2. Co-operative
Federalism
The New Deal set up
‘Alphabet Agencies’ like
the WPA which with $4.8
billion from Congress in
1935, employed at least
8.5 million people at an
average of $2 a day for 8
years.
Triggered by the Wall Street
Crash and the Great
Depression
Federal and state
governments
cooperated to solve
the problems facing
US society relating
to:
• Transport (1966)
• Health (1953)
• Education (1953)
• Poverty (1965)
• National Security (1949)
Coincided with 4
Democrat Presidents:
• Franklin D Roosevelt
• Harry Truman
• John F Kennedy
• Lyndon B Johnson
3. Dual Federalism v Co-operative
Federalism
Layer Cake:
relationship between
the federal
government and that
of its states, where
the powers and
policy assignments of
the government
hierarchy ("layers" of
government) are
clearly spelled out
and distinct from one
another.
Marble Cake:
formerly
distinct division
of
responsibilities
between state
and federal
government
has blurred.Which cake
represents which era?
4. New Federalism
Coincided with 4
Republican Presidents:
• Richard Nixon
• Gerald Ford
• Ronald Reagan
• George H Bush
“...federal government did
not create the states, the
states created the federal
government”
Term was coined by Nixon
Return of certain
powers and
responsibilities from
the federal
government to the
state governments -
decentralisation
Attempt to reverse
growth of federal
government under
successive Democrat
presidents
View on right
that New Deal and
Great Society had
failed to remedy
nations ills
Growing distrust
of ‘Washington
politicians’
Coincided with
a ‘conservative’
Supreme Court
