Theorising Decentralisation : Comparative Evidence from Sub-National Switzerland

Mueller, Sean

ECPR Press（2015/07発売）

• 製本 Paperback:紙装版/ペーパーバック版／ページ数 296 p.
• 言語 ENG
• 商品コード 9781785521294
• DDC分類 320.8309494

Full Description

This book seeks to explain centralisation and decentralisation across the 26 Swiss cantons using sociocultural, political-ideological, and macro-structural approaches. Centralisation and decentralisation are conceptionalised as having institutional (polity), functional (policy) and actor- and process-oriented dimensions. When decentralisation is first predicted cross-sectionally using linear regression models, three significant independent variables emerge: political culture, area, and the strength of leftwing parties. Then, using process tracing, Mueller studies four cantons over time to move from identifying correlation to establishing causation. Finally, the author draws causal inferences for (de)centralisation, urging future federal and territorial politics studies to reconceptualise decentralisation into three distinct but related dimensions and to bridge the theoretical gap between socio-cultural, structural and party-political approaches to achieve more valid and reliable explanations of territorial governance.

Contents

Contents
List of Figures and Tables vii
Abbreviations xi
The 26 Swiss Cantons xi
Preface xiii
Introduction xix
Chapter One: Existing Insights 1
Chapter Two: Concept and Theory 33
Chapter Three: Case Study Design 53
Chapter Four: Measuring Cantonal Decentralisation 63
Chapter Five: Predicting Cantonal Decentralisation 101
Chapter Six: Tracing Cantonal Decentralisation 129
Chapter Seven: Decentralisation – So What? 165
Chapter Eight: Comparative Perspectives 185
Conclusions 209
Appendices 213
Data Appendix 219
Bibliography 225
Index 267