Forum’s President
Welcome to the Forum of Federations’ website!
Forum is the world’s leading international network on decentralization and federalism. One of the fundamental challenges for democratic governance, in our time, is to assure that governments at different levels work together in an effective and accountable way. The Forum of Federations focuses on that challenge.
Our website – including its online library – offers the world’s most comprehensive online resource on federalism and multilevel governance for both researchers and practitioners. We hope you will find it useful. In the coming months we will be adding to your web experience by putting more audio-visual content online.
In complex societies, the institutions of democratic government must effectively reflect and accommodate many different kinds of diversity. Some countries are vast and regionally diverse; others are ethnically or linguistically diverse; others have very diverse economies. Federal and decentralized democracies – as well as countries in transition – have to know how to deal with all of these. Forum has more than a decade’s experience working in this field, and is almost uniquely positioned to provide training, expertise, and practical education on federal structures, local government, managing ethnic diversity, community engagement, fiscal decentralization and accountability and many other related issues. Our core principle is “learning from each other”. The Forum provides practical, proven and effective service to governments, political parties, and civil society entities that want to make democracy work more effectively in complex and diverse contexts. The successes of the organization builds on the contributions of its very highly dedicated and motivated staff, the commitment of its board and the support of our partner countries: Australia, Brazil, Canada, Ethiopia, Germany, India, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan and Switzerland. I am truly privileged to lead such an organization.
Included below are some of Rupak Chattopadhyay writings.
- Speech– “Democratic Federalism and Accommodating Diversity” at the Regional Conference on Federalism and Decentralization in the East Africa UNECA, Addis Ababa, 25 February 2013
- Speech– “Federal Spirit and Multilayered Federalism” for a Public Lecture at the Myanmar Peace Centre
Yangon, 18 November 2013 - Interview – with Mr. Chattopadhyay- by the Corporate (New Business Age Magazine)
- Governance of Metropolitan Regions in Federal Systems
- Diversity, Democracy and Federalism: issues, options and opportunities
- The challenge of peace in Nagaland
- Intergovernmental Relations: A comparative survey of structures and processes
- Security Management and Federalism
- Finance and Governance of Capital Cities in Federal Systems
- Peace and Security provisions in the Consultation Draft Constitution of the Federal Republic of Somalia
- Why Metropolitan Regions Matter
- Sub-national Second Chambers and regional representation: International Experiences Submission to Kelkar Committee on Maharashtra
- Intergovernmental Relations Presentation 2016