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Sep 30
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FEDERALISM AND CONSTITUTING OF AN ORDER – DECISION OR PROCESS?

Bojan Kovačević

10.5937/AnaliPFB1803210K
ABSTRACT /

Most of contemporary constitutional lawyers investigating federalism focus only on the system’s normal functioning. In contrast to this mainstream approach in this article we argue that in order to understand true challenges of compound communities in today’s epoch of crisis a scholar has to look for the ways a federation caught in the trap of exceptional situation deals with the either/or decisionist dilemma. The article is divided in three parts. In the first part we ask the three major questions: Who is guardian of the federal constitution? What enables the parallel political coexistence of a federation and its composing parts? What is the relationship between federalism and democracy? In the second part, we present some of todays most distinguished federal scholars’ arguments that negate the importance of whether-or decisionistic dilemma for understanding compound communities’ constitutional nature. In the last part, we land from the sky of theoretical discussions to the realm of history in order to look for the answers to Schmitt’s questions in concrete experience of compound political communities.

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