Chapter 6: Multi-level government §

1. What is international government? §

International Government: cooperation between countries that keep their national sovereignty, but nevertheless set up organizations to deal with problems that spread across national boundaries.

1.1. What is confederation? §

Confederations Organizations whose members lend some powers to a body that manages affairs of common interest, while retaining their own independence.

• can leave whenever

• range from powerful/cohesive to loose-knit

• less centralized, less stable, and weaker than federal states

• narrow functions and duties

• Fields

  • economic development
  • defence
  • environmental policy
  • cultural affairs.

• Examples

  • The World Trade Organisation (WTO)
  • the World Bank (IBRD and IDA)
  • the European Space Agency (ESA)

federations are created by a pooling of sovereignty that binds their constituent units together. and are joined together under a central government and its sovereignty is held by the federal government who hold unlimited authority and the member states will be subordinate to it.

1.2. What is supra-national/international government? §

Supra-national government: Organizations in which countries pool their sovereignty on certain matters to allow joint decision making.

• Rare to be created
• first made by European Union: most advanced form of supra-national ever
• upcoming competitor to EU is NAFTA: but unlikely to turn

1.3. Case Study: What are EU federal features and confederal features? §

EU is a hybrid of both

Federal Feature is A quasi-executive European Court (ECJ): verdicts take precedence over national law and some pooling of sovereignty on particular matters

Confederal Feature is $\bullet$ unwillingness of member countries to surrender sovereignty on some matters of economic and social policy, a weak parliament $\bullet$ weak coordination of foreign policy

2. What is the national level of government §

What is a unitary state?

Central government

Local government

What is a federal state?

Central government

State government

Local government

What is a sub-center government?

2.1. What is a Federal State? §

Are states with a centralized federal government and middle-level territorial units of government that is guaranteed a degree of independence and autonomy by the constitution

• it offers more decentralized system of government

federations are created for their decentralization feature when the country is:

• For geographically large countries: it give far territories their own autonomy to reduce their dependence on a distant center of government
• For Countries with multi-ethnic multi-national population separated according to geographical areas should be spoken for separately

What are the strengths and weaknesses of federations?

2.2. What is a Unitary State? §

The unitary state has sub-central units of governments which can be created, reformed, restructured, and destroyed without constitutional restrictions.

• it offers more centralized power to the central government

Strengths

• Only one central government, so that it is decisive in the time in crisis, like the Covid-19 pandemic.
• Ensure the equalization of rights of any citizen without any barrier layers of state tradition.
• Could manage the equalization of the resource’s distribution.
• Could manage the integration by focusing on the national politics.
• Could still grant autonomy in some particular area under directly central government.
• Best suited for small countries.

Weaknesses

• Can result in an over-powerful central state which later becomes dictatorial and an abuse of power is possible
• can result in national majorities exploiting or repressing regional minorities which some minority interests might be easily neglected then lead to unfair treatment
• since power is centered, the work burden is overloaded and somehow it leads to misrepresentation
• manipulation can occur easily and high chance to be biased than federal states since they have less bureaucratic structure to make a quick decision.

Why is there less difference between federal and unitary systems in practice? §

Both has quasi-federal features: §

Devolution occurs where higher levels of government grant decision-making powers to lower levels while maintaining their constitutionally subordinate status

What is the difference between unitary, federal, and confederal governments? §

Why or when to choose one over the other?

3. What is a local government? §

General competence The power of local government units to manage their own affairs, provided they observe the laws of the land and relatively few legally defined exceptions.

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Where is it used? Why?

Dual systems The system of local government in unitary states in which local authorities have more independence than in fused systems but within the authority of central government.

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Fused systems The system of local government in unitary states in which central officials directly supervise the work of local government.

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3.1. What are Central $\leftrightarrows$ Local political conflicts? §

When do conflicts happen?

Usually for what reason?

How do you deal with them?

3.2. What is the balancing act between democracy and efficiency? §

Subsidiarity The principle of democracy that decisions should be taken at the lowest possible level of government – that is, at the level closest to the people affected by the decisions. Usually the term subsidiarity is used in connection with the territorial decentralisation of government, but it is not limited to this form. How does size… relate to this?

How does size… relate to this?

What are the aspects of this?

What are general purpose authorities?

What are joint bodies?

What are special purpose authorities?

3.3. How have local governments struggled to keep up with the changing world? §

3.4. Case study of EU §

4.1. What are the arguments for and against centralization? §

4.2. What are the arguments for and against decentralization? §

5. multi level governments §

5.1. Pluralist Theory §

5.2. Economic Theories §

1. what is rational choice theory
   • rational choice theories borrow mostly from economic theories. it assumes that individuals, organisations and governments are rational actors who make rational choices that maximise their utility. Therefore, their political behaviour is driven by their own self-interest. Rational choice is high-level general theory that is used to explain many aspects of government and politics.
2. rational choice theory is used to explain about the origins of federal and unitary state.
   • According to William Riker, the the federalism is originated from a ‘bargain’ between national and local leaders. By bargaining both will gain benefits which enables them to expand territory under their control and and to strengthen their military security to defend themselves against external enemies. Rational choice theory believe that federalism is a rational solution which enable federal and local leaders to maintain balance of their interests so that each maintains control of their own affairs but can cooperate to deal with a common external threat and thereby increase their own power
   • Similar to the origin of federalism, unitary states is originated from smaller political units, city states and princedoms that were threaten by large efficiency and powerful enemies. Therefore, they need to centralize leaders and form a larger and stronger political unit so that they can develop economic capacities and military power to respond effectively to external economic and military threats as same as the formation of federal.

5.3. Rational Choice Theory of Local Government §

rational choice is used to explain about the highly fragmented of local government (theory of local government)

• When the government of a large urban areas are separated into many local jurisdictions or municipalities means each municipality have the rights to tax people at different levels of price and and give priority to different aspect of public services. Thus, citizens or ‘consumer-voters’ can choose their preferred ‘package’ of public good at their preferred price by moving from one locality to another to maximize their preferences instead of using their vote to influence local leader at their current living place.

However, some political economists have provided 4 reasons against this theory.

• Citizens are not willing to move from one locality to another just to find a preferable public service since they are severely constrained by the needs of work, family, school and house price
• Survey data show that most people do not prioritize local public service as the key factor when they decide where to live, but being near work, family and shops is much more important.
• There is a weak connection between local tax and services in many countries because higher level of government pay a large proportion of local services.
• In most country, local government is not separated into competing municipalities , but coordinated with higher levels of government which redistribute national tax resources and regulate local services.

5.4. Centre–periphery relations §

Questions §

• How many levels of governments are there?

  International Organizations or International Government

  →National System of Government

  → State/Regional/Provincial Government

• Why are different levels of governments needed?

  No single center of government can manage it all themselves

  • Sub National Level: branches of executive, legislative, policy making
  • International Level: states work together to solve problems of international security, diplomacy, the environment and trade.