The Partisan Logic of Decentralization in Europe

Abstract: Since the 1970s, a decentralizing trend has gathered pace in several Western European countries. Governments in Spain, Italy, Belgium and the United Kingdom have moved to bestow significant powers on certain regions, while France and Portugal have made more limited reforms. The fact that countries facing nationalist challenges in the periphery have been more likely to decentralize poses a puzzle, because research shows that greater autonomy does not necessarily decrease secessionist sentiment and may even increase some forms of nationalist agitation. Why then do governments decentralize? This paper argues that the explanation lies in partisan political calculations, which can also explain the timing and character of devolution.