Does European integration increase sub-national power? Evidence from a time-series cross-sectional analysis

Abstract

The literature on the relationship between European Union (EU) integration and regional power has produced two opposing theoretical models. Depending on the model, EU integration leads to either an increase or decrease in regional power. Evidence for both, however, has been largely inconclusive, and mostly derived from qualitative case studies.This paper, on the other hand, offers a quantitative, large-N analysis, using data from fiftysix countries between 1960 and 2010. Its random effects model shows that EU membership considerably increases regional authority within member states over time; and its comparison with another international organization suggests that the effect is not idiosyncratic.Additionally, this paper finds support for two possible mechanisms: the establishment of the subsidiarity principle, and the Commission's requirement to create regional government structures.

The territorial architecture of government

“…Jurado and León (2021) reveal how both dimensions are affected by economic globalization, but that self‐rule is boosted to a greater extent than shared rule. This echoes findings regarding the differential effect of EU candidacy and length of membership on self‐rule and shared rule (Chacha, 2020; Gómez Díaz & Gómez Díaz, 2020). The contribution by Peters (2021) underlines that both self‐rule and shared rule strengthen the opinion‐policy link at the national level, but shared rule does so to a much greater extent than self‐rule.…”