Structural and Textural Dimensions of Territorial State Organisation

In the framework of devolution, British scholars have inquired how to assess the constitutional position of the local government in the UK and its effect for improving or hindering autonomy and democracy at the local level. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the same topic from a more general and comparative perspective, combining conceptual tools of continental public law and political science. To do this the paper proposes to differentiate three concepts of territorial state configuration. These concepts are territorial structure, territorial texture, and vertical diffusion of state authority. This paper asserts that the confusion of these three dimensions has not only impaired an adequate assessment of the constitutional position of local governments, but that the structural dimension has been under-theorised, thus distorting measurements of subnational authority. Moreover, scholars have underestimated structural constraints upon changes in the local government position within the polity. Finally, an operationalisation of the new findings is offered by plotting selected countries in a Cartesian system comparing them from the perspective of territorial structure and vertical authority diffusion.     

Book reviews

The Sources of Democratic Consolidation by Gerard Alexander, reviewer: Eddie Hyland; Towards Holistic Governance by Perri 6, Diana Leach, Kimberly Selzer and Gerry Stoker, reviewer: Peter J. Laugharne; Democracy and War: The End of an Illusion? by Errol A. Henderson, reviewer: Adam Jones; Referendum Democracy: Citizens, Elites and Deliberation in Referendum Campaigns edited by Matthew Mendelsohn and Andrew Parkin, reviewer: Fiachra Kennedy; Mapping the Present: Heidegger, Foucault and the Project of a Spatial History by Stuart Elden, reviewer: Steve Buckler; Citizenship, Labour Markets and Democratization by Louise Haagh, reviewer: Jennifer Holmes; Economic Policy Reform: The Second Stage edited by Anne O. Krueger, reviewer: Carlos Santiso; The Press in Transition: A Comparative Study of Nicaragua, South Africa, Jordan and Russia by Adam Jones, reviewer: Mark Wheeler; Democracy and the Public Space in Latin America by Leonardo Avritzer, reviewer: George Philip; Democratic Control of the Military in Postcommunist Europe: Guarding the Guards edited by Andrew Cottey, Timothy Edmunds and Anthony Forster, reviewer: Bill Mikhail; Regional Russia in Transition: Studies from Yaroslavl edited by Jeffrey W. Hahn, reviewer: Bill Mikhail; Out of the Red. Building Capitalism and Democracy in Postcommunist Europe by Mitchell A. Orenstein, reviewer: Henri Vogt; Explaining Irish Democracy by Bill Kissane, reviewer: Niamh Hardiman; Indira Gandhi, the 'Emergency' and Indian Democracy by P.N. Dhar, reviewer: Vernon Hewitt; Government and Politics in Southeast Asia edited by John Funston, reviewer: Mark R. Thompson; Democratization and Welfare State Development in Taiwan by Christian Aspalter, reviewer: James D. Seymour; Religion and Politics in the Developing World: Explosive Interactions edited by Rolin G. Mainuddin Transforming East Asian Domestic and International Politics. The Impact of Economy and Globalization edited by Robert W. Compton, Jr, reviewer: Jeff Haynes; Beyond State Crisis? Post-Colonial Africa and Post-Soviet Eurasia in Comparative Perspective edited by Mark Beissinger and Crawford Young, reviewer: Ian Taylor; The National Question in Nigeria: Comparative Perspectives edited by Abubakar Momoh and Said Adejumobi, reviewer: Rotimi T. Suberu; A Strategic Vision for Africa: The Kampala Movement by Francis M. Deng and I. William Zartman     

State-based Representation and National Policymaking: The Evolution of the Australian Senate and the Federation

Ostensibly, Australia's constitutional framers designed the upper house as the ‘guardian of states' interests', ensuring that the smaller states were adequately represented in the federation. In recent decades the Senate has positively reinvented itself as a guardian of democracy, and is commonly known as the ‘house of review’. This study examines the changing representative role of senators and the Senate through surveys and interviews of current and former senators. The Senate has also become more of a guardian of the national interest, with proportional representation, larger constituencies and longer terms being the key institutional factors.     

Devine intervention? Lessons in systemic retrenchment from Canada’s most generous welfare state

This article tackles the importance of systemic retrenchment in welfare state research by focusing on two core elements neglected in the literature: the civil service and governmental revenues. Saskatchewan has possessed key ingredients associated with generous welfare states: a dominant left-wing party, a supportive bureaucracy and important non-visible fiscal revenues. According to the comparative welfare state literature, this is also an excellent recipe for maintaining a generous welfare state amid attempts, primarily by right-wing governments, to scale it back. Yet, most social indicators in the post-Devine years demonstrate that Saskatchewan can no longer be considered a leading welfare state in Canada. Reforms to the bureaucracy and a host of financial measures resulting in a near default explain why the Devine government was successful in its efforts to disrupt the CCF/NDP social legacy despite the fact that the NDP regained power for 16 years afterwards.     

The New Normal of Moderate Growth

正After going through the 2008 global financial crisis,the world economy as a whole has switched from high-speed growth to a deep industrial transformation.Domestically,the Chinese economy has also moderated,with some old balances being disrupted,and longstanding models and conceptions being dismantled.In the process,an array of new norms have emerged.To begin with,undergoing an economic slowdown is inevitable following years of     

Advancing Fiscal and Tax System Reforms

正China Economic Weekly Issue No.33,published on August 25,2014On June 30,a plan for reforming China’s fiscal and tax systems was reviewed and adopted by the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee.Its priorities include improving management and supervision of government budgets,deepening tax system reform,and adjusting fiscal relations between central and local governments to make     

THE TYPOLOGY OF FISCAL DECENTRALISATION SYSTEM: A CLUSTER ANALYSIS APPROACH

The article suggests a novel theoretical framework for empirical measurement of fiscal decentralisation by taking the viewpoint that fiscal decentralisation should be regarded as a system. Then, we review in detail several institutional arrangements regarding fiscally decentralised systems including the following: federal versus unitary state, numbers of tiers of governments, taxing power, borrowing power and independence of local officials. After identifying these institutional arrangements, we can group different countries with similar institutionally fiscal decentralisation systems together in broad categories by using cluster analysis. This analysis reveals a typology of fiscally decentralised systems (FDS): high expenditure/revenue assignment FDS, low expenditure/revenue assignment FDS, revenue transfer FDS, most complete FDS, politically centralised FDS and unitary state FDS. We then employ regression analysis to examine the performance for each type of fiscal decentralisation system. Our empirical findings suggest that most complete FDS is positively associated with selective economic performance as well as various public governance indicators. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Do Provincial Governors Control National Legislators? Quasi-Experimental Evidence of Argentine Federalism

Do governors control the behaviour of legislators from their provinces and parties in the national congress? The aim of the article is to test gubernatorial subnational political influence on national legislators. I first discuss the problems of the logic behind empirical exercises that measure the legislative influence of governors. Then the study tests gubernatorial influence using quasi-experimental evidence from Argentina, a federalism that bears all the hallmarks for governors to be central actors in the legislative arena. The results support the hypothesis that governors influence the behaviour of legislators from their provinces and parties in the national congress.