The Politics of Shared Rule: Regional Power Beyond the Region

Abstract

Multilevel systems are characterized by an intricate web of horizontal and vertical, bottom-up and top-down channels of coordination and competition. This panel looks at one particular direction - from the region upwards - and one particular function - getting the higher level(s) to serve the interests of the region. These interests, for example, can relate to the fiscal needs of the region such as demands for more funding, nation-wide projects such as the construction of highways, or be of a more generally political nature, such as quests for more self-rule or the right to hold an independence referendum. Preference will be given to papers that study the regional-national nexus and focus on the mechanisms (what formal or informal channels can and do regions use?), objects (what do regions want from the national level, what different aims do different regions pursue?), success (what did several regions or one region alone achieve?) and/or explanations of regional influence understood this way. Ideally, the empirical scope of papers will combine developed and developing, federal and regionalised countries. Both case studies and comparative approaches are welcome, and we are open to exploring options for joint publications afterwards.