John Kincaid

John Kincaid is the President of the Center for the Study of Federalism, and the Robert B. and Helen S. Meyner Professor of Government and Public Service and Director of the Meyner Center for the Study of State and Local Government at Lafayette College, Easton, Pennsylvania. He also is an elected fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration and recipient of the Daniel J. Elazar Distinguished Scholar Award from the Section on Federalism and Intergovernmental Relations of the American Political Science Association and of the Donald Stone Distinguished Scholar Award from the Section on Intergovernmental Administration and Management of the American Society of Public Administration. He received his Ph.D. in 1981 from Temple University, Philadelphia.

He has served as Editor of Publius: The Journal of Federalism (1981-2006); Senior Editor of the Global Dialogue on Federalism (2001-2015), a joint project of the Forum of Federations and International Association of Centers for Federal Studies; Editor of a series of books on the Governments and Politics of the American States; President of the International Association of Centers for Federal Studies (1998-2005); President of the Southwestern Political Science Association (1993-1994); Executive Director (1988-1994) and Director of Research (1986-1988) of the U.S. Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations, Washington, D.C.; and Assistant and Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of North Texas (1979-1994). In 1972-1973, he was Vice President of the Pentagon Papers Fund for the Defense of Human and Civil Liberties–the legal-defense organization for Daniel Ellsberg and Anthony Russo in the Pentagon Papers Trial in Los Angeles.

He is the author of various works on federalism and intergovernmental relations in such journals as Publius: The Journal of Federalism, Regional & Federal Studies, Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Polity, PS: Political Science and Politics, International Political Science Review, Journal of Urban Affairs, Journal of Law and Politics, Rutgers Law Review, SMU Law Review, Public Administration Review, and New England Economic Review. He is the editor of Political Culture, Public Policy and the American States (1981) and Federalism (4 vols. 2011) and coeditor of Competition among States and Local Governments: Efficiency and Equity in American Federalism (1991), The Covenant Connection: From Federal Theology to Modern Federalism (2000), Constitutional Origins, Structure, and Change in Federal Countries (2005), Interaction in Federal Systems (2008), Local Government in Federal Systems (2008), The Routledge Handbook of Regionalism and Federalism (2013), Intergovernmental Relations in Federal Systems: Comparative Structures and Dynamics (2015), Political Parties and Civil Society in Federal Countries (2015), and Courts in Federal Countries: Federalists or Unitarists? (2017).

He has lectured and consulted on issues of federalism, intergovernmental relations, state and local government, and decentralization throughout the United States as well as in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Egypt, Ethiopia, Germany, Iceland, India, Iraq, Japan, Maldives, Mexico, Nigeria, Russia, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, and the United Kingdom.

His recent publications include, among others:

Brown, A J., Jacob Deem, and John Kincaid. 2022. “Constitutional Values and Citizen Attitudes to Government: Explaining Federal System Viability and Reform Preferences in Eight Countries.” Publius: The Journal of Federalism 52:1 (Winter): 1-25.

Kincaid, John and J. Wesley Leckrone. 2022. “COVID-19 and American Federalism: First-Wave Responses.” Federalism and the Response to COVID-19: A Comparative Analysis, eds. Rupak Chattopadhyay, Felix Knüpling, Diana Chebenova, Phillip Gonzalez, and Liam Whittington. New Delhi: Routledge India.

Kincaid, John. 2021. “Which Government Do You Trust the Most: Federal, State, Local, or None?” In Cooperation and Conflict Between State and Local Government, eds. Russell L. Hanson and Eric S. Zeemering, 21-36. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.

John Kincaid and J. Wesley Leckrone, “American Federalism and Covid-19: Party Trumps Policy,” Comparative Federalism and Covid-19 Combating the Pandemic, ed. Nico Steytler. London: Routledge, 2021, pp. 181-199.

Kincaid, John. 2021. “Foreword.” In The Value of Comparative Federalism: The Legacy of Ronald L. Watts, eds., Nico Steytler, Balveer Arora, and Rekha Saxena, xiii-xvi. New Delhi: Routledge India.

Kincaid, John and J. Wesley Leckrone. 2020. “Partisan Fractures in U.S. Federalism’s COVID-19 Policy Responses,” State and Local Government Review 52:4: 298-308.

