What are the advantages of a federal constitution?

There are two main advantages to having a federal constitution.

First, a federal constitution allows the various regions of a country to have laws that differ to some degree.  This is very important if there are major differences between the regions of the country.  If a country has regions, for example, that are dominated by different ethnic groups or by people of different ideologies, it might want to have a federal constitution.  This would allow...

There are two main advantages to having a federal constitution.

First, a federal constitution allows the various regions of a country to have laws that differ to some degree.  This is very important if there are major differences between the regions of the country.  If a country has regions, for example, that are dominated by different ethnic groups or by people of different ideologies, it might want to have a federal constitution.  This would allow the different regions to have laws that are consistent with their ideological preferences or it would allow the different ethnic groups to have more autonomy and self-rule.  In either case, federalism makes it more likely that a country can remain united even though it has major differences between its regions.

Second, a federal constitution allows there to be many different governments in the country.  When this is true, the various governments can act as “laboratories.”  Imagine, for instance, that you wonder what the best way is to provide health care to all the people of your country.  If you have a federal constitution, each state (or province, or whatever you call your regions) could have its own system.  People could see how the various systems work and could then pick the best one.  By having federalism, you allow the various governments to take different approaches to solving problems.  This makes it more likely that one government will find the best way to solve the problem.

Thus, a federal constitution allows greater stability in a diverse country and it allows more experimentation in terms of government policy than would be possible with a unitary constitution.