The competitive federalist system facilitated state leadership and the diffusion of innovative policies that addressed climate change and energy issues in the absence of comprehensive federal action at the start of the twenty-first century. In a competitive federalist system state governments and their politicians challenge one another horizontally and the federal government vertically for legislative credit and functional authority on relevant policy issues. What drove state-level climate and clean energy leadership from 2001 to 2012? This dissertation develops three competitive federalism-based hypotheses for analysis: (H1) A national, bipartisan network of ambitious, entrepreneurial governors drove climate and clean energy policy innovation from 2001 to 2012; (H2) the State Energy Program Recovery Act resources reduced the policy adoption gap between early enactors and laggards in clean energy financing and regulation; (H3) and justification for climate and clean energy activities in the states shifted from environmental to economic rationales from 2001 to 2012 (Figure ES1). While competitive federalism theory has centered on both fiscal and ideological considerations driving innovation in the policy environment, the experience of climate change policymaking and clean energy actions at the state level during the period under consideration reveals a clear partisan divide in policymaking within this domain.

O presente trabalho pretende estudar o fenômeno do federalismo pela perspectiva tridimensional do Direito. Primeiramente, esboçar-se-á o federalismo de uma perspectiva fática, a primeira e mais natural associação humana. Depois, analisaremos a valoração do federalismo, ou seja, a intervenção de um processo racional no curso associativo natural do federalismo. Exemplificamos a valoração do federalismo a partir da teoria contratual de Montesquieu, o qual desenvolve um verdadeiro esqueleto organizacional da extensão territorial dos Estados, conformando as grandes monarquias às pequenas repúblicas: república federativa. Por fim, colocaremos em prática o federalismo fático, associado aos valores, no campo normativo dos clássicos modelos do Direito Constitucional: o federalismo Norte- Americano e o federalismo Alemão. / The present work intends to study the phenomenon of federalism from the tridimensional perspective of Law. Firstly, a picture of federalism from a factful perspective shall be drawn, as the first and most natural form of association. Later, the perceived value of federalism, which is, the intervention of a rational process in the course of federalism’s natural association, shall be analyzed. The perceived value of federalism is exemplified from Montesquieu’s contractual theory, which develops a real organizational scheme for the territorial extension of the States, applicable to both large monarchies and small republics: federative republic. At last, the model of factful federalism shall be put to practice, associating its values to the normative field of the classic constitutional law models: the American and the German federalism.

O presente trabalho pretende estudar o fenômeno do federalismo pela perspectiva tridimensional do Direito. Primeiramente, esboçar-se-á o federalismo de uma perspectiva fática, a primeira e mais natural associação humana. Depois, analisaremos a valoração do federalismo, ou seja, a intervenção de um processo racional no curso associativo natural do federalismo. Exemplificamos a valoração do federalismo a partir da teoria contratual de Montesquieu, o qual desenvolve um verdadeiro esqueleto organizacional da extensão territorial dos Estados, conformando as grandes monarquias às pequenas repúblicas: república federativa. Por fim, colocaremos em prática o federalismo fático, associado aos valores, no campo normativo dos clássicos modelos do Direito Constitucional: o federalismo Norte- Americano e o federalismo Alemão. / The present work intends to study the phenomenon of federalism from the tridimensional perspective of Law. Firstly, a picture of federalism from a factful perspective shall be drawn, as the first and most natural form of association. Later, the perceived value of federalism, which is, the intervention of a rational process in the course of federalism’s natural association, shall be analyzed. The perceived value of federalism is exemplified from Montesquieu’s contractual theory, which develops a real organizational scheme for the territorial extension of the States, applicable to both large monarchies and small republics: federative republic. At last, the model of factful federalism shall be put to practice, associating its values to the normative field of the classic constitutional law models: the American and the German federalism.

O presente trabalho pretende estudar o fenômeno do federalismo pela perspectiva tridimensional do Direito. Primeiramente, esboçar-se-á o federalismo de uma perspectiva fática, a primeira e mais natural associação humana. Depois, analisaremos a valoração do federalismo, ou seja, a intervenção de um processo racional no curso associativo natural do federalismo. Exemplificamos a valoração do federalismo a partir da teoria contratual de Montesquieu, o qual desenvolve um verdadeiro esqueleto organizacional da extensão territorial dos Estados, conformando as grandes monarquias às pequenas repúblicas: república federativa. Por fim, colocaremos em prática o federalismo fático, associado aos valores, no campo normativo dos clássicos modelos do Direito Constitucional: o federalismo Norte- Americano e o federalismo Alemão. / The present work intends to study the phenomenon of federalism from the tridimensional perspective of Law. Firstly, a picture of federalism from a factful perspective shall be drawn, as the first and most natural form of association. Later, the perceived value of federalism, which is, the intervention of a rational process in the course of federalism’s natural association, shall be analyzed. The perceived value of federalism is exemplified from Montesquieu’s contractual theory, which develops a real organizational scheme for the territorial extension of the States, applicable to both large monarchies and small republics: federative republic. At last, the model of factful federalism shall be put to practice, associating its values to the normative field of the classic constitutional law models: the American and the German federalism.