Bulletin n. 3/2007
December 2007
CONTENTS
  • Section A) The theory and practise of the federal states and multi-level systems of government
  • Section B) Global governance and international organizations
  • Section C) Regional integration processes
  • Section D) Federalism as a political idea
    • Laffin Martin
    Coalition-Formation and Centre-Periphery Relations in a National Political Party
    in Party Politics , Volume 13, Number 6, November ,  2007 ,  651-668
    The case of the British Liberal Democrats provides important evidence of the operations of national parties in devolved systems, the dynamics of sub-national coalition-formation and the impact of national parties on public policy in devolved systems. In their participation in coalition governments in Scotland and Wales, the Liberal Democrats have acted as a nationalized but not a centralized party, despite the devolved nature of their federal constitution. The Liberal Democrat elites at the national and sub-national levels have coordinated themselves informally through links between their three parliamentary parties rather than through the traditional mechanisms of party discipline. Thus, as a party, despite lacking the traditional discipline and party solidarity of a party like Labour, they have been able to ensure that their policies are implemented across the devolved, sub-national governments of Scotland and Wales.
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