Federations - by Chad Rector (Hardcover)

About the Book

Why would states ever give up their independence to join federations? While federation can provide more wealth or security than self-sufficiency, states can in principle get those benefits more easily by cooperating through international organizations...

Book Synopsis

Why would states ever give up their independence to join federations? While federation can provide more wealth or security than self-sufficiency, states can in principle get those benefits more easily by cooperating through international organizations such as alliances or customs unions.Chad Rector develops a new theory that states federate when their leaders expect benefits from closer military or economic cooperation but also expect that cooperation via an international organization would put some of the states in a vulnerable position, open to extortion from their erstwhile partners. The potentially vulnerable states hold out, refusing to join alliances or customs unions, and only agreeing to military and economic cooperation under a federal constitution.Rector examines several historical cases: the making of a federal Australia and the eventual exclusion of New Zealand from the union, the decisions made within Buenos Aires and Prussia to build Argentina and Germany largely through federal contracts rather than conquests, and the failures of postindependence unions in East Africa and the Caribbean.

Review Quotes

"Federations is a joy to read and provides an extremely useful framework for understanding why countries choose this form of alliance. Chad Rector's clear explanation builds on the broad literature on cooperation and the narrower literature on institutional choice and federalism and adds the exquisite dimension of elucidating not simply why countries federate but why they choose this option over self-sufficiency or joining an international organization." Carol S. Weissert, LeRoy Collins Eminent Scholar and Professor of Political Science, Florida State University, and editor of Publius: The Journal of Federalism"

"This book represents an important new and distinctive voice in the burgeoning literature on federalism's origins. Deploying a powerfully parsimonious theory to explain why states federate rather than form international alliances or organizations, Chad Rector's careful case analysis places federalism firmly on the agenda of International Relations scholarship. Federations is a real contribution to the study of the important nexus of domestic and international politics." Daniel Ziblatt, Harvard University, author of Structuring the State"

About the Author

Chad Rector is Assistant Professor of Political Science and International Affairs at The George Washington University.