Forum of Federations

Last updated

Forum of Federations
Formation1999 (1999)
Type NGO
Legal status Not for profit
PurposeTo develop and share comparative expertise on the practice of federal and decentralized governance through a global network; and to strengthen inclusive and responsive governance in federal, decentralized, and transitioning countries.
Headquarters75 Albert Street
Suite 411
Ottawa, Ontario
K1P 5E7
Membership
Flag of Australia (converted).svg Australia
Flag of Brazil.svg Brazil
Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Canada
Flag of Ethiopia.svg Ethiopia
Flag of Germany.svg Germany
Flag of India.svg India
Flag of Mexico.svg Mexico
Flag of Nigeria.svg Nigeria
Flag of Pakistan.svg Pakistan
Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg Switzerland
Official language
(publications) English, French, German, Spanish, Arabic, Nepali, Sinhala and Tamil
President
Rupak Chattopadhyay
Chairman of the Board
Georg Milbradt
Website http://www.forumfed.org/

The Forum of Federations is an international organization based in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It develops and shares comparative expertise on the practice of federal and decentralized governance through a global network. The Forum and its partners comprise a global network on federalism.[ citation needed ]

Contents

The Forum brings the world’s leading experts together with the “practitioners” of government: elected officials, civil servants, and political operatives from many countries. The Forum's learning and technical assistance programs have covered the following countries, such as Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Burma, Canada, Ethiopia, Germany, India, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, Libya, Malaysia, Mexico, Morocco, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines, South Africa, South Sudan, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Switzerland, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen.[ citation needed ]

The Forum’s direct relationship with governments on each continent makes it uniquely placed to promote intergovernmental learning by working in tandem with its partner governments.[ citation needed ]

Organization

The Forum of Federations is an international network of federal countries, elected officials, civil servants and scholars. The Forum was established by the Government of Canada in 1999 and currently has nine other partner governments: Australia, Brazil, Ethiopia, Germany, India, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan and Switzerland.[ citation needed ] Forum's headquarters are in Ottawa, Canada, and it has field offices in Kathmandu, Nepal; Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; Manila, Philippines; Berlin, Germany and India. The Forum also has offices in the MENA region, incl. Jordan, Morocco and Tunisia.

The Forum runs training and knowledge-sharing programs to address governance challenges in existing and emerging federations, as well as in devolved and decentralized countries. The Forum is concerned with the contribution that multi-level government can make to democracy building and democratic consolidation.

• The Forum assists in democracy promotion in fragile states or regions in post-conflict situation.

• It provides innovative solutions to challenges posed by multi-level governance in federal, devolved, and decentralized countries.

• It focuses on the key issues of local empowerment and federal structures.

• It provides expertise that bridges the worlds of academic research and real-world practice.

The Forum runs learning events on federalism, gives technical advice on democratic governance and produces publications for academics and practitioners of federalism. Its activities involve working with government officials [1] as well as academic experts, [2] young professionals, [3] journalists [4] and other civil society organizations. The Forum works globally – in the Americas, in Europe, in Africa and in Asia-Pacific.

Activities

The Forum of Federations has a variety of Programs and activities, including, policy and development programs across the world, publishes books, reports and papers related to federalism and democracy, and hosts educational events and conference on federalism and governance issues.[ citation needed ]

Programs

The Forum has two branches of programs: Policy and Research and Development Assistance.

Publications

Published series of books and reports on major themes of federalism: [5]

Audio-Visual and Multi-Media: The forum releases videos and educational content to increase awareness about Federalism and issues regarding federal & devolved governance. Most recently, the Forum has released an all new podcast that examine the principles and practice of federal and multilevel governance systems with a comparative international perspective.[ citation needed ]

Educational events and Conferences

The Forum organizes approximately 40 events a year, workshops, roundtables, training sessions, where participants learn or refine their knowledge about the practices of federalism, and how to apply their learning in their countries. Events take place in over 20 countries.[ citation needed ]

History

The Forum was established as an ongoing organization in 2000, following the September 1999 First International Conference on Federalism in Mont-Tremblant, Quebec. The event drew then world leaders such as U.S. President Bill Clinton, Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien and Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo. Four consecutive International Conferences were organized in Switzerland, Belgium, India, and Ethiopia. Following the 2005 Conference held in Brussels, a number of countries joined the Forum as funding partners, establishing it as a membership-based international organization.

