The Simple Guide
to the Federal Idea

by Stephen Woodard
(from Ventotene, Federalism and Politics, The Ventotene Papers of the Altiero Spinelli Institute for Federalist Studies, Ventotene, 1995)

The History of the Federal Idea in Brief The Origins of the Term Federal Key Characteristics of a Federal Union

Diverse Experience of Federal Union

Early Origins of the Federal Idea: the Historic Problem The Federalist Breakthrough: the United States of America

Early Federalist Thought in Europe

Social Federalism

Constitutional Federalism: Continental European Thought

Constitutional Federalism: The Anglo-Saxon School


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