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Sub-state governments have emerged as important sites of climate policy innovation, but their capacity for action has rarely been examined. Although they are devolved regions within the same state, Scotland and Wales have varying degrees of constitutional competence. We conduct an inter-and intraregional comparison to examine whether constitutional competence shapes the scale of ambition and achievement in climate policy outputs and outcomes. Focusing on emission reduction programmes and renewable energy, while there is a clear relationship between constitutional capacity and policy ambition, it is more evident in the capacity to deliver than in policy ambition. Other factors, such as civil society strength and the politics of territorial distinctiveness, also matter in shaping ambition, in spite of limitations in decision-making autonomy.

It was anticipated that devolution and the establishment of the National Assembly for Wales would promote partnership, inclusiveness and openness in governance in Wales. Civil society engagement was viewed as crucial to making this new democracy work. Consequently, civil society's engagement with the Assembly is one of the benchmarks against which to assess political and economic developments post-devolution. This article takes advantage of the coincidence between devolution and the development of the European Structural Fund Programmes for 2000-2006 in Wales to examine the engagement of civil society organizations in these programmes, focusing particularly on the West Wales and the Valleys Objective 1 Programme. The article concludes that the first term of devolution promoted a more inclusive and open policy-making culture. However, disparities in the capacities of civil society organizations to engage in the programmes, more executive forms of government and a greater emphasis on the effectiveness of the Structural Funds during the second term of devolution highlighted the challenges facing the Assembly in order to deepen democracy in post-devolution Wales. In addition to contributing to the literature on devolution and policy making, the findings inform broader debates on contemporary governance; social networks; notions of participatory democracy; models of public policy making; and the state in postindustrial development.

This article explores intergovernmental relations between the devolved Welsh Assembly Government and the central UK government through the prism of two case studies focusing on examples of Welsh sub‐state diplomacy, the first being international activity aimed at promoting trade and investment and the second the ‘Wales for Africa’ programme. The article focuses in particular on the implications for Wales–UK relations of partial party incongruence brought about by the formation of the Labour–Plaid Cymru coalition government in Cardiff in the summer of 2007. The authors also examine the early indications of the impact of full party incongruence following the formation of the Conservative–Liberal Democrat coalition government in London in June 2010.

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