Over the years, the Forum has expanded the focus of its work to include not only established federal countries but also countries in post-conflict situations adopting federal forms of governance and those involved in processes of devolution and decentralization. As of 2017, ten governments, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Ethiopia, Germany, India, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan and Switzerland, had signed agreements as partners of the Forum and are represented on the Forum’s Strategic Council and Board of Directors, supporting the activities of the organization and providing expertise. Most recently, to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the organization's founding, the Forum hosted an International Dialogue on the Future of Federalism - a series of webinars convening world-leading experts to examine these critical issues of federal and multilevel governance.[ citation needed ]

Membership

Currently, or as of 2023, the Forum of Federations has ten members[ citation needed ]:

Officials

Federal bilateral relations

Canada-Nigeria relations
Canada Nigeria Locator.png
Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg
Canada
Flag of Nigeria.svg
Nigeria
Brazil-India relations
Brazil India Locator.png
Flag of Brazil.svg
Brazil
Flag of India.svg
India
Australia-Germany relations
Australia Germany Locator.png
Flag of Australia (converted).svg
Australia
Flag of Germany.svg
Germany
Mexico-Pakistan relations
Mexico Pakistan Locator.png
Flag of Mexico.svg
Mexico
Flag of Pakistan.svg
Pakistan
Ethiopia-Switzerland relations
Ethiopia Switzerland Locator.png
Flag of Ethiopia.svg
Ethiopia
Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg
Switzerland

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Federalism</span> Political concept

Federalism is a mode of government that combines a general government with regional governments in a single political system, dividing the powers between the two. Federalism in the modern era was first adopted in the unions of states during the Old Swiss Confederacy.

A federal republic is a federation of states with a republican form of government. At its core, the literal meaning of the word republic when used to reference a form of government means: "a country that is governed by elected representatives and by an elected leader rather than by a monarch".

Federal or foederal (archaic) may refer to:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Federation</span> Political union of partially self-governing territories under a central government

A federation is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government (federalism). In a federation, the self-governing status of the component states, as well as the division of power between them and the central government, is constitutionally entrenched and may not be altered by a unilateral decision, neither by the component states nor the federal political body. Alternatively, a federation is a form of government in which sovereign power is formally divided between a central authority and a number of constituent regions so that each region retains some degree of control over its internal affairs.

As a subfield of public economics, fiscal federalism is concerned with "understanding which functions and instruments are best centralized and which are best placed in the sphere of decentralized levels of government". In other words, it is the study of how competencies and fiscal instruments are allocated across different (vertical) layers of the administration. An important part of its subject matter is the system of transfer payments or grants by which a central government shares its revenues with lower levels of government.

A federal capital is a political entity, often a municipality or capital city, that serves as the seat of the federal government. A federal capital is typically a city that physically encompasses the offices and meeting places of its respective government, where its location and relationship to subnational states are fixed by law or federal constitution. Federal capitals may or may not be considered states in themselves, and either exercise significant political autonomy from the federation or are directly ruled by the national government located within their premises, as federal districts.

A central government is the government that is a controlling power over a unitary state. Another distinct but sovereign political entity is a federal government, which may have distinct powers at various levels of government, authorized or delegated to it by the federation and mutually agreed upon by each of the federated states. Though inappropriate, the adjective "central" is also sometimes used to describe the government of a federation, such as in India.

A regional state, or a regionalised unitary state, is a term used to denote a type of state that is formally unitary but where a high degree of political power has been highly decentralised to regional governments. This contrasts with a state organized on principles of federalism where the powers of the regions are enshrined in constitutional law. In many cases, the regions are based on long standing cultural or regional divisions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Group of 24</span> International governmental financial organization

The Intergovernmental Group of Twenty-Four on International Monetary Affairs and Development, or The Group of 24 (G-24) was established in 1971 as a chapter of the Group of 77 in order to help coordinate the positions of developing countries on international monetary and development finance issues, as well as and to ensure that their interests are adequately represented in negotiations on international monetary matters. Though originally named after the number of founding Member States, it now has 28 Members. Although the G-24 officially has 28 member countries, any member of the G-77 can join discussions.

