ABSTRACT
During the last 30 years there has been a relative stability in the intellectual process of concept formation and reformation in federal studies. Since the publication of Preston King’s Federalism and Federation in 1982 most established scholars of federalism have adopted this conceptual distinction or are at least fully aware of it (King, 1982). Subsequently some useful small refinements and clarifications have appeared in respect of terminology and definitions but in general the broad contours of the subject would seem to be quite settled.
