It didn't take very long for the "blame game" to begin.¹ Even as scenes of utter chaos and destruction in New Orleans caused by Hurricane Katrina were broadcast around the world in late August 2005, federal, state, and local officials started pointing fingers at each other. Democratic Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco asked why the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) was so slow to respond to the disaster and why active-duty military forces were not sent to help provide shelter, food and water, and order. Democratic Mayor Ray Nagin complained about the slow federal response in radio and television interviews, and estimated that at least 10,000 people died from the flooding, violence, loss of power, and toxic wastes. FEMA director Michael Brown said he hadn't known thousands of people were in the Superdome with little food, water, or sanitation, though conditions there were widely reported even before Katrina struck. Brown and some White House officials (though not President Bush) laid the blame squarely on state and local officials for failing to plan properly for the emergency, botching the evacuation, and failing to enforce law and order.

It will probably take investigators years to properly apportion the blame and begin to fix the problems Katrina revealed. One reason it will take so long is the complexity created by our federal system of government -the division of powers and responsibilities among the national, and state governments (which, in turn, create and oversee local governments).In some matters, federal and state government powers and responsibilities are separate and clearly defined but in others they are shared. Furthermore, the boundary lines for shared matters, including such crucial areas as law and order, disaster preparedness, and disaster relief, are not always clear and stable, The disaster resulted not just from the storm, but from the failure of all levels of government to fulfill their core responsibilities and to coordinate activities in areas of shared responsibilities. The failure to coordinate with other government jurisdictions may have been due to political rivalries, genuine confusion, or both.

Take core responsibilities. The federal government is in charge of maintaining the health and vitality of inland waterways used for transporting goods and people, and protecting river communities from floods. Over many years, the Army Corps of Engineers has built and maintained an elaborate system of levees on the lower Mississippi to straighten it and prevent flooding of low-lying cities, including New Orleans. Despite many warnings from scientists and engineers that the levee system was inadequate, Democratic and Republican presidents and Congresses failed to provide funds for a levee system that could adequately protect the city. For its part, FEMA failed to preposition enough rescue teams and supplies and responded slowly when the levees broke.Finally, it took the president and his team a few days to realize that state and local officials were simply overwhelmed.

The Louisiana state government also failed to meet some of its core responsibilities. It did not come close to implementing its own disaster mitigation and relief plan. Furthermore, over the years it had adopted a series of tax, subsidy, and regulatory policies that encouraged construction along low-lying coastal areas, putting people at risk and help destroying wetlands that once protected populated areas from hurricane storm surges. Nor did local New Orleans officials meet their core responsibilities. The mayor delayed in ordering a mandatory evacuation, failed to provide transportation for people without cars once the order was given, and failed to provide adequate policing during and after the emergency. In addition, city officials had for years avoided upgrading and protecting vital infrastructure (pumps, sewage treatment facilities, emergency medical services, and more) or improving building codes for residential and commercial structures.

Some of the problems surrounding Katrina arose from very real confusion about who was to do whatwhen. Traditionally state and local governments have been the first responders to disasters, with the federal government providing backup, financial and logistical aid, and help with long-term recovery. The federal government will enter the picture earlier if state officials ask, or if federal officials determine that state and local officials cannot protect their citizens. At this writing, it is still unclear how the various governments communicated. White House officials claim, for example, that Governor Blanco refused to ask the federal government to take control of the Louisiana National Guard and New Orleans police. They also say they wanted to send the 82^nd Airborne to restore order and coordinate logistics, but hesitated because the governor had not made a specific request. The governor said she told President Bush, "I need everything you have got." She never specified what kinds of troops she needed because "nobody told me that I had to request that. I thought that I requested everything they had...We were in a war zone by then."

The Hurricane Katrina debacle shows that American federalism is a very complex system in which both cooperation and tension exist among the various levels of government. In this chapter, you will learn about the American system of federalism, where it came from, how it works, what strengths and weaknesses are associated with it, and how it contributes or detracts from democracy.

¹ Material for this story is from "After the Flood," The Economist (September 3, 2005), pp. 27-31; "When Government Fails," The Economist (September 10, 2005), pp. 26-28; Bob Williams, " Blame Amid the Tragedy," The Wall Street Journal (September 6, 2005), p. A 23; Eric Lipton, Christopher Drew, Scott Shane, and Dave Rohde, "Breakdowns Marked Path From Hurricane to Anarchy," The New York Times (September 11, 2005), p. A1.

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