Evaluating the Devolution Revolution1

This article provides an evaluation of the impact of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) of 1996. The evidence clearly shows that PRWORA has had a major impact on the poverty population and the welfare system. The data analyzed identify those policy areas in which positive changes can be identified, along with implementation and design problems that need reform. The data also show that while some states have made considerable progress in implementing the law, many are lagging.     

Devolution and Electoral Politics in Scotland and Wales

In this article we examine the impact of devolution on electoralpolitics in Scotland and Wales. After reviewing the electoralhistory of the two territories, we set out the result for the1999 and 2003 devolved elections, noting the substantial differencesbetween voting patterns in these elections from those for theUK parliament. We then go on to consider the main reasons whyvoting patterns differ across the two types of poll. The paperconcludes by summarizing the main findings and then consideringboth the implications of the findings for future devolved electionsand the potential contribution of the study of such electionsto broader theories of voting behavior.     

Feminising British Politics: Six Lessons from Devolution in Scotland and Wales

Modest levels of female representation at the House of Commons are in sharp contrast to the Nordic‐levels of representation achieved in the Scottish Parliament and the National Assembly for Wales since devolution in 1999. One apparent advantage of devolution is the opportunity that it provides for lesson‐learning across jurisdictions. This article offers six lessons on women's political representation—three positive and three negative—drawn from the experience of devolution in Scotland and Wales. We draw conclusions from these lessons, including the need to keep parties under scrutiny to ensure they deliver on their rhetorical commitments. We also postulate that gender equality might prove too important to be left to political parties and consider whether there is a need to consider stronger measures such as mandatory quotas.     

The Welsh Devolution Referendum

This article seeks to place the 1997 referendum on the Labour government's plans to establish an elected Welsh Assembly into the context of the debate on devolution as it has developed in Wales since 1979, when broadly similar proposals were overwhelmingly rejected by the Welsh electorate. The authors argue that given the belated decision to hold the referendum, the particular difficulties created by the Welsh political landscape, and the fact that there was no real attempt to develop a broad-based consensus behind the proposals before the 1997 general election, the fact that the proposals were finally approved – albeit by the narrowest of margins – represents a substantial achievement for the pro-devolutionists.     

Devolution and Local Government

Devolution was introduced amid a rhetoric of democratic renewaland promised the active engagement of local government. Localgovernment has responded in different ways in different partsof the United Kingdom. In Scotland and Wales local authoritieshave built on their advocacy of devolution before 1997 to realizea close partnership with devolved government. In London, too,local authorities have come to engage closely with regionalgovernment. In the rest of England local authorities were atbest ambivalent about the possibility of regional government,preferring to work in a national context with UK governmentinstitutions. Northern Ireland local government is parochialand appears suspicious of engagement with devolved government.These differences express some of the wider relationships ofthe component societies of the United Kingdom to the UK stateand have helped to embed continued centralized government inEngland.     

Devolution and Celtic nationalism in the UK

Other than the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Ireland Offices, the UK is exceptional in lacking a uniform level of government or administration between central and local government. There have been various attempts to fill this gap. The most important arose because of an upsurge of Celtic nationalism in the early 1960s which resulted in the Scotland and Wales Acts of 1978. Neither was implemented, however, and both were rescinded in 1979. Whether this issue will return is problematic: the British political tradition is indelibly unitary as is its socio‐economic structure. In addition, moderate Celtic aspirations may have been met by unobtrusive devolutionary changes such as language concessions, the strengthening of the Offices and various symbolic changes in the field of sport.     

Deficits and Devolution in the 104th Congress

Deficit reduction was an important impetus for the devolutioninitiatives thai moved through the 104th Congress, but it wasnot the only cause. Other objectives, notably building an alliancewith Republican governors and transforming the American welfarestate, also helped to drive devolution. Although the Republicandeficit and devolution agendas appeared mutually reinforcingat first, arguments over the terms of devolution (e.g., entitlementstatus, program mandates, and funding formulas) helped to slowdown and build opposition to those agendas. The use of omnibuslegislation helped to gel Republican proposals through the Congressin 1995, but packaging together popular and highly unpopularprovisions in a single bill ultimately provided President BillClinton with political cover to veto the legislation. The unpopularityof Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) and Clinton'spledge to "end welfare as we know it" propelled a more limiteddevolution agenda focused on AFDC in the lead-up to the 1996presidential election. Devolution ofMedicaid was dropped, however,while Food Stamps and child nutrition programs experienced budgetcuts but little devolution.     

Devolution Paradox and the US South

There is an inherent trade-off in federalism regarding representation and equity. With the devolution of responsibilities to regional governments offering increased representation, there comes the inequity of services provided by some governments and not others. However, citizens in these federations may want the best of both worlds—desiring regional control but without the regional policy variation. This tension, dubbed ‘the devolution paradox’ in a study of federal countries in Europe, was less apparent in one key group of regions—those with historic ties through language, culture, or experience. This article examines US respondents to identify whether the devolution paradox is evident in this country and looks specifically at the South, a region with long-standing distinctiveness. We find that there is evidence of the devolution paradox among the American public and that the South is indeed different.     

Devolution of the Small Cities CDBG Program in Mississippi

In 1982 responsibility for HUD's Small Cities Community DevelopmentBlock Grant program was transferred to state governments aspart of President Reagan's New Federalism initiatives. Devolutionwas designed to (1) implement a new vision of American federalism,(2) shift control over a significant source of financial resourcesfor nonmetropolitan areas, and (3) end the bypassing of stategovernment officials in community development decisionmaking.This article uses the eleven year (1975–1985) historyof Small Cities CDBG awards in Mississippi to assess the consequencesof the program's devolution. Changes in the pattern of stateCDBG awards indicate that the program's devolution produceda policy redirection that channeled CDBG funds to a larger numberof the smallest municipalities and permitted more local discretionin project design. As a result, HUD no longer dictated communitydevelopment policy to small cities. Instead, community developmentpriorities in Mississippi emerged out of an award process thatinvolved interaction among state and local officials.     

Devolution in Uganda: an experiment in local service delivery

The ongoing programme for reform and reduction of the public service in Uganda relies heavily on the devolution of provision and delivery of most major public services to the lowest appropriate levels (primarily the District Councils 1 ), and therefore local government is becoming a key element in the search for new ways of governance. The rationale is that the overriding problem, as in much of Africa, is poverty and that the most effective way of tackling it is by the empowerment of the people to provide the services that they judge necessary and to decide their own local priorities in the allocation of resources. Whether the experiment succeeds will be determined in large measure by the ability and desire of the Government to ensure that local authorities have access to at least the same levels of resources as the previous service providers. Of equal importance is the capacity and ability of local government to meet the challenge, and this begs the question as to whether professional staff have the experience and competence and whether the elected members have the political skills, probity and integrity for the task. The policies have been well thought‐out and the solutions appear to be capable of implementation, but the ‘people factor’ will also be critical to success. The present scenario is guardedly encouraging; the devolution programme will probably meet sufficient of its objectives to justify the changes, given continuing donor support, and performance will improve as local authorities gain experience and self‐confidence. For its part, Government will need to resist the temptation to over‐supervise, and intervene only sparingly.

1 These are large units of administration, with average populations in excess of 500,000.

Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.