Devolution and Power in the United Kingdom

Devolution and power in the United Kingdom is concerned with a paradox - why devolution has enabled different approaches to government and policy-making to develop in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland after 1999, while a close examination of the structure of devolution suggests that the UK government retains control over most key aspects of the UK. Presenting original research, this book is the first comprehensive examination of intergovernmental relations in the devolved UK. It also examines how the UK's practices relate to those practised in other decentralised and federal states, and adopts a resource dependency framework to examine the impact of devolution on the territorial distribution of power in the United Kingdom. It explains the paradox of autonomy and control as a form of 'conditional autonomy', which has been possible because of the benign political circumstances that have accompanied devolution's early years - but which may not survive in rougher conditions.

ISBN 0719075750   Pages 336 ISBN13 9780719075759 (What's this?)   Volumes 1 Publisher Manchester University Press   Weight (grammes) 658 Imprint Manchester University Press   Published in Manchester Format Paperback   Series title Devolution Series Publication date 01 Nov 2007   Height (mm) 234 Library of Congress JN329   Width (mm) 156 DEWEY 320.441049   Spine width (mm) 32 DEWEY edition DC22   Academic level Further/Higher education

		List of figures and tables
		List of contributors
1		Introduction: territory, devolution and power in the United Kingdom by Alan Trench		1
2		The United Kingdom as a state of unions: unity of government, equality of political rights and diversity of institutions by James Mitchell		24
3		The framework of devolution: the formal structure of devolved power by Alan Trench		48
4		Funding devolution: the power of money by David Bell and Alex Christie		73
5		The politics of devolution finance and the power of the Treasury by Alan Trench		86
6		The practical outcomes of devolution: policy-making across the UK by Alan Trench and Holly Jarman		113
7		The fragile divergence machine: citizenship, policy divergence and devolution in health policy by Scott L. Greer		136
8		Washing dirty linen in private: the processes of intergovernmental relations and the resolution of disputes by Alan Trench		160
9		The parties and intergovernmental relations by Martin Laffin and Eric Shaw and Gerald Taylor		198
10		The European Union, devolution and power by Charlie Jeffery and Rosanne Palmer		218
11		The United Kingdom as a federalised or regionalised union by Ronald Watts		239
12		Conclusion: devolution and the territorial distribution of power in the UK by Alan Trench		269
		Bibliography		289
		Index		309

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