A useful definition of federalism was given by John Kincaid, Professor at Lafayette College in Pennsylvania and director of the College's Meyner Center for the Study of State and Local Government:

"Federalism is essentially a system of voluntary self-rule and shared rule. This is implied in the derivation of the word 'federal', which comes from the Latin foedus, meaning covenant. A covenant signifies a binding partnership among co-equals in which the parties to the covenant retain their individual identity and integrity while creating a new entity, such as a family or a body politic, that has its own identity and integrity as well. A covenant also signifies a morally binding commitment in which the partners behave toward each other in accord with the spirit of the law rather than merely the letter of the law."