The EU must step in if Spain and Catalonia are to negotiate an end to the crisis

The EU's institutions and the governments of other EU member states have so far shown reluctance to become involved in the standoff between the Spanish and Catalan governments over Catalan independence. Simon Toubeau argues that if a solution is to be found, the EU will have to take active involvement in facilitating dialogue between the two sides and supporting an outcome that can bring an end to the crisis

Parties’ views on decentralisation are determined by their economic and cultural positions

Decentralisation has been one of the principal forces driving constitutional change in European democracies over the past few decades. Using data covering 284 parties in 31 separate countries, Simon Toubeau and Markus Wagner assess the link between policies on decentralisation, and parties’ ideology on economic and cultural matters. They illustrate that parties form their stance on decentralisation with close reference to their economic and cultural value positions. This effect is influenced, however, by factors such as the degree of self-rule afforded to regions, the existence of regional economic disparities, and the ideological distance of regionalist parties at the national level

Adjusting to Austerity: The Public Spending Responses of Regional Governments to the Budget Constraint in Spain and Italy

What are the effects of fiscal imbalances, and austerity, on regional-level spending? To answer this question, we examine an original dataset of yearly spending decisions of regional governments in Italy and Spain between 2003 and 2015. We find that the rise in regional deficits has an important negative effect on regional governments’ spending. The strength of this effect is however mitigated by the presence of a left-wing party in regional office. In addition, we uncover an important variation in the extent of cut-backs across policy sectors: regional governments tend to protect the health sector and focus their retrenchment efforts on social assistance and running of public institutions. Partisanship matters here too, as left-wing parties tend to protect healthcare more than their right-wing rivals. These findings bear relevance for understanding the role of partisanship and policy sector in the process of public retrenchment in multi-level states

What a new government in Spain means for Catalonia

Spain’s new prime minister Pedro Sanchez rose to office against a backdrop of unprecedented drama. But now he could capitalise on the circumstances that landed him the top job to resolve the conflict with Catalonia

Party support in multi-level elections: the influence of economic perceptions and vertical congruence

© 2018 Elsevier Ltd How does the economy influence party support in multi-level states? Using regional-level survey data from Canada, Germany and Spain, we show that there is a ‘cross-level’ effect of economic evaluations. Citizens thus take into consideration both the regional and the national economy when determining their support for incumbents at either level. However, the way in which they do so depends on whether the same party is in office at the two levels or not. If so, standard reward-punishment patterns apply. If different parties are in office at the two levels, incumbents at one level are rewarded for bad and punished for good economic outcomes at the other level. Overall, the influence of cross-level economic perceptions is about half as large as that of same-level economic perceptions. Our findings have important normative implications for the signalling function of elections

Sovereignty is an illusion: the UK should use its power-sharing experience to play a constructive role in the EU

The UK’s ‘Westminster model’ of sovereign governance has had its day, claim Jo Murkens and Simon Toubeau. They argue that the recent transformation of the British party system and devolution have eroded the UK’s parliamentary sovereignty. The British government should learn from these developments when dealing with the EU, where sovereignty and power are also shared between the political union and its constituent parts. This is especially relevant to the Brexit discussions, since beyond the immediate horizon, the UK shares the long-term challenges of its European partners, conclude the authors

The illusion of sovereignty: the UK should embrace its experience of power-sharing at home to play a constructive role in the EU

One of the key issues in relation to the UK’s referendum is the extent to which EU membership undermines UK sovereignty. Simon Toubeau and Jo Murkens argue that this focus on sovereignty can nevertheless lead to misleading conclusions. They state that while the notion of parliamentary sovereignty lies at the heart of the Westminster model of government, this sovereignty has largely become illusionary with the growth of power-sharing and divided government within the UK. They suggest that rather than focusing on sovereignty, a better approach would be to draw on the UK’s experience of power-sharing to pursue a better relationship with the EU

The Scottish and UK governments should beware the Ides of March

Theresa May and Nicola Sturgeon will meet today to discuss the triggering of Article 50, which will begin the process of the UK leaving the European Union. Simon Toubeau and Jo Murkens assess the likely issues up for discussion, noting that if the two leaders maintain the direction they have taken, there could be a bumpy road ahead for both Scotland and the rest of the UK

Restructuring the state: mainstream responses to regional nationalism

Under what conditions are ‘holding-together’ federations created? And what shapes the development of their territorial structures? This article answers these questions through a comparative-historical analysis of territorial restructuring in Belgium, Spain and the UK. It shows that ‘holding-together’ federations are created during a critical juncture opened by a surge of regional nationalism and that the strategic responses of mainstream parties to this threat are conditioned by their ideology. These constitutional settlements put countries on a path of institutional development that is conditioned by mainstream parties’ ideational adaptation to the political foundations of the federation and by their power in the system of inter-governmental relations. Even when regionalist parties regain control of the agenda, mainstream parties’ ideological adherence to the norms enshrined in the constitutions, coupled with their resilient power in the system of inter-governmental relations, means that institutional change is gradual. These insights bear relevance for institutional theory and for comparative federalism

Explaining party positions on decentralization

Debates about decentralization raise cultural questions of identity and economic questions of redistribution and efficiency. Therefore the preferences of statewide parties regarding decentralization are related to their positions on the economic and cultural ideological dimensions. A statistical analysis using data from thirty-one countries confirms this: parties on the economic right are more supportive of decentralization than parties on the economic left, while culturally liberal parties favour decentralization more than culturally conservative parties. However, country context – specifically the degree of regional self-rule, the extent of regional economic disparity and the ideology of regionalist parties – determines whether and how decentralization is linked to the two dimensions. These findings have implications for our understanding of the politics of decentralization by showing how ideology, rooted in a specific country context, shapes the ‘mindset’ of agents responsible for determining the territorial distribution of power