Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Vanderbilt Law Review

Abstract

The challenge here is to begin to develop an understanding of globalization's impact upon the American federal system. Part of developing that understanding is getting an idea of how globalization is proceeding, and the impact it likely will have on state regulatory authority. Thus, Part I of this Article describes the process of globalization as it relates to federalism concerns. Then, Part II samples some of the multitude of state regulatory areas that globalization, in one way or another, likely will affect. Next, it is useful to compare the legal framework under which federalism concerns are addressed when domestic regulation is at the fore with what likely would be the standards against which state action is judged when international relations is the issue. Thus, Part III canvasses the law regarding the deference due the national government in foreign affairs, concluding that, if anything, the governing law is even less solicitous to federalism than the case law that has developed in the primarily domestic area. Finally, Part IV takes a stab at predicting the future, assessing how this trend toward globalization, and the obvious impact it will have upon federalism, likely will play out in the next century. While I am not sanguine about the future of state authority in a globalized world, I do think globalization may hold some unexpected promise for localism. The very same pressures to uniformity and centralization that are driving globalization will, I suspect, create new opportunities for federalism. As bureaucracy is centralized and nationalized, it inevitably loses touch with the people whom it is to serve. The governed become alienated from the governors and seek to obtain greater control over their government. This, for example, has been the experience throughout the evolution of the European Union. And it is in this insight that I think federalism's future may rest. As we become subject to regulation that develops farther and farther from our grasp, there will be a strong incentive to reinvigorate local and state government, in order to return control over other aspects of our lives to governments quite close to home.

First Page

1441

Volume

47

Publication Date

1994

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