Concept of Cooperative and Competitive Federalism

When a cyclone hits the Konkan coast, the State government, the Centre and the Navi Mumbai municipal machinery all move at once, and nobody asks who owns the problem. When Maharashtra, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu each try to win the same car factory with better roads and faster clearances, they are rivals. Both stories are federalism. This topic asks what the Constitution gives the Union and States to work together, where it leaves room for States to compete, and how an exam answer should tell the two ideas apart.

In two minutes

Cooperative federalism is Union and States working together through constitutional channels (Arts.252, 258, 258A, 263, 268 to 270, 275, 280); competitive federalism is States competing with one another for investment and better governance within rules that stop unfair preference (Arts.301, 303).

The rest of this chapter

The full explanation, the cheat sheet, every previous-year question at every mark weight, the quiz and the answer skeletons are part of Constitutional Law – II on LexBlox Semester. Sign in to unlock the subject, or read Module 1 of Legal Language and Writing free.