Comparative Territorial Politics in Multilevel States: Citizens, Voters, and Political Actors

The political interplay between the central state and different forms of sub-state levels of government has been increasingly theorised and empirically analysed in the last couple of years. Strong support for national movements, as well as problems due to the way countries have been decentralized have gained scholarly attention. The current COVID-19 pandemic has put the spotlight even more on institutional commonalities and differences, but also on the varying ways political elites in decentralised or federalised countries try to handle this crisis. Furthermore, recent research takes a close look at citizens’ and voters’ reactions and assignments of responsibilities regarding political elites’ handling of the pandemic. In various countries, such as Austria, Germany, or Switzerland, one explanation for lower numbers of vaccination compared to other countries are attributed to specific factors related to territorial politics. The aims of this section are to explain and interpret the latest developments in territorial politics and policies of multilevel countries. To do so, we encourage a pluralism of academic disciplines, theoretical approaches, and methodological tools. Suggested panel topics 1. Voters’ Behaviour in Sub-National Politics Chair: Katrin Praprotnik, Danube-University of Krems Political scientists have devoted much effort to understand the behaviour of voters. The great bulk of evidence, however, stems from shedding light on electoral campaigns and voting behaviour at the national level. Despite some notable exceptions, the conclusion that sub-national electoral politics has been largely neglected still stands. The present panel seeks to close this gap by zooming into the sub-national layer of multilevel states and invites papers focusing on topics of partisanship and vote choice at the regional and local level. We encourage the submission of comparative papers as well as single case studies. 2. Political Actors’ Behaviour in Sub-National Politics Chair: Martin Gross, LMU Munich Our understanding of political elites’ behaviour, their decision-making strategies, and how they implement specific policies, is still mainly retrieved from theoretical and empirical insights from national and supranational politics. We still know comparatively little about political behaviour at the subnational, that is, the regional and the local, level. Therefore, the present panel seeks to enhance our understanding of sub-national political behaviour and invites both comparative and single-case papers focusing on legislative voting, policymaking, and the political preferences of political actors at the subnational level. 3. Political Parties and Party Competition in Multilevel States Chair: Martin Gross, LMU Munich This panel invites theoretical and empirical contributions on political parties and party competition in federal or regionalised states. Multilevel government provides opportunities for the study of party organisation and party competition at different levels as well as for the analysis of similarities and differences between parties at the national and sub-state levels. Papers can address the organisation and mobilisation of parties, their impact on the territorial integrity of countries, as well as their influence on policies country-wide and across regions. 4. Public Opinion Towards Devolution and Federalism Chair: Arjan Schakel, University of Bergen While political decentralisation is a process that has been undertaken in a wide range of countries, even becoming a main element of political discourse in some cases, there exists a considerable gap in our knowledge regarding citizens’ attitudes towards territorial scales of political life. This panel will assemble papers that further our understanding of multilevel governance by assessing citizens’ attitudes towards different facets of decentralisation. We encourage the submission of comparative papers as well as single case studies. 5. Federalism and Conflict Management During the COVID-19 Pandemic Chair: Arjan Schakel, University of Bergen Severe crises, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, challenge federalised and decentralised states regarding political actors’ responses to these crises. There are several voices raising the question if centralized and more authoritarian-led countries may be better able to handle such a crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic. For democratic political systems in federalised states, it seems to be a daily struggle to decide which political layer is responsible for handling the crisis, which intergovernmental bodies should call the shots, and what role should both the national and the subnational parliaments play? This panel welcomes papers that discuss the management, organisation, and political processes in federalised countries. 6. Secessionist Movements: Explaining Discourse and Strategy Chair: Open Secessionist movements have become more prominent in the public debate around the globe over the last few years. This panel aims at discussing to what extent there are similarities and differences among secessionist movements. This panel invites contributions, shedding light on the motivations driving secessionism, on the type of domestic and international strategies adopted to promote political self-determination, and on the discourses and communication styles used by secessionist parties and leaders. We welcome both comparative papers as well as single case studies. 7. State Restructuring: Theoretical and Empirical Perspectives Chair: Open This panel invites papers that address administrative and political restructuring in multilevel countries. It welcomes papers treating state restructuring both as an independent and a dependent variable, that is, exploring the determinants of state restructuring and/or its consequences. The panel is open to papers seeking to make a primarily theoretical contribution as well as to papers focusing on empirical analysis. Papers adopting a comparative perspective are especially encouraged but case studies are also welcome, as are different methodological approaches. 8. The EU and Sub-National Politics Chair: Sarah Meyer, Danube-University of Krems This panel invites submissions which tackle the interaction between the processes of deepening integration and regionalisation in Europe from a plurality of viewpoints and using a variety of methods ranging from qualitative case studies to large-n analyses. Areas of interest and relevance to the panel are related to, for example, the formation, aggregation, and expression of sub-national interests within the EU political system, the implementation of EU legislation and programmes at the sub-national level and how sub-national players seek to influence the EU (policies) and its emerging constitutional order. Furthermore, papers are welcome dealing with political actors’ strategies in emphasising EU issues and topics across the various political layers of multilevel states.