Comparative Territorial Politics and Policy

Territorial politics and policy, the relations between tiers of regional, central and European government and the decisions that these collectively reach and implement as part of multi-level political systems, are prominent issues of public debate. Nowhere else is this more the case than in Scotland, where a referendum will take place a few days after the ECPR General Conference 2014 to decide whether Scotland should become an independent country. A similar consultation process may be underway in Catalonia is raising questions about the extent to which secession is possible, legitimate and lawful in a liberal democracy. These centrifugal tensions stand in contrast to the centripetal dynamics taking place within the European Union in response to the combined banking and sovereign debt crises that have afflicted certain members of the Euro-zone. But territorial politics and policy is not only concerned with these highly visible macro-level developments; it also touches upon the un-notice micro-level changes such as the adaptation of public opinion and voters choices to the existence of several layers of political responsibility or the different ways in which regional governments tailor their education. The aims of this section are to explain and interpret the latest developments in the territorial politics and policies of federal and regional countries.