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Dual Federalism Outside of the United States
Among the twenty-two older democracies, seven function under federal systems. Other than the United States, these countries include Austria, Australia, Belgium, Canada, and Switzerland. The governments of Argentina, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Comoros, Ethiopia, Germany, India, Malaysia, Mexico, Micronesia, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, Russia, St. Kitts and Nevis, South Africa, Spain, United Arab Emirates, and Venezuela also operate through federalism. The federations of Australia, Canada, and Switzerland most closely resemble the model of American dual federalism in which fundamental governmental powers are divided between the federal and state governments, with the states exercising broad powers.

While the American federalist system allocates both legislative and administrative powers to each division of government, European federations have historically allocated legislative powers to the federal government and left constituents to administer and implement these laws. Most western federalist systems in recent years have drifted away from autonomous levels of governments with strong state powers and moved toward more centralized federal governments, as seen in the American government's transition from dual to cooperative federalism. The Canadian and Australian federal systems closely resemble the American construct of dual federalism in that their legislative and executive powers are allocated in the same policy area to a single level of government. . In contrast, some federal structures, such as those of Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, consist of federal governments exercising broad legislative powers and constituent governments allocated the power to administer such legislation in a style similar to cooperative federalism.

Constitutions with delegations of broad powers to the state level of government that resemble the Constitution of the United States include the Constitution of Australia and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The Australian Constitution was designed to enumerate a limited range of federal powers and leave the rest to the states. The Canadian Constitution, in contrast, assigned all residual powers to the federal government and enumerated a complete list of state powers. The Austrian Constitution, Constitution of Germany, and Swiss Constitution enumerate few policy fields exclusive to the states, but enumerate extensive concurrent powers. The federations operate chiefly through legislation produced by the federal government and left to the Länder or state governments to implement.