DUAL VS COOPERATIVE FEDERALISM: PERFORMANCE AND CHALLENGES IN INDIA AND THE USA AMID GLOBAL HEALTH AND ECONOMIC CRISIS

  • Unique Paper ID: 187424
  • PageNo: 5229-5239
  • Abstract:
  • This paper examines the theoretical foundations, practical effectiveness and difficulties of dual and cooperative federalism in India and the United States, during the global health and economic crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. Dual federalism, marked by a strict division of authority between federal and state governments, and cooperative federalism, recognized for intergovernmental teamwork and collective policy duty, have both been challenged under extraordinary conditions. By means of comparative analysis, the study investigates the impact of each federal structure on crisis governance: the U.S. which underwent divergent state responses and policy fragmentation because of its dual federalism tradition, and India which had a centralized, quasi-federal model initially and maintained uniformity but quickly revealed deficiencies in state capacity and local adaptability during economic and humanitarian crises. Through case studies from each country and covering pandemic response strategies, resource distribution methods, and economic support initiatives, the study emphasizes on significant successes and failures resulting from the design of each federal model. According to the findings, cooperative federalism fosters a more coordinated response but may on the other hand, jeopardize state independence and customized solutions whereas dual federalism can foster policy innovation and local flexibility but frequently impedes national cohesiveness during crises. In order to improve resilience in future international crises, the report suggests reforms that blend centralized leadership with decentralized implementation, concluding that no single model alone was able to establish effective pandemic governance. Since the pandemic, federal systems have evolved to manage new governance challenges through mechanisms such as digital surveillance, climate emergencies, and data sovereignty. In both India and the United States, this is part of an "adaptive federalism" era where technology, public health, and fiscal decentralization impact intergovernmental collaboration. And as the post-pandemic world shows, the effective governance of crises is in collaboration that shifts and evolves, innovation in policy, and transparent multi-level governance rather than constitutional rigidity.

Copyright & License

Copyright © 2026 Authors retain the copyright of this article. This article is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

BibTeX

@article{187424,
        author = {Samridhi Adhikary and Dr. Bhavna Batra},
        title = {DUAL VS COOPERATIVE FEDERALISM: PERFORMANCE AND CHALLENGES IN INDIA AND THE USA AMID GLOBAL HEALTH AND ECONOMIC CRISIS},
        journal = {International Journal of Innovative Research in Technology},
        year = {2025},
        volume = {12},
        number = {6},
        pages = {5229-5239},
        issn = {2349-6002},
        url = {https://ijirt.org/article?manuscript=187424},
        abstract = {This paper examines the theoretical foundations, practical effectiveness and difficulties of dual and cooperative federalism in India and the United States, during the global health and economic crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. Dual federalism, marked by a strict division of authority between federal and state governments, and cooperative federalism, recognized for intergovernmental teamwork and collective policy duty, have both been challenged under extraordinary conditions. By means of comparative analysis, the study investigates the impact of each federal structure on crisis governance: the U.S. which underwent divergent state responses and policy fragmentation because of its dual federalism tradition, and India which had a centralized, quasi-federal model initially and maintained uniformity but quickly revealed deficiencies in state capacity and local adaptability during economic and humanitarian crises. Through case studies from each country and covering pandemic response strategies, resource distribution methods, and economic support initiatives, the study emphasizes on significant successes and failures resulting from the design of each federal model. According to the findings, cooperative federalism fosters a more coordinated response but may on the other hand, jeopardize state independence and customized solutions whereas dual federalism can foster policy innovation and local flexibility but frequently impedes national cohesiveness during crises. In order to improve resilience in future international crises, the report suggests reforms that blend centralized leadership with decentralized implementation, concluding that no single model alone was able to establish effective pandemic governance. Since the pandemic, federal systems have evolved to manage new governance challenges through mechanisms such as digital surveillance, climate emergencies, and data sovereignty. In both India and the United States, this is part of an "adaptive federalism" era where technology, public health, and fiscal decentralization impact intergovernmental collaboration. And as the post-pandemic world shows, the effective governance of crises is in collaboration that shifts and evolves, innovation in policy, and transparent multi-level governance rather than constitutional rigidity.},
        keywords = {federalism, cooperative federalism, state, India, United States (US), Covid-19},
        month = {November},
        }

Cite This Article

Adhikary, S., & Batra, D. B. (2025). DUAL VS COOPERATIVE FEDERALISM: PERFORMANCE AND CHALLENGES IN INDIA AND THE USA AMID GLOBAL HEALTH AND ECONOMIC CRISIS. International Journal of Innovative Research in Technology (IJIRT), 12(6), 5229–5239.

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