Summer University 2006

The Institute of Federalism's Summer University is an annual three week course on the topic of "Federalism, Decentralisation and Diversity". The Eighteenth Session, with the theme "Federalism, Constitutionalism, and Democratic Governance in Multicultural Societies," took place from August 28th to September 15th, 2006.

The course gathered 36 participants from 24 countries in Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America. The main aim for the participants, a group that includeed both graduate students and practitioners, was to exchange knowledge and experience about federalism, both in theoretical and practical terms.

The first week, with a programme of alternating classes and workshops, was dedicated to institutional design and constitutional processes related to federalism.

During the second week, classes addressed the multiethnic challenge of federalism. Students also presented and discussed the results of their research, prepared and submitted in advance, in small group workshops.

Three case studies will be developed in the third week: “Federalism and Secession”, “The role of Intergovernmental Fiscal Arrangements in Maintaining Cohesion and Effectiveness in a Multicultural State”, and “The Gap Between Democratic Institutions and Practice: The Case of Malawi”.

For more information about the programme, please see here.

The session ended with the diploma ceremony presided by the Law Faculty’s Vice-Dean, Professor Marc Amstutz. The best students’ papers in 2006 were written by:

• M. Atoofinia "Decentralization, Constitutionalism, Ethnicity and Democracy: Creation of Local Government in Iran".
• M. Berouk "The Political System of Federal Ethiopia: An Analysis with Particular Emphasis on Elections and Political Parties".
• A. Kursun "National Identity, Unitary and Federal Systems: Turkey's Experience of National Identity and Unitary Systems".
• A. Kuznetsov "Federalism in Russia: Past, Present and Future".
• R. Montes "The Difficult Journey from Decentralization to Federalism in the Philippines: Why Its Multicultural Nature is the Rationale and the Stumbling Block to Federalism".
• E. Mrad "Lebanon: Identity, Conviviality, Dilemmas and Prospects".
• A. Nastase "Extreme Nationalisms in Romania: From the Right Wing to the Left Wing".
• P. Peiris "Sri Lanka's Federalism Debate: Ruling Elites to Laymen".
• E. Pogace "Accommodating Decentralization in Transitional Democracy: How to Reflect on the Albanian Case?".

The complete publication of those papers can be downloaded here.

During the second week's course with Prof. Lidija Basta Fleiner and Dr. Nicole Toepperwien:

The students:

For more information about this project please contact Joëlle Cousinou.