Cooperative federalism decentralizes power and shares responsibilities among federal, state, and local agencies. It replaced dual federalism in the New Deal era, exemplified by grant aid programs. However, it has been eroded by presidents adding discretionary powers to the federal executive branch.
Cooperative federalism is a constitutional and political concept developed in the early 20th century that emphasizes the decentralization of power and an unnecessarily equal sharing of government responsibilities among federal, state, and local agencies and institutions. National and state governments address issues together cooperatively versus a system where politics is forced upon local administrators by an all-powerful federal regime. As a result, both national and state governments are simultaneously independent and interdependent with overlapping functions and financial resources, but it is difficult for one person or institution to amass absolute power. Additionally, this distribution of government provides multiple entry points for citizens interested in influencing state and federal institutions, laws, and policies.
The idea was first introduced in the United States during the New Deal era of the 1930s, and as a result, the constitutional concept of dual federalism has all but disappeared. Under dual federalism, the national government of the United States was granted limited powers with otherwise sovereign states. States were considered as powerful as the federal government within their respective political spheres, and each was responsible for specific governmental functions that did not overlap. States with a vested interest in prolonging a slave-based economy relied on dual federalism to underpin their rejection of federal government intervention.
In the New Deal era, cooperative federalism was best exemplified by federal grant aid programs that encouraged state governments to implement programs funded by the national Congress. Instead of imposing a program nationwide, the federal government has provided significant financial resources to entice each state to implement and administer the program locally. The now canceled Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) is an example of a grant program created in 1935 and administered by the United States Department of Health and Human Services. The AFDC has provided financial aid to low-income families with children. Each state that agreed to participate received matching funds from the national government, but were subject to federal regulations. Grant aid programs were usually funded and designed by the federal government but administered by the participating state governments.
It has been underpinned since cooperative federalism in the United States has been slowly eroded by a succession of presidents from both major political parties – Republicans and Democrats – adding discretionary powers to the federal executive branch. Opponents of this perceived expansion of federal power advocate the autonomy and sovereignty of state governments as described in the Constitution’s Tenth Amendment. In addition to the United States, Australia, Canada, and the European Union, among other nations and political entities, also practice variations of this form of government.
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