Federalism is the system South Sudan deserves

By John Clement Kuc Acol

June 28, 2014 – There are three major types of governments in place in the world today. The most prevalent is unitary system. In a unitary system, power is held at the national level, with little power being held in political subdivision such as provinces, counties, parishes, and towns.

Confederation system is a union of equal states, with some power being held at national level, generally, it has been found that conflicting interests lead to the break-down of confederation.

Federalism, the word federal originated from a Latin word call (fedeou) which means agreement or contract. In politics it is a system of government in which power is divided between a central authority and regional entities or provinces or states in this system there are powers which are exclusively belong tofederal government which it exercise all over the country for example, National Defense, Currency, Foreign Relations, Nationality, Passport and Immigration and the are powers belong to the states to exercise them at their states territorial for example health, education, roads within the state, construction and building and so on.

Country choose federalism for mainly two reasons.The diverse: when a country has many people with different races or cultures and background their co-existence become necessary under federal government and also the size of the country can be an other reason for a country to federal system of government specially when a country become to big to governed from the central.

ADVANTAGES OF FEDERALISM

Proponents argue that federalism does the following:

• Foster state loyalties: Many people feel close ties to their home stall and federalism maintains that connection by giving power to the states.
• Practices pragmatism: Running a country with a big size with such a diverse population (USA, Nigeria, SouthSudan Canada) is mush cashier to do if power is given to local official, likewise, state and local officials are closer to the problems of their areas, so it makes sense for them to choose policies to solve those problems.
• Creates laboratories of democracy: State governments can experiment with policies, and other states or federal government can learn from their success and failures.
• Leads to political stability: By removing the national government from some contentious issues areas and this can lead to stability.
• Encourage Pluralism: Federal system expand government on national, state and local levels, giving people more access to leadership and opportunities to get involved in their government.
• Ensures the separation of powers and prevent tyranny. Even if one person or group took control of all three branches of the federal government, federalism ensures that state governments would still function independently, federalism therefore fulfills the framers vision of governmental structure that ensure liberty.
• Reconciles a desire for overall unity with a desire for regional autonomy federalism is the bridge that can keep a country not to fall apart.

John Clement Kuc Acol is the Senior Lawyer in South Sudan, he can be reached at [email protected]