Federalism as Symbolic Struggle: Sovereignty, Identity, and the Fracturing American State

Written By Dr Hiba Morcos

This paper examines how American federalism serves not only as a constitutional framework for shared governance, but also as a contested terrain of symbolic struggle. As progressive and conservative actors increasingly deploy federalist strategies to advance opposing visions on immigration, guns, abortion, and climate policy, federalism has become less a mechanism of compromise and more a stage for performative sovereignty and ideological warfare.The study reconceptualizes federalism as a political field where actors accumulate symbolic capital through legal, moral, and institutional performances.The paper argues that the erosion of a shared national imaginary is turning federalism into a disarticulated patchwork of rival sovereignties. This internal fragmentation not only destabilizes democratic legitimacy at home but also undermines U.S. diplomatic coherence and global credibilityWhat emerges is a portrait of a state whose forms endure but whose symbolic foundations are unraveling.