Devolution is not, of course, the same as federalism Federalism involves dividing the powers of government between a central government and various states or provinces, between a federal government in Washington or Berlin and state governments in, for example, California or Bavaria. In a federal state, the legislature, Congress in the United States and the Bundestag in Germany, is not sovereign but subordinate to the constitution. The constitution is sovereign, and in most federal states, the courts can declare void federal legislation that is contrary to the constitution.
Devolution, by contrast, preserves, in principle, the sovereignty of Parliament. The Westminster Parliament can, in theory, continue to legislate for Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland even on devolved matters; and it can, if it wishes, simply abolish the devolved bodies by a simple Act of Parliament, as it did with the Northern Ireland Parliament in 1972.
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