Administrative Asymmetries - Driver or Brakes for Secession Movements?

Asymmetric arrangements in multi-level systems are discussed in many perspectives: With regard regionalized states such as Italy and Spain and also devolved Great Britain, but also with regard to differentiated integration in the EU. Secessionist efforts in such states (but also the Brexit) have drawn the attention of scholars to the question of whether asymmetries are more likely to keep "strong" entities in the multilevel system or even enable a kind of "soft exit" and make secessions more likely. However, asymmetric arrangements have been almost exclusively assessed in terms of legislative powers, mostly neglecting public administrative powers of the entities which are subjects of asymmetries. The proposed paper addresses this research gap through a comparative analysis of the subnational entities of Scotland, Catalonia and South Tyrol. In a first thematic complex, the paper explores the question of the role of public administrations of subnational units in asymmetrically regionalized states: In the course of regionalization processes, have administrative competencies been transferred to the subnational level in addition to legislative ones? Or do these administrative competences - although naturally carried out locally - remain primarily with the state as a whole, i.e. at the national level? Did historical peculiarities of individual administrations already exist before regionalization movements? Subsequently, in a second thematic complex, the paper addresses the question of what are the specific characteristics of the public administrations in the subnational units with more autonomy rights? Does the administration of the subnational units in question occupy a special position in the multi-level administrative system of the state as a whole - or does it just not? The hypotheses derived from the research questions are comparatively tested using qualitative social science and legal methods and on the basis of the variables of administrative competencies, organizational character and administrative culture, organizational structure, administrative staff, language regime, financing. Cases are Scotland, Catalonia and South Tyrol. The results show that multiple asymmetries prevail in the subnational public administration of the cases examined. Further research is needed to examine these administrative asymmetries in their causal relations (how are de facto and de jure asymmetries linked with regard of public administrations?). Moreover, the administrative asymmetries have to be analyzed with regard to their influence on autonomy and secession tendencies. Therefore, a third set of questions is outlined, which is devoted to the role of public administration in subnational entities with secession movements: To what extent and under what conditions can administrations act as a kind of "cement" for the state as a whole? To what extent and under what conditions do they act as accelerators of autonomy and secession efforts?