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Federalism and Regionalism in Western Europe seeks to clarify the relevance, problems and consequences of operating federal systems of government in Western Europe. The book analyzes and explains varieties in the allocation of resources, the decision-making process and problem-solving capacity of West-European federal and regional states
The study of territorial politics has enjoyed a renaissance in the last thirty years. Scholars have questioned the state-centric assumptions upon which mainstream social science has been built, pointing to the territorial (re)distribution of power across and within states. This Handbook brings together leading scholars to demonstrate how territory has shaped institutional structures, public policies, elections, political parties, and identity across the world. Offering theoretical, comparative and empirical insights, this book provides a comprehensive overview of the impact of territory on modern political, economic and social life.
How have regionalization processes across Europe impacted on policy convergence? This book takes as its starting point the curious fact that autonomous regional policymaking may be parallel to regional governments pursuing policy similarity. The author proposes that these observations are paradoxical only if sector-specific policy norms are disregarded and when autonomy is considered as the exclusive goal of regional governments. Focusing on common yet under-studied regional situations where a sense of cultural or historical distinctiveness is not readily apparent, if at all, the book argues that in policy sectors where norms of territorial equality have long been dominant, regional governments endorse them as a way to secure or expand their policy capacity when the central state or other policy entrepreneurs challenge it. This results in converging policies. A textured comparative account of educational policymaking in German Länder and French conseils régionaux over three decades forms the backbone of this analysis of policymaking in ordinary regions.
This comprehensive Handbook presents a broad range of theoretical, methodological and empirical perspectives on the comparative study of political institutions. Exploring cutting-edge developments in the field, it provides new insight into the significant diversity and impact of political institutions across space and time. This title contains one or more Open Access chapters.
This book explores how intra-party politics affects government formation and termination in parliamentary systems, where the norm is the formation of coalition governments. The authors look beyond party cohesion and discipline in parliamentary democracies to take a broader view, assuming a diversity of preferences among party members and then exploring the incentives that give rise to coordinated party behaviour at the electoral, legislative and executive levels. The chapters in this book share a common analytical framework, confronting theoretical models of government formation with empirical data, some drawn from cross-national analyses and others from theoretically structured case studies...
Taking a multidisciplinary approach to the dynamics of political and economic decentralization in contemporary regimes, this comprehensive Handbook offers a critical examination of how the decentralization of governance affects citizen well-being.
This edited volume examines the form and operation of intergovernmental relations in divided societies. Using eight country case studies, it explores the interplay between politicised ethno-cultural diversity and intergovernmental relations (IGR) in countries where the distinctive identity of at least one subnational unit is acknowledged in a form of territorial autonomy. The book examines whether and how the distinctive identity of particular subnational units and the attending competing constitutional visions shape the dynamics of IGR. The goal here is not simply to determine whether intergovernmental interactions in such societies are less cordial and more conflictual than in other societ...
Defensive Federalism presents an original contribution to the field of federalism and multinational democracies, exploring the concept of defensive federalism as a protection of self- government against the "tyranny of the majority". The empirical evidence on federal and regional polities often shows critical imbalances in the territorial division of powers beyond what has been formally established in the constitutional rules. This volume highlights the rights, institutions, decision- making processes and procedural rules that can protect and develop the practical political, economic and cultural powers of federated and regional entities, especially those linked to territorial national minor...
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