The Federalist System: The Intergovernmental System

The federalist system created the several layers of government for the purpose of decentralization so that government public policy objectives are achieved at all levels. By this, the intergovernmental relationship is created at all levels of the government so that public services are reached and felt at the grassroot levels. However, the articles have pointed out some possible loopholes that was perceived due to some circumstances that challenged that intergovernmental relationships, obviously, in the wake of hurricane Katrina and the survey taken by the National League of Cities.
Interestly the Katrina catastrophe has sparked arguments as to why it has resulted in a huge disaster when the intergovernmental system was so intact and could …show more content…
Because of the federalist system the process to respond a disaster has mandated to start with the local government where the designated area or county has to have a calculated disaster management plan and in the event of any disaster the local officers automatically will know how to respond to and that is alert the residents. It was mandated that state or local government ought to utilize the resources in their capacity to respond to any disaster and only when they exhausted their resources should they seek for assistance at the federal level. In the case of Katrina the process was followed but was cut short because no-one has predicted the severe damage it could cost, but, when that was calculated key players neglected the avenue to seek the assistance for curb the damages. Not only that but decisions were slow to be reached and confusion of responsibilities has led to slow response to the …show more content…
The municipal are challenged with shrinking financial resources that sure has worsen the issue. Survey carried out by the National League of Cities expressed the respondents answers to deal with the crimes. It seems that the unfunded mandate was quite ineffective because the municipal officials were concerned of the range of public safety issues and that was the youth crime, school violence, gangs, drugs, and violent crimes that could need some funds for example bring youths together for a crime prevention program. I think the unfunded mandates were good policy but the reality was that it would need some initial finding to start up a recreational programs and so forth. Furthermore, since unfunded mandates imposed regulations or laws to imposing certain actions by the state, it said to be unfair to the states drained their pockets to fund programs or even projects that to fulfill that mandate, not to mention the tax burdens imposed on the local citizens. I would rather agree if a regulation or law being imposed on states to at least have initial funding to start off and while in the process state could seek funding from other organisations or financial institutions for