Patterns Of Regionalism And Federalism

Federalism remains a highly contentious issue in the United Kingdom, but however suspect the 'F' word may be, a substantial amount of devolution has already become part of the local landscape and more may yet follow. With the competence for a number of policies thus shifting from Westminster to Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, and in future perhaps even within England itself, foreign experience with federal and regional structures becomes a valuable source of ideas. In a series of contributions, distinguished experts from a wide range of legal systems including Canada, the United States, Germany, South Africa and the European Union present their experience, criticisms, and views concerning, inter alia, the distribution of power, judicial review and human rights protection in federalised and regionalised states. The book contains the papers from a conference jointly organised by the Institute of Global Law (UCL) and the Institute of Transnational Law (The University of Texas at Austin).

Federalism and Social Policy focuses on the crucial question: Is a strong and egalitarian welfare state compatible with federalism? In this carefully curated collection, Scott L. Greer, Heather Elliott, and the contributors explore the relationship between decentralization and the welfare state to determine whether or not decentralization has negative consequences for welfare. The contributors examine a variety of federal countries, including Spain, Canada, and the United Kingdom, asking four key questions related to decentralization: (1) Are there regional welfare states (such as Scotland, Minnesota, etc.)? (2) How much variation is there in the structures of federal welfare states? (3) Is federalism bad for welfare? (4) Does austerity recentralize or decentralize welfare states? By focusing on money and policy instead of law and constitutional politics, the volume shows that federalism shapes regional governments and policies even when decentralization exists.

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

Multinational federations rest on the coexistence of two or more nations within a single polity. Within these federations, minority nations play a significant role as their character differs from the other building blocks of the federation. This edited volume offers a comprehensive comparison of two such minority nations - Quebec in Canada and Wallonia in Belgium - which exemplifies many dimensions, themes and issues highly resonant to the study of federalism and regionalism across the globe. Quebec and Wallonia have experienced several decades of federal dynamics where both regions have had to find their way as a minority nation in a multinational federation. For those studying federalism and regionalism their importance lies in a number of characteristics, but principally in the fact of these minority nations have transformed into mini-states with fully fledged legislative powers within their federation. This book seeks to study the specific dynamics within these small worlds and between them and the rest of the federation. This text will be of key interest to students and scholars of federalism, nationalism and regionalism, comparative politics and policies, political ideas and social movements.

This volume examines the relationship between central government and local institutions, taking Italy as a case study to present a comparative perspective on how the Italian experience has influenced the global developments of federal and regional states. As the country with the longest standing regional system, Italy has a lot to tell countries that are dealing with similar issues in present times. Adopting a theoretical/analytical approach coupled with comparative analysis, this volume critically reflects on the changes brought to the Italian system of government by the reform of Title V of the Italian constitution, the reasons why further decentralisation has been resisted and offers a comparative overview of the place and contributions that the Italian experience has brought to the global debate on regionalism and federalism. The book is divided into two parts: Part I distils the essence of the evolution of Italian regionalism and the respective debate before and after 2001. While focusing on Italy, the various chapters situate it within the global framework of discussion. Part II reflects on how the Italian regional constitutional architecture contributes to the global debate, particularly focusing on the main innovations brought about by constitutional reform. The book will be essential reading for researchers, academics and policy-makers working in the areas of constitutional law and politics, and federalism. Chapters 5 and 8 of this book are freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9781003104469

This monograph thoroughly illustrates the debate on federalism and regionalism as it emerged in Italy in the years preceding the unification of 1861 and then again in the early 1990s, a debate mainly centred on the deep socio-economic differences between the North and the South of the country. Torn between centripetal and centrifugal forces, the Italian regional model implemented with the 1948 constitution and strengthened in 2001 provokes questions that intersect with topical debates engaging scholars globally, potentially stimulating comparative discussions. While the future of Italian regionalism remains unclear, the Italian regional model combines lessons coming from different theoretical experiences, including federalism, sub-state nationalism, and the European unification process, representing a novel experiment fashioned by those who were looking for a compromise between unitary and federal schemes.