FEDERAL SOLUTIONS FOR INTRANSIGENT PROBLEMS

The Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs and the International Association of Centers for Federal Studies (IACFS) co-hosted a conference in Israel on "Federal Solutions for Intransigent Problems" in October 1998, in conjunction with the annual meeting of the International Association. The IACFS is a worldwide body uniting some 22 centers for federal studies from 15 countries on all the inhabited continents, including institutes in the United States, Russia, England, France, Germany, India, Canada, Nigeria, and South Africa, among others. The Jerusalem Center is hosted the 1998 IACFS meeting as part of its celebrations of the fiftieth anniversary of Israel's statehood.

The conference looked at how, in an era of globalization, all states and peoples have become linked, whether formally in federations or confederations, or through networks of functional relationships, whether they want to be or not, and how conflicts must be resolved with that new reality in mind. Moreover, the conference offered an opportunity for raising ideas for resolution of conflict in connection with some of the world's more intransigent problems.

The conference focused on five specific problem areas:

1. The seemingly intransigent problem of Israel, the Palestinians, and Jordan.
2. The similarly intransigent problem of the Greek and Turkish Cypriots.
3. The recently announced solution for the Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland.
4. The success of Spain in implementing federal solutions for its autonomous communities.
5. The solution that ended decades of civil strife in South Africa.

In addition, the Conference reviewed other cases where federal arrangements have been prominent including: Canada, former Soviet Union, the European Union, the Caribbean Community, and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). These cases were viewed in light of the revival of federal arrangements around the world and the development of appropriate global and regional constitutional mechanisms and controls that are part of a general shift from modern statism to postmodern federalism, as documented in the newly-published book Constitutionalizing Globalization by JCPA President Daniel J. Elazar (Rowman & Littlefield, 1998).

The IACFS and Federal Solutions

The International Association of Centers for Federal Studies is the only worldwide association of research institutes devoted to the study of federalism in all its forms and manifestations. As such it deals with problems of ethnic conflict, power-sharing, polity-building, devolution, and intergovernmental relations. Founded over 20 years ago by a group of 10 research institutes, it now has nearly three times that number on every inhabited continent. It has at least one member in every major federal system plus others in polities that have chosen to follow the federalist path.

IACFS has held conferences in Switzerland, South Africa, the United States, Brazil, Australia, Belgium, Germany, Canada, and Israel, and has published a number of major books and reference books on the variety of uses of federal principles and arrangements. Either the Association as a whole or its member centers have played notable roles in such issues as devolution in the United States, preventing secession in Canada, making the unification of East and West Germany work, resolving internal ethnic and linguistic conflicts in Spain, finding a quasi-federal solution for South Africa, restoring democracy to Brazil, and many others. Because of its particular combination of theoretical concerns and their practical application which characterizes the study of federalism, its member centers have been of particular value in pursuing peaceful solutions to seemingly intransigent conflicts.

The JCPA and Federal Solutions

The Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs was founded in 1976 as an independent policy studies center serving Israel and the Jewish people. From the first it was engaged in the exploration of federal solutions - conventional and unconventional - to the Israel-Palestinian conflict. A founding member of the IACFS, it has been actively engaged in helping to resolve conflicts in many of the other countries mentioned above.

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