Kincaid, John and Rupak Chattopadhyay. 2020. “Introduction.” In The Forum of Federations Handbook of Federal Countries 2020, eds., Ann Griffiths, Rupak Chattopadhyay, John Light, and Carl Stieren, 1-16. Cham Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan.

Kincaid, John. 2020. “United States of America.” The Forum of Federations Handbook of Federal Countries 2020, eds., Ann Griffiths, Rupak Chattopadhyay, John Light, and Carl Stieren, 367-384. Cham Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan.

Kincaid, John. 2020. “Roles of the U.S. Supreme Court in American Federalism.” In Jahrbuch des Föderalismus 2020, ed., Europäisches Zentrum für Föderalismus-Forschung Tübingen, 153-162. Baden-Baden: Nomos.

Kincaid, John. 2020. “Les trois déclinaisons du fédéralisme américain.” In Cinquante Déclinaisons de Fédéralisme: Théorie, Enjeux et Études de Cas, eds., Félix Mathieu, Dave Guénette, and Alain G-Gagnon, 311-320. Montreal: Presses de I’Université Québec.

Kincaid, John. 2020. “Origins and Consequences of American Multicultural Federalism: Constitutional Patriotism, Territorial Neutrality, and National Polarization.” In Federalism and National Diversity in the 21^st Century, eds. Alain-G. Gagnon and Arjun Tremblay, 107-129. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan.

Kincaid, John, ed. 2019. A Research Agenda for Federalism Studies. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing.

Dardanelli, Paolo and John Kincaid 2019. “US Federalism in Comparative Perspective.” Comparative Politics Newsletter 29:1 (Spring): 46-52.

Kincaid, John. 2021. “Foreword,.” In The Value of Comparative Federalism: The Legacy of Ronald L. Watts, eds., Nico Steytler, Balveer Arora, and Rekha Saxena, xiii-xvi. New Delhi: Routledge India, 2021.

Kincaid, John and Rupak Chattopadhyay. 2020. “Introduction.” In The Forum of Federations Handbook of Federal Countries 2020, eds., Ann Griffiths, Rupak Chattopadhyay, John Light, and Carl Stieren, 1-16. Cham Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan, 2020.

Kincaid, John. 2020. “United States of America.” The Forum of Federations Handbook of Federal Countries 2020, eds., Ann Griffiths, Rupak Chattopadhyay, John Light, and Carl Stieren, 367-384. Cham Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan.

Kincaid, John. 2020. “Roles of the U.S. Supreme Court in American Federalism.” In Jahrbuch des Föderalismus 2020, ed., Europäisches Zentrum für Föderalismus-Forschung Tübingen, 153-162. Baden-Baden: Nomos.

Kincaid, John. 2020. “Les trois déclinaisons du fédéralisme américain.” In Cinquante Déclinaisons de Fédéralisme: Théorie, Enjeux et Études de Cas, eds., Félix Mathieu, Dave Guénette, and Alain G-Gagnon, 311-320. Montreal: Presses de I’Université Québec.

Kincaid, John. 2020. “Origins and Consequences of American Multicultural Federalism: Constitutional Patriotism, Territorial Neutrality, and National Polarization.” In Federalism and National Diversity in the 21^st Century, eds. Alain-G. Gagnon and Arjun Tremblay, 107-129. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan.

Kincaid, John, ed. 2019. A Research Agenda for Federalism Studies. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing.

Dardanelli, Paolo and John Kincaid 2019. “US Federalism in Comparative Perspective.” Comparative Politics Newsletter 29:1 (Spring): 46-52.

Dardanelli, Paolo, John Kincaid, Alan Fenna, André Kaiser, André Lecours, and Ajay Kumar Singh. 2019. “Conceptualizing, Measuring, and Theorizing Dynamic De/Centralization in Federations.” Publius: The Journal of Federalism 49 (Winter): 1-29.

Kincaid, John. 2019. “Dynamic De/Centralization in the United States, 1790-2010,” Publius: The Journal of Federalism 49 (Winter): 166-193.

Dardanelli, Paolo, John Kincaid, Alan Fenna, André Kaiser, André Lecours, Ajay Kumar Singh, Sean Mueller, and Stephan Vogel. 2019. “Dynamic De/Centralization in Federations: Comparative Conclusions.” Publius: The Journal of Federalism 49 (Winter): 194-219.

