1.The Role of Citizens in Federal, Confederation, and Unitary Systems
When analyzing federal, confederation, and unitary systems, I observe that citizens’ participation in government varies significantly. The United States of America is a federal system of government; this implies that power is divided between the federal and state governments, giving citizens a voice in both. This clearly indicates that citizens can make local decisions through their state representatives while national choices can be made through the members of Congress. In a confederation, states retain most of the power; thus, citizens can participate more actively in local government but not in the central government. This structure can reduce the strength of the national government and its capacity to act on broad agenda items. On the other hand, the unitary system of government, where power is vested in one national government, reduces the capacity of citizens primarily to participate in local affairs. I think that the federal system is the most appropriate for people to engage in the process due to the fact that it can sometimes be challenging to comprehend which tier of the government is in charge of specific matters.
2. Division of Power
As I am aware, power sharing means the separation of power, where power is decentralized between various branches of government so that nobody can amass too much power. This is because the US Constitution establishes the principle of the division of powers in order to prevent any branch of government or level of government from dominating the other. This system is supposed to safeguard the rights of individuals and make sure that decisions reached are in the general interest of the people, but in reality it sometimes creates a stalemate. Moreover, competitive federalism, whereby the state and federal actors view for the most appropriate solutions, can either improve or worsen the decision-making process.
3. Federal Government’s Influence During the COVID-19 Pandemic
The federal government has either influenced or shaped the various activities or actions that state and local governments have undertaken during the COVID-19 pandemic. From the perspective of New York, this fact can be established by certain examples, such as the policies of social distancing, mask-wearing, and vaccine distribution issued by the federal government. Correspondingly, it also arranged for a certain amount of emergency funding available through the programs of the CARES Act to help the states cope with the economic consequence of the pandemic scenario. However, due to the federal system of government, each state, including New York, was at liberty on matters concerning the lockdowns, closure of businesses, and any other measure that may have an effect on the spread of the virus. This was a more efficient approach that was useful for the New York state but also introduced variation in the work across the country. This proves how federalism provides room for variation but, at the same time, creates ambiguity and disparate measures during calamities.
