QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS OF FEDERAL STATES VIA INDICATORS OF STRUCTURAL OF HETEROGENEITIES

Abstract

In federalism-related studies the characteristic of the federation as «unity in diversity» or «diversity in unity» is widely used. It is fixed that «unity» in its limit takes the form of centralized federalism, directed to unitarism. And «diversity» in its extreme boils down to the unrelated set of federal units, aspiring to separatism. Both extremes are unacceptable. It’s necessary to indicate the path between them. However, the problem of quantitative measurement of indicators of «unity and diversity» of federal systems, as well as of their optimal combination, remains poorly investigated. The paper defines quantitative measures, provides an assessment of the limiting parameters of the structural heterogeneity of federal states and sets quantitative criterion for the optimization of their structural construction.