John Kincaid, “Why the US’ Complex Federal System Will Blunt the Worst Aspects of Trump’s Transgressive Presidency,” US Centre, London School of Economics at: https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/usappblog/2019/02/18/why-the-us-complex-federal-system-will-blunt-the-worst-aspects-of-trumps-transgressive-presidency/

Jedwab, Jack and John Kincaid, eds. 2018. Identities, Trust, and Cohesion in Federal Countries: Perspectives from Public Opinion. Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press.

Jedwab, Jack and John Kincaid. 2018. “Introduction and Comparative Observations.” In Identities, Trust, and Cohesion in Federal Countries: Perspectives from Public Opinion, eds. Jack Jedwab and John Kincaid, 1-24. Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press.

Kincaid, John and Richard L. Cole. 2018. “Attachments to Multiple Communities, Trust in Governments, Political Polarization, and Public Attitudes Toward Immigration in the United States.” In Identities, Trust, and Cohesion in Federal Countries: Perspectives from Public Opinion, eds. Jack Jedwab and John Kincaid, 147-180. Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press.

Kincaid, John. 2018. “Why Coercion and Cooperation Coexist in American Federalism.” In Intergovernmental Relations in Transition: Reflections and Directions, eds. Carl W. Stenberg and David K. Hamilton, 35-57. New York: Routledge.

Cole, Richard L. and John Kincaid. 2018. “Is the Teaching of Federalism Dead or Alive in Canada and the United States?” In Canada: The State of the Federation 2015—Canadian Federalism and Infrastructure, eds. John R. Allan, David L. A. Gordon, Kyle Hanniman, André Juneau, and Robert A. Young, 263-283. Montreal & Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press.

Kincaid, John. 2018. “Diversity-Induced Centralization in American Federalism with Asymmetrical Accommodations of Territorial Diversity.” In Revisiting Unity and Diversity in Federal Countries: Changing Concepts, Reform Proposals and New Institutional Realities, eds. Alain-G. Gagnon and Michael Burgess, 282-298. Leiden and Boston: Brill Nijhoff..

Aroney, Nicholas and John Kincaid, eds. 2017. Courts in Countries: Federalists or Unitarists? Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

Kincaid, John. 2017. “The Eclipse of Dual Federalism by One-Way Cooperative Federalism.” Arizona State Law Journal 49 (3): 1061-1089.

Kincaid, John, Guest Ed. 2017. “The Shifting Sands of American IGR in an Era of Flux and Uncertainty: What’s Happening and What to Expect.” State and Local Government Review 49 (3): 156-228.

Kincaid, John. 2017. “Introduction: The Trump Interlude and the States of American Federalism.” State and Local Government Review 49 (3): 156-169.

John Kincaid, John. 2017. “From Dualistic Autonomous Concurrency to Marbleised Permissive Concurrency in American Federalism.” In Concurrent Powers in Federal Systems: Meaning, Making, Managing, ed. Nico Steytler. Leiden and Boston: Brill/Nijhoff, 32-48.

Kincaid, John. 2016. “Territorial Neutrality and Cultural Pluralism in American Federalism: Is the United States the Archenemy of Peripheral Nationalism?” Swiss Political Science Review 22 (4): 565–584.

Detterbeck, Klaus Wolfgang Renzsch, and John Kincaid, eds. 2015. Political Parties and Civil Society in Federal Countries. Don Mills, ON: Oxford University Press.

Poirier, Johanne Cheryl Saunders, and John Kincaid, eds. 2015. Intergovernmental Relations in Federal Systems: Comparative Structures and Dynamics. Don Mills, ON: Oxford University Press.

Kincaid, John. 2017. “Obstacles to Federalism Reform in the United States.” In A People’s Federation, eds. Mark Bruerton, Tracey Arklay, Robyn Hollander, and Ron Levy. Leichhardt, NSW: The Federation Press, 184-198.

Kincaid, John and Richard L. Cole. 2016. “Is the Teaching of Federalism and Intergovernmental Relations Dead or Alive in American Public Administration?” Journal of Public Affairs Education 22 (4): 515-530.

