From Uniform to Differentiated Government

32 Pages Posted: 28 Aug 2014

See all articles by Liesbet Hooghe

Liesbet Hooghe

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Political Science Department; European University Institute - Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies (RSCAS)

Gary Marks

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Political Science Department

Arjan Schakel

Maastricht University

Sandra Chapman Osterkatz

University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill

Sara Niedzwiecki

University of New Mexico

Sarah Shair-Rosenfield

Arizona State University (ASU)

Date Written: August 26, 2014

Abstract

This paper uses a new dataset on regional governance in eighty countries since 1950 to understand its transformation from uniform to differentiated governance. The classic model of governance within the state conceives a series of uniform, nested tiers. The model is uniform, elegant, and reaffirms the fundamental notion that states impose the same rules on all subnational jurisdictions at a given tier. There have always been countries that break the mold, but one of the most interesting developments over the past half century is that the classic model has become the exception rather than the rule. Today a majority of the countries we observe have at least one region that stands out from its tier because it has more or less authority, and we distinguish three forms of differentiation: autonomy, asymmetry, and dependency. Differentiated governance becomes visible only when one is able to compare individual regions within the same country. This is where the data that we have gathered comes in, for it is the first systematic attempt to step inside countries to estimate subnational authority at the level of the individual region. This paper elucidates the concept of differentiated governance and its various forms before examining its incidence across countries, regions, and over time.

Suggested Citation

Hooghe, Liesbet and Marks, Gary and Schakel, Arjan and Chapman Osterkatz, Sandra and Niedzwiecki, Sara and Shair-Rosenfield, Sarah, From Uniform to Differentiated Government (August 26, 2014). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2487468 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2487468

Liesbet Hooghe

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Political Science Department ( email )

Chapel Hill, NC 27599
United States

European University Institute - Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies (RSCAS) ( email )

Villa Schifanoia, Via Boccaccio 121
50016 San Domenico di Fiesole
Florence, Florence 50014
Italy

HOME PAGE: http://https://hooghe.web.unc.edu

Gary Marks (Contact Author)

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Political Science Department ( email )

Chapel Hill, NC 27599
United States

Arjan Schakel

Maastricht University ( email )

P.O. Box 616
Maastricht, Limburg 6200MD
Netherlands

Sandra Chapman Osterkatz

University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill ( email )

102 Ridge Road
Chapel Hill, NC NC 27514
United States

Sara Niedzwiecki

University of New Mexico ( email )

107 Humanitites Building
Albuquerque, NM 87131-1221
United States

Sarah Shair-Rosenfield

Arizona State University (ASU) ( email )

Farmer Building 440G PO Box 872011
Tempe, AZ 85287
United States

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