Federalism and Democracy

Federalism and democracy were long thought of as complementing and strengthening each other. Based on the Federalist Papers, it was assumed that functional federations had to be liberal democracies, while federalism was seen as way to safeguard democracy through additional vertical divisions of competences.
However, federalisation processes in non-democratic contexts such as in Russia, Venezuela and the United Arab Emirates, as well as democratic backsliding in established federations require us to reconceptualise the relationship.
The panel invites papers on
1. The conceptual relationship between federalism and democracy, as well as federalisation and democratization
2. Case studies on the interplay of federalism and democracy in specific settings
3. Discussions on democratic backsliding and its affect on federalism.