(2005-02-05) Bednar Federalism Public Good

Jenna Bednar on "FederalIsm as a Public Good". Governments are tools to satisfy goals set by the constitutional designers, goals that may be updated according to changing demands. How well do federations achieve these goals? What institutional systems enable federal structures to perform well? To answer these questions, this study shifts the dependent variable from existence to performance, to emphasize Robust Ness. In the study of robustness, as opposed to stability, we are interested in how a system maintains features and functionalities in the face of change and perturbations... A robust federation relies on a system (EcoSystem) of complementary institutions that operates on the governments to reduce the incidence of all three types of opportunism (Game Playing) and alleviates their consequences, thereby boosting performance. Sounds like a Pattern Language might be a good structure to follow in layout out a Society Design...