What is meant by balancing power between the federal government and the individual state governments? The authority associated with governing is shared between the federal government and the governments of the individual states with neither holding all or a majority of the power. Sharing and balancing power requires state officials to serve in the federal government and federal officials to serve in the respective state governments, increasing collaboration. There is no effective balance of power between the federal government and the states despite many attempts to ensure such a balance. The federal government and the individual state governments essentially pass the authority to govern to one another each year so that no one government develops too much power over the other.