Tying the UK Together? Intergovernmental Relations and the Financial Constitution of the UK

Trench, Alan

doi:10.1057/9780230595088_3

“…These are, in a sense, efforts to formally create processes and institutions that will identify issues ahead of time, take more or less binding decisions on shared questions, and provide a venue to anticipate and resolve conflicts. There are many such institutions (Trench 2006(Trench , 2007(Trench , 2008Schnabel 2020).…”

Section: Coordination and Intergovernmental Relationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Putting Federalism in Its Place

Greer¹,

Béland²,

Lecours³

et al. 2023

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supported the project that led to this and the earlier volume, Federalism and Social Policy. Theresa Ramirez and Connie Rockman supported that project with the generosity and competence they always show. Comments from Alan Trench, Janet Laible, and Margitta Mätzke on the initial development of this project were very helpful. Finally, the University of Michigan Press, especially Elizabeth Demers, Kevin Rennells, and Haley Winkle, were the combination of supportive, engaged, tough, and patient that authors always appreciate. CHAPTER 1Why Should We Care about Federalism?In Texarkana there is an unusual building. As its name suggests, the town straddles the border between the U.S. states of Texas and Arkansas. The building stands along the border, half on each side. It is a U.S. federal government building, finished in 1933, that combines post offices and courts. The federal courts serving Texas are on the Texas side, and the federal courts serving Arkansas are on the Arkansas side. A post office, equally divided between the two states, serves both. The street splits to go around the building, with different pavement quality and parking rules on the two sides.That one building in a little-known railroad town is a metaphor for federalism. The states constitute the environment, but the federation constitutes the states. It is a legacy of specific political moments and policy decisions that there is a shared post office, serving the American people, in a unifying federal building that reinforces juridical divides between states in its very design. Perhaps it is telling that it is said (by the town's tourism bureau) to be the second most photographed federal building in the United States. It is of no significant architectural interest-except insofar as its location and its twinned courthouses inscribe federal politics in its stones. Letters mailed there since 1933 have been postmarked with a stamp that marks them as having been mailed in both states: "Texarkana-AR-TX" or "Texarkana, USA."The concrete complexity of a federal building in the American Cotton Belt belies much of what is written about federalism. Much research about the impact of federalism, or any other political or social institution, treats it as a binary variable, present or absent, and then look for its effects. Endless effort has been expended and endless ink spilled in scholarly and popular 1. More specifically, this book focuses primarily on federal countries located in Australasia, North America, and Western Europe, which does not mean the lessons it draws are not applicable to federal countries located outside the Global North, such as Argentina,

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“…These are, in a sense, efforts to formally create processes and institutions that will identify issues ahead of time, take more or less binding decisions on shared questions, and provide a venue to anticipate and resolve conflicts. There are many such institutions (Trench 2006(Trench , 2007(Trench , 2008Schnabel 2020).…”

Section: Coordination and Intergovernmental Relationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Putting Federalism in Its Place

2023

0

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

supported the project that led to this and the earlier volume, Federalism and Social Policy. Theresa Ramirez and Connie Rockman supported that project with the generosity and competence they always show. Comments from Alan Trench, Janet Laible, and Margitta Mätzke on the initial development of this project were very helpful. Finally, the University of Michigan Press, especially Elizabeth Demers, Kevin Rennells, and Haley Winkle, were the combination of supportive, engaged, tough, and patient that authors always appreciate. CHAPTER 1Why Should We Care about Federalism?In Texarkana there is an unusual building. As its name suggests, the town straddles the border between the U.S. states of Texas and Arkansas. The building stands along the border, half on each side. It is a U.S. federal government building, finished in 1933, that combines post offices and courts. The federal courts serving Texas are on the Texas side, and the federal courts serving Arkansas are on the Arkansas side. A post office, equally divided between the two states, serves both. The street splits to go around the building, with different pavement quality and parking rules on the two sides.That one building in a little-known railroad town is a metaphor for federalism. The states constitute the environment, but the federation constitutes the states. It is a legacy of specific political moments and policy decisions that there is a shared post office, serving the American people, in a unifying federal building that reinforces juridical divides between states in its very design. Perhaps it is telling that it is said (by the town's tourism bureau) to be the second most photographed federal building in the United States. It is of no significant architectural interest-except insofar as its location and its twinned courthouses inscribe federal politics in its stones. Letters mailed there since 1933 have been postmarked with a stamp that marks them as having been mailed in both states: "Texarkana-AR-TX" or "Texarkana, USA."The concrete complexity of a federal building in the American Cotton Belt belies much of what is written about federalism. Much research about the impact of federalism, or any other political or social institution, treats it as a binary variable, present or absent, and then look for its effects. Endless effort has been expended and endless ink spilled in scholarly and popular 1. More specifically, this book focuses primarily on federal countries located in Australasia, North America, and Western Europe, which does not mean the lessons it draws are not applicable to federal countries located outside the Global North, such as Argentina,

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“…UK debates tend to focus on the variation in per capita spending between England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales, and more sophisticated versions incorporate differences between spending in English regions as well (McLean 2005;Trench 2008;McLean et al 2009). But compared to the United States, what stands out is the lack of variation and lack of scope for variation in welfare spending so far.…”

Section: United Kingdommentioning

confidence: 99%

Differences That Matter: Overcoming Methodological Nationalism in Comparative Social Policy Research

Greer

¹

,

Elliott

²

,

Oliver.

³

2015

Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis: Research and Practice

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Welfare states are often discussed as if they were territorially homogeneous state-wide institutions measurable by state-wide expenditure averages and explained by country-level variables. It is rare in comparative policy studies to investigate the role of territorial politics in the outcomes of even federal countries. This article argues, using social policy examples in the UK and US, that the impact of intergovernmental finance and division of labour profoundly shapes social investment and redistribution -producing almost as much expenditure variance within the US as within the OECD. The findings show the importance of incorporating territorial politics and intergovernmental arrangements into comparative welfare state and policy analysis.

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Tying the UK Together? Intergovernmental Relations and the Financial Constitution of the UK

Cited by 3 publications

References 0 publications

Putting Federalism in Its Place

Putting Federalism in Its Place

Putting Federalism in Its Place

Differences That Matter: Overcoming Methodological Nationalism in Comparative Social Policy Research

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