida, Tampa, FL 33620, USA.

Email: jbenton@usf.edu

Challenges to Federalism and

Intergovernmental Relations and

Takeaways Amid the COVID-19 Experience

J. Edwin Benton1

Abstract

The American democratic system of government is being put to its greatest test since the Great Depression of the 1920s

and 1930s, as the country endeavors to cope with the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic. That is, considerable pressure

continues to build up at the fault lines of governance inherent in the country’s unique federal form of government which

explicitly and implicitly expects national, state, and local levels to work together while they also may function as separate,

autonomous entities to promote and provide for the general welfare. These fault lines exist where governance and service

provision matters necessitate the collective attention and action of two or more levels of government. Both cooperation and

conflict are possible interactive outcomes in these situations.

This article provides an early assessment of how national, state, and local governments have worked together since the onset

of the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequently a “report card” of sorts on the functioning of intergovernmental relations in the

U.S. at the present time. More specifically, the article will examine the current condition of interstate, interlocal, state-local, and

national-state relations. While the findings and observations reported here are certainly enlightening, they should be viewed as

preliminary. Followed up research should be conducted to determine if there have been any policy learning has occurred and if

such information has been used in improve the quality of governance in keeping with citizen expectations of American federalism.

Keywords

federalism, intergovernmental relations (IGR), COVID-19 pandemic, kaleidoscopic federalism