Culture

Cultural differences also have contributed to the Texas-California partisan divide. Texas culture is a fusion of southern and western elements. Its southern-style conservative Protestantism and traditional mores combine with a western libertarianism and a strong quasi-nationalism. By comparison, California was long divided along north/south cultural lines, with Northern California more cosmopolitan and culturally liberal and Southern California more culturally conservative. By the end of the twentieth century, however, California’s progressive cultural elements gained dominance. The two states’ broad cultural characteristics translate to political culture. Texas has a more conservative political culture, consisting of elements that political scientist Daniel Elazar has called “traditionalistic” and “individualistic,” while California has a more diverse political culture, increasingly dominated by more liberal, “moralistic” elements.

O Estado federal como modelo matricial de organização política

O presente artigo tem como objetivo analisar a teoria de Daniel Elazar sobre a estruturação do Estado federal enquanto modelo matricial de organização política. Realizar-se-á, inicialmente, uma análise semântica do termo “federal”, essencial para a compreensão da essência valorativa que fundamenta tal forma de Estado. Em seguida, passa-se ao estudo das categorias propostas por Elazar, em especial ao modelo matricial que se estrutura por células em um mesmo quadro, como uma matriz matemática na qual os diversos núcleos de poder se comunicam. Finalmente, verificar-se-á o Estado federal no mundo contemporâneo e como a teoria de Elazar pode servir de parâmetro para a análise desta forma de Estado.

Differentiated integration contingent on objective ability: a federalist critique

This article is inspired by the 2017 discussions on the future of Europe (in particular some of the ideas debated in the White Paper on the Future of Europe, published by the European Commission) and the events that took place in the crises and post-crises period (aftermath of the financial crisis, ongoing refugee crisis and the Brexit shock). It is particularly interested in the scenario of differentiated integration. In this regard, it observes how in the aftermath of the crises, there was a shift in the rationale of differentiated integration with objective (in)ability of the states taking a prominent role. It presents a federalist critique of this development, drawing on the work of Daniel Elazar, discussing the concepts of non-centralization, federal process and federal covenant in the context of the 2017 discussions in the EU.