1. When government power is concentrated in different variations, the role of citizens in government differs with each variation. In a unitary system, a large majority of power is concentrated in the central government. Because of this, citizens engagement with the government is through voting for the all-powerful government officials with broad scope over policies. In a confederate system, central government power is weak and most power lies with the states and localities of a country. Because decision making is left to local powers, citizens engage mostly only engage with the state or local government. A federalist system is a combination of both systems, as citizens engage with both their central, state, and local governments. This is due to power being divided in a manner amount the different levels of government that makes it the citizens best interest to engage with those levels.
  2. To my understanding, the division of power is what allows our government structure to have the checks and balances that we do. Not only are responsibilities divided between congress, the judicial, and executive branches, but they are also divided between the federal, state, and local levels of those branches. Control is not as concentrated as it would be in a unitary system, yet each level has significant power to make changes within their scope of authority.
  3. The federal government can shape the acts of state and local governments through funding. During the pandemic, states and local governments needed extra support to fund unemployment programs, social services, and sanitation services. In 2021, Congress passed the American Rescue Plan, which sent out 1.9 trillion dollars from the Treasury Department to states to assist with funding. New York State initially received 12.75 billion dollars in 2021 for housing assistance, support for small businesses, and other pandemic recovery efforts. The public schools in New York also received 9 billion dollars to assist in reopening safely. This funding came from the federal level, and helped states run per usual while dealing with the economic uncertainty that the pandemic brought.

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