Kincaid, John. 2016. “Cooperative State Administration of Coercive Federal Policies in U.S. Federalism.” In Jahrbuch des Föderalismus, ed. Europäisches Zentrum für Föderalismus-Forschung Tübingen. Baden-Baden: Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft, 325-336.

Dardanelli, Paolo and John Kincaid. 2016. “A New Union? Federalism and the U.K.” Political Insight 7 (3): 12-15.

Kincaid, John. 2016. “Federalism and Rights: The Case of the United States with Comparative Perspectives.” In Human Rights: Current Issues and Controversies, ed. Gordon DiGiacomo. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 83-113.

Kincaid, John. 2016. “State-Federal Relations: Lost on the Campaign Trail.” In The Book of the States. Lexington, KY: Council of State Governments, 23-32.

Kincaid, John. 2016. “Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission.” In American Governance Vol. 1, ed. Stephen L. Schechter. Farmington Hills, MI: Macmillan Reference, 220-222.

Kincaid, John. 2016. “Compact and Covenant.” In American Governance Vol. 1, ed. Stephen L. Schechter. Farmington Hills, MI: Macmillan Reference, 331-334.

Kincaid, John. 2016. “Concurrent and Exclusive Powers.” In American Governance Vol. 1, ed. Stephen L. Schechter. Farmington Hills, MI: Macmillan Reference, 338-339.

Kincaid, John. 2016. “Federalism, Theory of.” In American Governance Vol. 2, ed. Stephen L. Schechter. Farmington Hills, MI: Macmillan Reference, 197-201.

Kincaid, John. 2016. “Federalism in American History.” In American Governance Vol. 2, ed. Stephen L. Schechter. Farmington Hills, MI: Macmillan Reference, 202-208.

Kincaid, John. 2016. “Judicial Federalism.” In American Governance Vol. 3, ed. Stephen L. Schechter. Farmington Hills, MI: Macmillan Reference, 119-123.

Kincaid, John and Richard L. Cole. 2016. “Citizen Evaluations of Federalism and the Importance of Trust in the Federation Government for Opinions on Regional Equity and Subordination in Four Countries.” Publius: The Journal of Federalism 46 (1): 51-76.

Kincaid, John. 2015. “The Rise and Characteristics of Coercive Federalism in the United States.” In Principles and Practices of Fiscal Autonomy: Experiences, Debate and Prospects, ed. Giancarlo Pola. Surrey, UK: Ashgate, 57-72.

Kincaid, John. 2015. “Autonomy and Secession: Lessons Beyond Europe.” In States Falling Apart? Secessionist and Autonomy Movements in Europe. eds. Eva Maria Belser, Alexandra Fang-Bär, Nina Massüger, and Rekha Oleschak Pillai. Berne: Stämpfli, 385-399.

Kincaid, John. 2015. “State-Federal Relations: Obstructive or Constructive Federalism?” In The Book of the States. Lexington, KY: Council of State Governments, 25-35.

Kincaid, John. 2015. “George W. Bush and the Spirit of Coercive Federalism.” In Understanding Federalism and Federation, eds., Alain-G. Gagnon, Soeren Keil, and Sean Mueller. Surrey, UK: Ashgate, 51-67.

Kincaid, John and Richard L. Cole. 2014. “Is Federalism Still the ‘Dark Continent’ of Political Science Teaching? Yes and No.” PS: Political Science & Politics 47 (4): 877-883.

Kincaid, John. 2014. “Policy Coercion and Administrative Cooperation in American Federalism.” In Federalism as Decision Making: Changes in Structures, Procedures and Policies, eds. Frandesco Paleremo and Elisabeth Alber. Leiden: Brill/Nijhoff, 62-76.

Kincaid, John. 2014. “The Federalist and V. Ostrom on Concurrent Taxation and Federalism,” Publius: The Journal of Federalism 44 (2): 275-297.

Kincaid, John. 2014. “Early State History and Constitutions.” In The Oxford Handbook of State and Local Government, ed. Donald P. Haider. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 239-270.

Cole, Richard L., John Kincaid, and Robert K. Whelan. 2014. “The Myth of the North American City Revisited: A Comparative Conceptual and Empirical Evaluation.” International Journal of Canadian Studies 49 (1): 31-52.