Abstract
To open the session, Doonan provided background on American federalism and moderated the discussion.
Federalism, he noted, can be understood as a power and authority relationship between the federal government and
the states. The founding documents and debates centered on the distribution of power between different levels of
government. This early debate led to the creation of the first political parties and how the system was structured.
Federalism, according to Doonan, remains political and is still hotly debated today.