Contemporary Perspectives on American Federalism: The Adoption of General Revenue Sharing

American federalism importantly shapes the nature of American public administration. This article examines various perspectives on American federalism, delineating and developing what appear to be some overarching or underlying major themes. Those themes are examined with respect to a major intergovernmental program of the 1970s, General Revenue Sharing (GRS). More specifically, the paper seeks to show how co-existing perspectives on federalism entered into Congressional negotiations regarding GRS and helped to shape that legislation.