Federalism Index Project

🚨 Under contract! Thrilled to announce we have signed a book deal with Routledge press. This volume examines the ways in which American federalism structures civic education and argues for placing federalism education back at the center of civic learning. Coming soon. 🇺🇸📘

"This timely book surveys nine diverse federal systems and their responses to contemporary crises. Expert contributors argue that the dynamics of federal governance across a broad range of geographic, political, and developmental contexts can be revealed by investigating how they navigate distinct subnational, national, and international challenges. Adopting a representative case-study methodology, contributors provide in-depth insights into the federal responses of Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Ethiopia, Malaysia, Nigeria, Russia, and the USA to challenges such as populism, migration, pandemic, inflation, climate change, resource distribution, and conflict. The book explores federalism’s cultural, social, and territorial dimensions, highlighting how these shape crisis management beyond constitutional structures. Chapters uncover why some federations succeed while others falter, emphasising the delicate balance between unity and local autonomy, and underscoring the need to foster resilience through cooperation and balanced power-sharing. This book is a vital resource for students and academics in political science, comparative constitutional law, public administration and management, and international relations. It is also a must-read for policymakers, government officials, and other practitioners in these fields seeking to understand the unprecedented challenges faced by federal systems in the modern world."

New out: Federalism in a Turbulent Era, edited by @NickAroney and @renatosmcosta examines how 9 federal systems handle challenges such as migration, populism, inflation, climate change, pandemic, and other kinds of modern conflict. Link below

📖 e-elgar.com/shop/usd/feder… Published by @ElgarPublishing

@charlesmurray Nietzsche views Dostoevsky as the greatest (greater?) psychologist. If Tolstoy is the better sociologist, this might help to explain people’s differing assessments.

Dostoyevsky is for reading in college, so can talk about the Grand Inquisitor into the wee hours. Tolstoy is the good stuff. I learned this from my college girlfriend’s father, who was Harvard’s famous Russian lit professor. Later, I discovered he was (surprise!) right.

Link: editor.wix.com/html/editor/we…

Over 40% of the world's population live in countries that can be considered (or claim to be) federal. Explore our updated interactive map ↓ #federalism @ForumFed @FederalismOrg @InstituteOfFed

@Dostoevskyquot For being both exhausting and inexhaustible , Plato

One philosopher. One lifetime to read them deeply. Who do you pick?

@John_Attridge Wait, do you get extra points for tweeting this in the second week of March

Dating is so cooked. Women just don't want a man who is searching for the key to all mythologies any more

This is coercive federalism, as I explain here: libertas.institute/privacy/the-fe…

"CFTC Chair Mike Selig amplified the filing of his agency’s amicus brief with a Wall Street Journal op-ed titled “States Encroach on Prediction Markets”. Selig also appeared on Fox Business, where he made the position of the federal agency crystal clear. “Well-known CFTC-registered exchanges used by tens of millions of Americans—including Kalshi, Polymarket, Coinbase and Crypto.com—face an onslaught of state-driven litigation across the country, with nearly 50 active cases presenting a range of legal challenges…The CFTC will no longer sit idly by while overzealous state governments undermine the agency’s exclusive jurisdiction over these markets by seeking to establish statewide prohibitions on these exciting products,” said Selig."

"February 2026 has marked a pivotal stretch in the escalating legal battle over prediction markets in the U.S. In a flurry of legal and regulatory activity, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) publicly declared it would defend its "exclusive jurisdiction" over event contracts, even as state regulators in Nevada, Massachusetts and Tennessee pressed forward with enforcement actions against leading platform Kalshi – with divergent outcomes in federal and state courts. Most recently, on February 19, 2026, a federal court in Tennessee sided with Kalshi, granting a preliminary injunction and finding that its sports event contracts are likely swaps subject to exclusive federal jurisdiction – deepening the divide among courts nationwide."

"Are sports-related event contracts federally regulated derivatives subject to CFTC exclusivity as the broad statutory language suggests, or is state-regulated gambling subject to traditional police powers?" hklaw.com/en/insights/pu…

@lauren_wilford 🎯

Notably, he has already talked about the decline of so many more FORMAL forms of connection— groups, associations, clubs, unions, churches. The informal stuff is supposed to be the consolation

I’m reading Bowling Alone and I’m laughing at the fact that every single one of the things Putnam lists a frequent point of “informal connection” is going (or has already gone) extinct drinks after work coffee with regulars at the diner poker night gossip with neighbors etc

"The Trump administration plans to sue states for their artificial intelligence laws, but how the push is affecting work on future legislation depends on a state’s politics." States Split as Trump Threatens Lawsuits Over AI Laws governing.com/artificial-int… #AI #Constitution

“The so called integral conservatives want to win it all.” While we are celebrating the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, it would be swell if we could all agree on making it safely to the 250th anniversary of the US #Constitution

@TWilliamsAuthor Hearty congratulations to you both

Celebrating my son getting into the U Chicago to study economics in grad school!

Gov. Spencer Cox signals fight to keep prediction markets out of Utah:deseret.com/utah/2026/02/1… #federalism #GamblingX

"Yeah. I mean, I think there's a sense that nowadays, liberals or the left have suddenly discovered states' rights...the notion that liberals today are kind of opportunistically using states' rights is actually not true. The principle has been there and has been used in many cases by abolitionists and people who were trying to say, hey, we need to have emancipation and freedom broadly." NPR interview with Prof. Alison LaCroix: npr.org/transcripts/nx…

This kind of mischief - or prejudice , depending on your view - is inevitable in a large and free society But this kind of mischief is better contained in a large, free, and federal system of government, where there are multiple outlets for contestation and accommodation of deep differences. #federalism

@sama It’s not 5.2, it’s 5.2. It’s not a huge change, it’s a hopefully big change.

We updated GPT-5.2 (the instant model) in ChatGPT today. Not a huge change, but hopefully you find it a little better.