www.ssoar.info Efficiency in the multinational federal republic Gregoire, Jean-Francois Veröffentlichungsversion / Published Version Zeitschriftenartikel / journal article Empfohlene Zitierung / Suggested Citation: Gregoire, J.-F. (2014). Efficiency in the multinational federal republic. Federal Governance, 11(1), 24-40. https://nbn- resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:0168-ssoar-440899 Nutzungsbedingungen: Terms of use: Dieser Text wird unter einer Basic Digital Peer Publishing-Lizenz This document is made available under a Basic Digital Peer zur Verfügung gestellt. Nähere Auskünfte zu den DiPP-Lizenzen Publishing Licence. For more Information see: finden Sie hier: http://www.dipp.nrw.de/lizenzen/dppl/service/dppl/ http://www.dipp.nrw.de/lizenzen/dppl/service/dppl/ Efficiency in the Multinational Federal Republic by Jean-François Grégoire KU Leuven Email:
[email protected] Abstract: In this paper, I address the division of competences and the self- determination of stateless political communities in a less parochial and more holistic way than they have been addressed within political philosophy. To do so, I will attempt to clarify the meaning of Pareto efficiency principle, which stipulates roughly that the well-being of one individual cannot be improved at the expense of another. As I go along, I will try to show how the approach adopted here is distinct from the redistributive and libertarian views. I will argue that liberal philosophers who have discussed redistribution and fiscal federalism have been guilty of approaching these issues through statist and redistributive paradigms inherited from Rawls and his theory of justice (1971). As the capacity of regions to effectively pursue justice depends not only on the ‘basic structure’ of federations, but also on external factors of which many are encompassed by the term ‘globalization’, sub-units need federalism to divide competences in a way that gives them the means to be efficient in delivering public goods and services to their constituencies.