- #36
quadraphonics
vanesch said:Then, the USA did work out fine, didn't it ?
Sure, after 200 years of industrialization, a devastating Civil War, and repeated waves of mass immigration. There's no doubt that Federalism can work, but the point is that it's a very difficult, messy, violent affair. There's no doubt that Federalism can fail very badly. Nation-states are exceptionally strong, enduring entities (hence their predominance in the last few hundred years of world history), and you aren't going to contain (much less "dissolve") them without many generations of difficulties (and probably the use of force). The idea that people will, en masse, decide to quietly sign up for a post-national federation run by distant technocrats strikes me as very naive.