<Tr> <Td> <Ul> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> </Ul> </Td> </Tr> <Ul> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> </Ul> <P> Federalism is the mixed or compound mode of government, combining a general government (the central or' federal' government) with regional governments (provincial, state, cantonal, territorial or other sub-unit governments) in a single political system . Its distinctive feature, exemplified in the founding example of modern federalism by the United States of America under the Constitution of 1787, is a relationship of parity between the two levels of government established . It can thus be defined as a form of government in which there is a division of powers between two levels of government of equal status . </P> <P> Federalism differs from confederalism, in which the general level of government is subordinate to the regional level, and from devolution within a unitary state, in which the regional level of government is subordinate to the general level . It represents the central form in the pathway of regional integration or separation, bounded on the less integrated side by confederalism and on the more integrated side by devolution within a unitary state . </P>

The federal system can be best defined as