Der Band gibt die Beiträge einer Tagung wieder, die 1996 in Hannover stattfand und die eine Reihe von überwiegend ideengeschichtlich orientierten Themen mit Länderberichten verband. Inhalt: 1. General Aspects: Daniel J. Elazar: Federalism and Civil Societies – Defining the issue (35-41); Hans-Peter Schneider: Federalism in Continental thought during the 17th and 18th Centuries (43-52); Michael Burgess: Federalism in Anglo-American political thought during the 17th and 18th Centuries (53-68); Thomas Fleiner: Federalism and society during the 19th Century (69-82); Cheryl Saunders: Federalism and society in the 20th Century (83-96); Christine Fletcher: Federalism and traditional (western and indigenous) societies: trapped in the "good life"? – Aborigines in the Australian federal contract (97-119); Lloyd Brown-John: Persistence of Federalism in modern industrial societies: an appraisal and projection (121-144); Ronald l. Watts: Federalism in fragmented and segmented societies (145-163). 2. Country reports: Peter Pernthaler: Austria (167-175); Diogo Lordello de Mello: Brazil (177-198); Harvey Lazar: Canada (199-218); Frédéric Lépine: France (219-257); Jutta Kramer: Germany (259-273); Viacheslav Seliverstov: Russia (275-293); Nico Steytler: South Africa (295-317); Eliseo Aja: Spain (319-334); Nicolas Schmitt: Switzerland (335-368); Arthur B. Gunlicks: United States (369-381).