CHAPTER 17 – MULTILEVEL POLITICS
- Nation-state was viewed as the natural unit of political rule
- But there has been trend of transnational regionalism
POLITICS, THEORY AND MULTILEVEL GOVERNANCE
- Politics has always had spatial or territorial dimension
- Association between politics and territory become more formalized
- Pace of Westphalia – defined sovereignty in territorial terms
o States were seen to be defined by their ability to exercise independent
controls over institutions and groups that live within their borders
- 2 further dimensions in the importance of territory
o 1. Emergence of nationalism from the late 18th century
o 2. Strengthened association between national power with territorial
expansion that was brought about by imperialism
▪ Rise of geopolitics
- Geopolitics → approach to foreign policy analysis that understands the actions,
relationships and significance of states in terms of geographical factors such as
location, climate, natural resources, physical terrain and population
- Territory → delimited geographical area that is under the jurisdiction of a
government authority
- Fuelling of economic centralization – but nationalism rise in places such as Quebec,
Scotland and Wales, Catalonia and Basque area, Corsica in France, Flanders in
Belgium
- Centralization → the concentration of political power or government authority at the
national level
- Decentralization → the expansion of local autonomy through the transfer of powers
and responsibilities away from national bodies
o Authority has been sucked up beyond the state
- State border have become increasingly porous – accelerated globalization since the
1980s
- States have been growingly interdependent and interconnected
o Tackling issues such as global warming, spread of weapons of mass
destruction etc
- Transnational → configuration, which may apply to events, people, groups, or
organizations, that takes little or no account of national government or state borders
- Multilevel governance → complex policy process in which political authority is
distributed at different levels of territorial aggregation
SUBNATIONAL POLITICS
- All modern states are divided on territorial basis between central (national) and
peripheral (regional/provincial or local) institutions
o Balance between centralization and decentralization – shaped by a wide
range of historical, cultural, geographical, economic and political factors
, - Two most common forms of territorial organization found in modern world are
federal and unitary systems
o Third form – confederation is unsustainable
▪ Mostly found in the form of intergovernmentalism
▪ International organizations such as NATO or UN or AU or
Commonwealth of Nations
▪ USA was originally confederation
- Federal system → system of government in which sovereignty is shared between
central and peripheral levels
- Unitary system → system of government in which sovereignty is located in a single
national institution, allowing the centre to control the periphery
- Confederation → qualified union of states in which each state retains independence,
typically guaranteed by unanimous decision-making
- Pierre-Joseph Proudhon
o French anarchist, self-educated printer
o Voted against the constitution ‘because it was a constitution’
o What is Property? The Federal Principle
o Argument for anarchism
Federal systems
- More common than confederal, about one third of world’s population
o USA, Brazil, Australia, Mexico, Switzerland, Nigeria, Malaysia, Canada
- Each is sharing sovereignty between central and peripheral institutions
o Neither level can encroach the other
o Compromise between unity and regional diversity
- Common characterises
o 1. Historical similarities – number of established political communities that
nevertheless with to preserve autonomy
o 2. Existence of external threat or desire play more effective role in
international affairs
▪ Small broader political unions
o 3. Geographical size → larger states involve in federal systems
▪ Greater pressure for decentralization
- Federalism → refers to legal and political structures that distribute power territorially
within a state
o Institutional response to societal division and diversities
▪ Canada – division between English and French speaking parts
▪ Nigeria – division between major tribal and religious differences
- Autonomy → self-rule, with a degree of independence
- Nation-state was viewed as the natural unit of political rule
- But there has been trend of transnational regionalism
POLITICS, THEORY AND MULTILEVEL GOVERNANCE
- Politics has always had spatial or territorial dimension
- Association between politics and territory become more formalized
- Pace of Westphalia – defined sovereignty in territorial terms
o States were seen to be defined by their ability to exercise independent
controls over institutions and groups that live within their borders
- 2 further dimensions in the importance of territory
o 1. Emergence of nationalism from the late 18th century
o 2. Strengthened association between national power with territorial
expansion that was brought about by imperialism
▪ Rise of geopolitics
- Geopolitics → approach to foreign policy analysis that understands the actions,
relationships and significance of states in terms of geographical factors such as
location, climate, natural resources, physical terrain and population
- Territory → delimited geographical area that is under the jurisdiction of a
government authority
- Fuelling of economic centralization – but nationalism rise in places such as Quebec,
Scotland and Wales, Catalonia and Basque area, Corsica in France, Flanders in
Belgium
- Centralization → the concentration of political power or government authority at the
national level
- Decentralization → the expansion of local autonomy through the transfer of powers
and responsibilities away from national bodies
o Authority has been sucked up beyond the state
- State border have become increasingly porous – accelerated globalization since the
1980s
- States have been growingly interdependent and interconnected
o Tackling issues such as global warming, spread of weapons of mass
destruction etc
- Transnational → configuration, which may apply to events, people, groups, or
organizations, that takes little or no account of national government or state borders
- Multilevel governance → complex policy process in which political authority is
distributed at different levels of territorial aggregation
SUBNATIONAL POLITICS
- All modern states are divided on territorial basis between central (national) and
peripheral (regional/provincial or local) institutions
o Balance between centralization and decentralization – shaped by a wide
range of historical, cultural, geographical, economic and political factors
, - Two most common forms of territorial organization found in modern world are
federal and unitary systems
o Third form – confederation is unsustainable
▪ Mostly found in the form of intergovernmentalism
▪ International organizations such as NATO or UN or AU or
Commonwealth of Nations
▪ USA was originally confederation
- Federal system → system of government in which sovereignty is shared between
central and peripheral levels
- Unitary system → system of government in which sovereignty is located in a single
national institution, allowing the centre to control the periphery
- Confederation → qualified union of states in which each state retains independence,
typically guaranteed by unanimous decision-making
- Pierre-Joseph Proudhon
o French anarchist, self-educated printer
o Voted against the constitution ‘because it was a constitution’
o What is Property? The Federal Principle
o Argument for anarchism
Federal systems
- More common than confederal, about one third of world’s population
o USA, Brazil, Australia, Mexico, Switzerland, Nigeria, Malaysia, Canada
- Each is sharing sovereignty between central and peripheral institutions
o Neither level can encroach the other
o Compromise between unity and regional diversity
- Common characterises
o 1. Historical similarities – number of established political communities that
nevertheless with to preserve autonomy
o 2. Existence of external threat or desire play more effective role in
international affairs
▪ Small broader political unions
o 3. Geographical size → larger states involve in federal systems
▪ Greater pressure for decentralization
- Federalism → refers to legal and political structures that distribute power territorially
within a state
o Institutional response to societal division and diversities
▪ Canada – division between English and French speaking parts
▪ Nigeria – division between major tribal and religious differences
- Autonomy → self-rule, with a degree of independence
