Contents -- Preface -- Part I Creating a New Nation -- 1 The Great Political Experiment -- Defining Federalism and Organized Power in the "First New Nation" -- Endless Nuances -- The Four Characteristics of Federalism -- Fluidity and Continuity -- Outcomes of Federalism -- Follow the Bouncing Ball -The Uncertainties of Federalism -- Looking Ahead -- 2 Reordering the Rules on Power and Governance -- Questioning the Traditional Rules on Power and Governance -- New Theories and the Old Regime:Sowing Seeds of Change -- The Articles of Confederation:The First Effort at Self-Governance -- The Constitutional Convention: The Second Effort at Self-Governance -- From the Past to the Present -- Part II Organizing a Federal System of Government -- 3 The Appeal of Tradition -- Tradition:The Conservative Ethic in America -- To Trust or Not to Trust the People -Con .icting Themes -- The Constitution:Assigned Powers and Early Interpretations -- Pitting Liberty against Equality? -- Tradition,Yes,But What Tradition? -- 4 Institutional Change Agents Political Wellsprings -- The Courts as Change Agents -- The President as a Change Agent -- Congress as a Change Agent -- National Institutions on the March -- 5 Informal Pressures on the Power Flow -- Political Parties -- Interest Groups -- Bureaucracy:Pushing from the Periphery of Power -- Public Opinion -- Informal Pressures:Ambiguous but Real -- Part III The Dimensions of Modern Federalism -- 6 Vertical Federalism -- National/State Relations -- National/Local Federalism -- State/Local Relations -- Federal Grants-in-Aid as a Catalyst for Control -- National/Private Sector Relations -- Vertical Federalism in Perspective -- 7 Horizontal Federalism Arrangements Among the States -- State Political Cultures in the Federal Framework -- Public Opinion and Policy Differences -- State-to-State Competition.

Regional Cooperation -- Horizontal Federalism in the Twenty-.rst Century -- 8 The International Dimension of Federalism -- The Many Faces of Globalization -- Immigration -- Security -- International Dimensions in a Domestic Context -- Part IV Continuity and Change -- 9 Explaining American Federalism in the Twenty-.rst Century -- Problem-Solving in a Defined Political Structure -- Emerging Themes,New Directions,Unanswered Questions -- The Future of American Federalism -- Notes -- Index.