Federalist Thinking

by Lucio Levi

Overview

Federalist Thinking is an attempt to achieve a synthesis among several intellectual contributions in order to reassess the nature of federalism. Professor Lucio Levi points out unobserved relationships among classical thinkers belonging to distant, and generally unrelated, cultural areas. These areas include political and constitutional thinking (from The Federalist Papers to Kenneth Wheare), international relations, philosophy (Immanuel Kant), law, economics (Lionel Robbins and Luigi Einaudi), and history (John R. Seeley and John Fiske). The study also explores the federalist aspect of different political tendencies such as liberalism, democracy, socialism, communism and nationalism (Giuseppe Mazzini). The most recent development of federalism is the trend to become an independent political behavior, represented by towering personalities such as Altiero Spinelli and Albert Einstein, who were among the founders respectively of the movements for European and world unification. A concise and comprehensive account of the development of federalism from its starting point in history to present, this book focuses on disparaging theories and delves into that history.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780761839224
Publisher:	University Press of America
Publication date:	02/27/2008
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	166
Product dimensions:	6.11(w) x 9.04(h) x 0.53(d)

About the Author

Lucio Levi is professor of political science and comparative politics at the University of Torino in Italy, and a member of the board of directors of the Centre for Studies on Federalism (Torino) and editor of The Federalist Debate. He is an active member of the World Federalist Movement and the Union of European Federalists. He has authored books on federalism, European integration and international organizations, among which are L'internationalisme ne suffit pas: Internationalisme marxiste et fédéralisme, (1984; all-French text) and Altiero Spinelli and Federalism in Europe and the World (1990; all-English text).

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Introduction
Part 2 The Federalist and the Constitution of the United States of America
Part 3 Kant, World Federation, Perpetual Peace, and Human Emancipation
Part 4 The Federalist Component of the French Revolution
Part 5 Federalism and the Criticism of the Limits of the National State in the 1800s
Part 6 The First World War, the Crisis of the National State, and the Problem of European Unity
Part 7 English Constitutional Federalism and the Crisis of the European System of States between the World Wars
Part 8 The Rise of the Theoretical Autonomy of Federalism after the Second World War
Part 9 Bibliography

Editorial Reviews

Professor Lucio Levi has for over 40 years been a leading scholar on developing the European Union into a full federation. He is a leader in the Center for the Study of Federalism at the University of Turin and writes the lead essay in every issue of its journal, The Federalist Debate. In...Federalist Thinking, he goes beyond Alexander Hamilton and Immanuel Kant to critically survey the full range of federalist thinking in order to contribute to the constitutional debate on Europe and even reform of the United Nations.

Joseph P. Baratta

Several years ago, one of the West's best foreign ministers, Canada's Lloyd Axworthy, called for new "Federalist Papers" for the 21st century. Professor Lucio Levi's Federalist Thinking is an answer to this call...a primer for the much needed "federalist papers" for the 21st century.

William R. Pace

A thorough presentation of the federalism of the past as well as of its future potential. Professor Lucio Levi shows that federalism thought has not just helped to reach self-government within many democratic states, but can also be the solution to many of the world's political problems.

Daniele Archibugi

This is a concise and comprehensive account of the development of federalism from the founding of the U.S. Constitution and Kant's philosophy to its relevance in Europe and the world today: Professor Levi offers a unique insight into this increasingly vital subject.

John Pinder

Professor Lucio Levi has for over 40 years been a leading scholar on developing the European Union into a full federation. He is a leader in the Center for the Study of Federalism at the University of Turin and writes the lead essay in every issue of its journal, The Federalist Debate. In...Federalist Thinking, he goes beyond Alexander Hamilton and Immanuel Kant to critically survey the full range of federalist thinking in order to contribute to the constitutional debate on Europe and even reform of the United Nations.--Joseph P. Baratta, Worcester State College in Boston, MA

This is a concise and comprehensive account of the development of federalism from the founding of the U.S. Constitution and Kant's philosophy to its relevance in Europe and the world today: Professor Levi offers a unique insight into this increasingly vital subject.--John Pinder, chairman of the Federal Trust, London; Honorary President of the European Union of Federalists; Honorary Professor at the Colleg

Several years ago, one of the West's best foreign ministers, Canada's Lloyd Axworthy, called for new "Federalist Papers" for the 21st century. Professor Lucio Levi's Federalist Thinking is an answer to this call...a primer for the much needed "federalist papers" for the 21st century.--William R. Pace, convenor of the NGOs Coalition for the International Criminal Court (CICC); executive director of World Federalist Movement-Institute for Global Policy, New York

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