The Fault Lines of Federalism:

Who Really Owns the Disaster

The Fragile Balance of Power

American federalism was born from a paradox. The Founders envisioned a nation strong enough to defend itself and promote the common welfare, yet limited enough to preserve its states’ sovereignty and citizens’ consent. That tension has always defined the American experiment, and nowhere is it more visible or tested than in emergency management. Each disaster becomes a referendum on power. Each declaration is a tug of war between Washington and the governor’s office. Each recovery plan is a reminder that federalism, for all its elegance on parchment, is messy in practice.

When Local Crises Become National Spectacles

In theory, disasters are local. In practice, they are national spectacles. Each event begins within the jurisdictional authority of local government, where emergency management operates as the first line of coordination under established plans and ordinances. Local agencies assume operational control because they are closest to the impacts and have the legal authority to act. Yet as incident complexity and costs increase, federalism’s mechanisms shift the center of gravity upward.