| federal system | a governmental structure with two levels of government in which each level has sovereignty over different policy matters and geographic areas
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| unitary system | a governmental structure in which one central government has sovereignty, although it may create regional governments to which it delegates responsibilities
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| confederal system | a structure of government in which several independent sovereign governments agree to cooperate on specified governmental matters while retaining sovereignty over all other governmental matters within their jurisdictions
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| intergovernmental relations (IGR) | collaborative efforts of two or more levels of government working to serve the public
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| concurrent powers | basic governing functions of all sovereign governments, in the United States they are held by the national, state, and local governments and include the authority to tax, to make policy, and to implement policy
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| enumerated powers | the powers of the national government that are listed in the Constitution
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| implied powers | powers of the national government that are not enumerated in the Constitution but that Congress claims are necessary and proper for the national government to fulfill its enumerated powers in accordance with the necessary and proper clause of the Constitution
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| necessary and proper clause (elastic clause) | a clause in Article I, Section 8, of the Constitution that gives Congress the power to do whatever it deems necessary and constitutional to meet its enumerated obligations; the basis for the implied powers
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| supreme law of the land | the Constitution's description of its own authority, meaning that all laws made by governments within the United States must be in compliance with the Constitution
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| reserved powers | the matters referred to in the Tenth Amendment over which states retain sovereignty
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| police powers | the states' reserved powers to protect the health, safety, lives, and properties of residents in a state
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| McCulloch v. Maryland | established that the necessary and proper clause justifies broad understandings of enumerated powers
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| horizontal federalism | the state-to-state relationships created by the U.S. Constitution
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| interstate compacts | agreements between states that Congress has the authority to review and reject
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| extradition | the return of individuals accused of a crime to the state in which the crime was committed upon the request of that state's governor
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| privileges and immunities clause | the Constitution's requirement that a state extend to other states' citizens the privileges and immunities it provides for its own citizens
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| full faith and credit clause | the constitutional clause that requires states to comply with and uphold the public acts, records, and judicial decisions of other states
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| new judicial federalism | the practice whereby state judges base decisions regarding civil rights and liberties on their state's constitution, rather than the U.S. Constitution, when their state's constitution guarantees more than minimum rights
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| dual federalism | the relationship between the national and state governments, dominant between 1789 and 1932, whereby the two levels of government functioned independently of each other to address their distinct constitutional responsibilities
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| grant-in-aid (intergovernmental transfer) | transfer of money from one government to another government that does not need to be paid back
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| cooperative federalism | the relationship between the national and state governments whereby the two levels of government work together to address domestic matters reserved to the states, driven by the policy priorities of the states
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| centralized federalism | the relationship between the national and state governments whereby the national government imposes its policy preferences on state governments
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| devolution | the process whereby the national government returns policy responsibilities to state and/or local governments
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| conflicted federalism | the current status of national-state relations that involve the conflicting elements of dual, cooperative, and centralized federalisms
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| categorical formula grant | money granted by the national government to state and local governments for a specified program area and in an amount based on a legislated formula
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| categorical project grant | money granted by the national government to state and local governments for a specified program area; state and local governments compete for these grants by proposing specific projects they want to implement
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| block grant | money granted by the national government to states or localities for broadly defined policy areas, with fewer strings than categorical grants, and in amounts based on complicated formulas
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| intergovernmental lobbying | efforts by groups representing state and local governments to influence national public policy
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| mandates | clauses in legislation that direct state and local governments to comply with national legislation and national standards
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| preemption | constitutionally based principle that allows a national law to supersede state or local laws
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| fiscal federalism | the relationship between the national government and state and local governments whereby the national government provides grant money to state and local governments
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