Bulletin n. 1/2015 | ||
June 2015 | ||
Bolleyer Nicole, Swenden Wilfried, McEwen Nicola |
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Constitutional dynamics and partisan conflict: A comparative assessment of multi-level systems in Europe | ||
in Comparative European Politics , vol. 12, n. 4-5, july-september , 2014 , 531-555 | ||
ABSTRACT: The case studies revealed that the constitutional nature of a multi-level system indeed shapes its modes of day-to-day intergovernmental coordination and, with it, the way competences are (re)allocated in the longer term. Both in federal arrangements and in confederations, the ‘subunits’ – whose status is constitutionally protected – could more easily defend their decision-making capacity within their areas of jurisdiction because they can veto changes in the allocation of competences, an advantage lower-level governments in regionalized systems do not enjoy. Similarly, in federal and confederal systems day-to-day interaction in Inter Governmental Relations (IGR) predominantly took place in multilateral structures, while in regionalized systems bilateralism was more pronounced. The relative influence of party-political (in)congruence on IGR, in contrast, was more varied than theoretically expected. | ||