Multi-level governance is a term used to describe the way power is spread vertically between many levels of government and horizontally across multiple quasi-government and non-governmental organizations and actors. This situation develops because many countries have multiple levels of government including local, regional, state, national or federal, and many other organisations with interests in policy decisions and outcomes. International governance also operates based on multi-level governance principles. Multi-level governance can be distinguished from multi-level government which is when different levels of government share or transfer responsibility amongst each other. Whereas multi-level governance analyses the relationship of different state levels and interaction with different types of actors.'

Dual federalism, also known as layer-cake federalism or divided sovereignty, is a political arrangement in which power is divided between the federal and state governments in clearly defined terms, with state governments exercising those powers accorded to them without interference from the federal government. Dual federalism is defined in contrast to cooperative federalism, in which federal and state governments collaborate on policy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul Bernd Spahn</span>

Paul Bernd Spahn is emeritus professor of public finance at the Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main, Germany.

The International Association of National Public Health Institutes (IANPHI) is an international umbrella organization of national public health institutes (NPHIs), public health government agencies working to improve national disease prevention and response. IANPHI is made up of 100+ members, located in more than 90 countries. An important goal of IANPHI is to improve health outcomes by strengthening NPHIs or supporting countries in creating new NPHIs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">OECD Development Centre</span> Knowledge sharing forum for OECD members

The OECD Development Centre was established in 1961 as an independent platform for knowledge sharing and policy dialogue between Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) member countries and developing economies, allowing these countries to interact on an equal footing.

The Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD) is a state-led, informal and non-binding process, which helps shape the global debate on migration and development. It provides a flexible, multi-stakeholder space where governments can discuss the multi-dimensional aspects, opportunities and challenges related to migration, development, and the link between these two areas. The GFMD process allows governments - in partnership with civil society, the private sector, the UN system, and other relevant stakeholders – to analyze and discuss sensitive issues, create consensus, pose innovative solutions, and share policy and practices.

Ethnic federalism, multi-ethnic or multi-national federalism, is a form of federal system in which the federated regional or state units are defined by ethnicity. Ethnic federal systems have been created in attempts to accommodate demands for ethnic autonomy and manage inter-ethnic tensions within a state. They have not always succeeded in this: problems inherent in the construction and maintenance of an ethnic federation have led to some states or sub-divisions of a state into either breaking up, resorting to authoritarian repression, or resorting to ethnocracy, ethnic segregation, population transfer, internal displacement, ethnic cleansing, and/or even ethnicity-based attacks and pogroms.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Kincaid (political scientist)</span> American political scientist

John Kincaid is an American political scientist and scholar of American federalism, intergovernmental relations, and state and local government. He is the Robert B. & Helen S. Meyner Professor of Government and Public Service and Director of the Meyner Center for the Study of State and Local Government at Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania. He also is President of CSF Associates: Publius, the sponsor of the Center for the Study of Federalism. He previously taught at North Texas State University, Arizona State University, St. Peter’s College/University, and Seton Hall University. He served as executive director of the U.S. Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations and as vice president of the Pentagon Papers Fund for the Defense of Human and Civil Liberties.

References

  1. "Robust metropolitan regions drive economic and demographic growth, conference told". Forum of Federations. Archived from the original on 7 October 2011. Retrieved 20 September 2011.
  2. "Canada and Argentina on opposite ends of the federal spectrum". Forum of Federations. Archived from the original on 7 October 2011. Retrieved 20 September 2011.
  3. "Federalism training for young professionals launched in Switzerland". Forum of Federations. Archived from the original on 7 October 2011. Retrieved 20 September 2011.
  4. "Sudanese learn from other federal countries". Forum of Federations. Archived from the original on 7 October 2011. Retrieved 20 September 2011.
  5. "Global Dialogue on Federalism Series". McGill-Queen's University Press. Archived from the original on 20 March 2012. Retrieved 20 September 2011.