The State of American Federalism 2025–2026: Federalism's Dual Role in Democratic Backsliding.

This introductory article argues that American federalism's relationship to democratic backsliding is conditional, bidirectional, and mechanism-dependent. Building on recent studies, we develop a framework identifying when federalism protects democracy and when it facilitates erosion, while specifyi...

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Bibliographic Details

Published in:	Publius: The Journal of Federalism Vol. 56; no. 3; pp. 539 - 579
Main Authors:	Dichio, Michael, Bromley-Trujillo, Rebecca
Format:	Article
Published:	Oxford University Press / USA Summer2026
Subjects:	Federal government Actions & defenses (Law) Sociocultural factors Civil rights Democratic backsliding Political geography Apportionment (Election law) Election officials
Online Access:	View this record in EBSCOhost