Our Mission

Regional Governance Project

Federalism Education Project

Federalism Rate of Return Project

European Union
Federalism Project (356kb)

Federalism Links

A note on the Significant Features 
of Fiscal Federalism

Regional Governance Project

The US Constitution recognizes two independently sovereign entities for United States of America: States and the Federal government. However, many policy and political problems cross state boundaries but do not rise to the level of a national interest. The question then arises: what government is responsible for these issues?

One of the strengths of American federalism is that it allows for experimentation with different sorts of governmental forms to address different sorts of public problems. Regional governance is no exception in this regard and a wide variety of solutions have been, and are being developed by, States to focus on and address regional problems. 

The Council is conducting research into and monitoring ongoing activities which relate to regional governance. Good regional government, when appropriate, offers the chance to pool limited resources for greater effect, to achieve more effective and better coordinated policies, and, in some cases, to provide a counterweight to Federal authority which can re-balance the sharing of powers in the federal system that was originally envisioned at the birth of the American republic.

A Council working paper on regional infrastructure governance in the Midwest frames some of the issues in the context of a specific case study. (This paper was presented as part of a conference by the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago on Midwest infrastructure and its impact on the regional economy).

To learn more about our activities, please click on the links in the left margin. You may contact us by e-mail at amcouncil@usa.com. 

Thanks very much for visiting our site and getting introduced to our organization. Keep checking back, for we will be updating these pages frequently. 

CAMERON GORDON
Executive Director
American Council on Intergovernmental Relations