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, such as in Catalonia, Corsica, or Scotland, as well as problems due to the way countries have been decentralized (such as in Belgium or Ethiopia) 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. Territorial politics is about the effects of the territorial structure of the state on issues such as citizens’ attitudes towards multilevel government, voting behaviour and accountability, public policy, and the distribution of resources between levels and across territorial units. 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.