IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/oup/publus/v49y2019i2p271-298..html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Conceptualizing, Measuring, and Mapping State Structures—with an Application to Western Europe, 1950–2015

Author

Listed:
  • Paolo Dardanelli

Abstract

This article addresses long-standing challenges in conceptualizing and measuring de/centralization in unitary and federal systems. It first outlines a novel conceptualization of de/centralization and its relation to the unitary/federal distinction and a/symmetry, from which it derives static and dynamic typologies of state structures. Building on a critical review of the Regional Authority Index, the article develops a scheme for measuring de/centralization and applies it to map state structures in Western Europe from 1950 to 2015. This mapping exercise shows that the proposed scheme yields more accurate measures of de/centralization than existing indices and that de/centralization differs in kind, rather than merely in degree, between unitary and federal states. By enabling a more effective classification of cases in comparative analysis, the article offers a tool on which theoretical and empirical advances in understanding the causes and effects of state structures can be built.

Suggested Citation

  • Paolo Dardanelli, 2019. "Conceptualizing, Measuring, and Mapping State Structures—with an Application to Western Europe, 1950–2015," Publius: The Journal of Federalism, CSF Associates Inc., vol. 49(2), pages 271-298.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:publus:v:49:y:2019:i:2:p:271-298.
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/publius/pjy019
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gerring, John & Thacker, Strom C. & Moreno, Carola, 2005. "Centripetal Democratic Governance: A Theory and Global Inquiry," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 99(4), pages 567-581, November.
    2. Arzaghi, Mohammad & Henderson, J. Vernon, 2005. "Why countries are fiscally decentralizing," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(7), pages 1157-1189, July.
    3. Adcock, Robert & Collier, David, 2001. "Measurement Validity: A Shared Standard for Qualitative and Quantitative Research," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 95(3), pages 529-546, September.
    4. Gerring, John & Thacker, Strom C., 2004. "Political Institutions and Corruption: The Role of Unitarism and Parliamentarism," British Journal of Political Science, Cambridge University Press, vol. 34(2), pages 295-330, April.
    5. Brancati, Dawn, 2006. "Decentralization: Fueling the Fire or Dampening the Flames of Ethnic Conflict and Secessionism?," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 60(3), pages 651-685, July.
    6. McKay, David, 2001. "Designing Europe: Comparative Lessons from the Federal Experience," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199244355.
    7. Michael Keating, 1998. "The New Regionalism in Western Europe," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 1193.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Liesbet Hooghe & Gary Marks, 2012. "Beyond Federalism - Estimating and Explaining the Territorial Structure of Government," KFG Working Papers p0037, Free University Berlin.
    2. Luis Diaz-Serrano & Enric Meix-Llop, 2019. "Decentralization and the quality of public services: Cross-country evidence from educational data," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 37(7), pages 1296-1316, November.
    3. Díaz Serrano, Lluís & Meix Llop, Enric, 2018. "Decentralization and the Quality of Public Services: Cross-Country Evidence from Educational Data," Working Papers 2072/351581, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Department of Economics.
    4. Schakel, Arjan Hille, 2009. "A Postfunctionalist Theory of Regional Government," MPRA Paper 21596, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Thierry Madiès & Grégoire Rota-Grasiozi & Jean-Pierre Tranchant & Cyril Trépier, 2018. "The economics of secession: a review of legal, theoretical, and empirical aspects," Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics, Springer;Swiss Society of Economics and Statistics, vol. 154(1), pages 1-18, December.
    6. Flamand, Sabine, 2019. "Partial decentralization as a way to prevent secessionist conflict," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 159-178.
    7. Zsuzsa Csergő & Philippe Roseberry & Stefan Wolff, 2017. "Institutional Outcomes of Territorial Contestation: Lessons from Post-Communist Europe, 1989–2012," Publius: The Journal of Federalism, CSF Associates Inc., vol. 47(4), pages 491-521.
    8. Grasa, Rafael & Camps, Arnau, 2009. "Conflict Prevention and Decentralized Governance," MPRA Paper 18877, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Cerniglia, Floriana & Longaretti, Riccarda & Zanardi, Alberto, 2021. "How to design decentralisation to curb secessionist pressures? Top-down vs. bottom-up reforms," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 377-390.
    10. De Juan, Alexander, 2012. "Institutional Conflict Settlement in Divided Societies: The Role of Subgroup Identities in Self-Government Arrangements," GIGA Working Papers 195, GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies.
    11. Olsson, Ola & Hansson, Gustav, 2011. "Country size and the rule of law: Resuscitating Montesquieu," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 55(5), pages 613-629, June.
    12. Mathonnat, Clément & Minea, Alexandru, 2019. "Forms of democracy and economic growth volatility," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 594-603.
    13. Michael A. Nelson, 2013. "Corruption and the size of local governments: are they related?," Chapters, in: Santiago Lago-Peñas & Jorge Martinez-Vazquez (ed.), The Challenge of Local Government Size, chapter 4, pages 83-120, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    14. Schakel, Arjan H., 2008. "Validation of the Regional Authority Index," MPRA Paper 8972, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    15. Clément Mathonnat & Alexandru Minea, 2018. "Forms of Democracies and Macroeconomic Volatility: An Exploration of the Political Institutions Black-Box," Post-Print hal-01903680, HAL.
    16. Maekawa Wakako, 2021. "Strategic Territorial Power-Sharing and Multi-Party Bargaining in Civil Wars," Peace Economics, Peace Science, and Public Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 27(1), pages 91-117, February.
    17. Alexander Libman, 2015. "Words or deeds: what matters? On the role of symbolic action in political decentralization," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 49(3), pages 801-838, November.
    18. Marius Constantin PROFIROIU & Carmen Valentina RADULESCU, 2019. "Local Development Opportunities In The Context Of Sustainable Development By Applying The Concept Of Smart Village In Romania," Proceedings of the INTERNATIONAL MANAGEMENT CONFERENCE, Faculty of Management, Academy of Economic Studies, Bucharest, Romania, vol. 13(1), pages 1059-1067, November.
    19. James Hughes & Gwendolyn Sasse & Claire Gordon, 2002. "Saying `Maybe' to the `Return to Europe'," European Union Politics, , vol. 3(3), pages 327-355, September.
    20. Boyer, Robert, 2003. "European and Asian integration processes compared," CEPREMAP Working Papers (Couverture Orange) 0302, CEPREMAP.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:oup:publus:v:49:y:2019:i:2:p:271-298.. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Oxford University Press (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://academic.oup.com/publius .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.