Bulletin n. 3/2009
January 2010
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
    • Schakel Arjan H
    Explaining policy allocation over governmental tiers by identity and functionality
    in Acta Politica , Volume 44, Number 4, December ,  2009 ,  385-409
    The allocation of policies across governmental tiers varies greatly among countries. This article investigates the impact of identity and functionality pressures on the allocation of policies at the local, regional and national level. Using a data set that combines an expert survey and several country studies, this article shows that identity pressures lead to a greater concentration of policies at the regional level. The effect of identity pressures, however, is moderated by two policy characteristics. First, regional concentration is more pronounced for social-cultural policies than for economic utilities policies. Second, policies with high externalities and scale effects are less subject to regional concentration. They tend to be located at the level that seems most functionally appropriate. This is a proof that functionality bites - even in countries with strong regionalist parties.
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