Federalism and Regionalism in Western Europe discusses the institutional features of federalism and regionalism and brings in recent insights from the viewpoint of neo-institutional scholarship. Rather than providing a case-by-case approach, the book offers a thematic analysis of federalism and regionalism. Apart from debating definitions and institutional features of federalism and regionalism, the book also analyzes and explains varieties in the allocation of resources, in the political decision-making process and in the policy content and problem-solving capacity of West-European federal and regional states.
Author(s): Wilfried Swenden
Year: 2005
Language: English
Pages: 344
Cover......Page 1
Contents......Page 6
Tables......Page 10
Acknowledgements......Page 12
Abbreviations......Page 14
Federalism and regionalism in Western Europe......Page 18
Structure of the book......Page 21
1. Federalism and federation......Page 23
2. Confederalism, regionalism and regionalized states......Page 30
3. Multilevel governance......Page 35
4. Conclusion......Page 37
2. Centre–periphery relations and the process of state formation......Page 39
3. Conclusion......Page 62
1. Introduction......Page 65
2. Dual, cooperative and organic federalism......Page 66
3. Constitutional asymmetry......Page 80
4. Formal processes for changing the distribution of central-regional competencies......Page 87
5. Changing the distribution of central-regional competencies by means of judicial review......Page 96
6. Conclusion......Page 106
1. Introduction......Page 111
2. Competence assignment in a federal state: an overview of three theories......Page 112
3. Competence assignment in Western Europe: testing the three theories......Page 117
4. The scope of federalism: expenditure and tax (de-)centralization......Page 124
5. Vertical fiscal imbalances and why they arise......Page 130
6. Vertical and horizontal fiscal imbalances and how they can be reduced......Page 135
7. Regional spending, tax autonomy and equalization: an overview......Page 137
8. Conclusion......Page 155
1. Introduction......Page 158
2. Mapping the fragmentation of the party system: state-wide and non-state-wide parties......Page 159
3. Non-state-wide parties......Page 163
4. The organization of state-wide parties......Page 170
5. Parties in the electoral arena......Page 188
6. Conclusion......Page 202
1. Introduction......Page 205
2. Intergovernmental relations (IGR) in federal or regionally devolved states: a framework for analysis......Page 206
3. From IGR to public policy: policy change......Page 228
4. Regional autonomy and policy divergence......Page 250
5. Conclusion......Page 257
1. Introduction: the peculiarity of multinational federations......Page 261
2. Mapping the national cohesiveness and territorial concentration of minority nations......Page 263
3. Homogeneous federalism: virtues and vices......Page 269
4. Heterogeneous federalism and the logic of consociationalism......Page 273
5. Normative issues of multinational federalism......Page 280
6. Plurinationalism and multiple identities......Page 292
7. Plurinationalism and political options for the future......Page 295
8. In search of a durable multinational equilibrium......Page 297
9. Conclusion......Page 304
3. The centre and the regions......Page 308
5. The centre, the regions and the party system......Page 310
7. The centre, the regions and plurinationalism......Page 312
Bibliography......Page 315
Official documents mentioned......Page 333
B......Page 335
D......Page 336
G......Page 337
L......Page 338
P......Page 339
S......Page 340
U......Page 341
Z......Page 342
