Federalism: From Recognition to Implementation (Part 1)
إن الحمد لله، والصلاة والسلام على رسولالله. أما بعد:
In the universe where we are present, there are different people, nations, governments, and systems. Each government builds a military system based on its views and ideas, and each power establishes laws based on its interests. Federalism is one of the systems that many governments have put on their agenda and are implementing.
Allah willing, in this comprehensive and concise article, we will discuss this issue from various aspects in detail.
Federalism is a political system that prevails in some of the major governments of the world. In this system, a country divides all its cities and provinces into several states. A central government is appointed for the entire country, and a smaller government is appointed for each state to take into account all interests of that state. The state governments then submit their reports to the central government of the country.
This system has a president, a prime minister and several other ministers. The president, prime minister and some other ministers are present in the country’s capital and consider the interests of the whole country. In other states, a minister and ruler are present with their cabinet; But these people only care about the interests of that state and do not interfere in the general issues of the country.
Of course, the federal system in world governments has various qualities and each of them can make changes in many of its details, so their procedures and work bills are different.
Allah willing, in the future parts of this research, various views of the contemporary world will be discussed in the light of the Qur’an, Hadith, Prophet’s life, etc.
What is the word federalism and what language does it originate from?
In one of its publications, the research group of the research base “Growth” writes as follows: Federalism means union, contract and agreement. It is a political concept in which a group of units (states, provinces, countries, etc.) are committed to each other and there is a central government representing them.
The term federalism is also used to describe a system of government in which sovereignty is constitutionally divided between a central government and its constituent political units (such as states or provinces).
Federalism is a system based on the rules of democracy and institutions and organizations in which the power of the administration of the country is divided between the national and state or provincial governments and creates what is often called a federation. The supporters of this system are called federalists; Therefore, cooperation and union of groups is called federalism.
Also, countries that have this system are called “federal governments”. If someone studies the list of world governments, their military system is also written in front of each government; For example: in front of the government of Saudi Arabia is written “kingdom government”, in front of the government of Iran it is written “republican” and in front of the governments of America, Germany, Pakistan, etc. it is written “federal government”.
Activists of the People’s Republic of Iran introduce the word federalism in one of their publications as follows; As they write: “The words federalism and Con federalism have a Latin root, which is derived from the word “Fedus” which means treaty, agreement and contract. According to the etymology of words, the word Fedus means family, combinations, trust and belief.
Professor Mohammad Sharif Roshan Yousefi, quoting the political researcher, Prof. Esadi, writes in one of his articles: “Many interpretations and definitions of federalism have been presented. In the simplest definition, it can be said that federalism is a system in which power is divided between national and local government units and local units can operate under independent legal authority. In contrast, in centralized governments, power is concentrated in the center and is mainly in the form of a national legislative body or parliament; But in practice, the center may delegate some legal and governmental powers to local authorities.
Professor Sharifi continues: “Federalism is a form of political organization that unites the local governments of the states within a comprehensive political system in a way that allows each state to maintain its basic political existence at the state level. This definition is also found in Encyclopedia Britannica.
Graham Smit believes that federalism, as a form of geographical pluralism, is attracting the attention of countries that seek to unify the state in multi-ethnic societies. Federalism is said to be the principle of organizing the structure of the country in which essentially equal and independent units unite to create a larger political unit. The main feature of this system is that its components (state governments and federal government) work independently and are closely related to each other. If the authority of the government is concentrated in one place, it can be said that the government is monolithic, and if it is divided between the center and several local units, it will be a federal government.
Federalism is a type of two-structure political system that can be clearly said to include the central government and the state government, and it is the opposite of the simple government. Federalism is the main form of decentralized governance in which authority is divided between the federal government and the states. The federal government exercises authority and sovereignty and makes decisions in relation to common national issues and issues, such as foreign policy, defense policies, national security and money. States, as local governments, have the authority of this administrative method of government and the right to make decisions within the state in the field of political, cultural and economic issues.
This was an example of the words and ideas of capable politicians who wrote in line with the lexical and terminological concept of “federalism” and explained this concept in a more popular and better way for us. By using these writings, we were able to widen the scope of this concept and open up the discussion space.
In the same way, other parts of the political system of federalism, which include the views of Muslim scholars, Islamist researchers, politicians of the first and second world, and examining the advantages and positive and negative consequences of this system, will be discussed.
I hope that this research will be used by the mass of Muslim people and knowledgeable people so that we can learn about different world systems, know the values of the Islamic political system and apply them.
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