Federalisation for a stable environment

THE second paper by Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (Ideas) fellow Tricia Yeoh on federalism is titled “The Political Economy of Federal-State Relations” and makes for concise but fascinating reading on how ministries, agencies and other federal bodies have been established and empowered over and above institutions and mechanisms at the state level: “the politico-bureaucratic complex”.

The paper delves into the political motivations of this phenomenon – some of them remarkably candidly expressed by political leaders – and also explores attempts to forestall or reverse this phenomenon in recent years.