Formal and Informal Intergovernmental Institutions in the United Kingdom: Cooperation, Conflict and Political Influence

近年来，许多学者观察到多级政体中政治权力的日益分散，这与国家结构的日益复杂相对应。这项研究将通过定性案例研究方法，对现有的关于共享规则和政府间关系的知识作出重要贡献。特别是在单一制国家，政府间的关系在很大程度上是临时处理的，往往不受公众的关注。由于关于政府间关系的现有工作明显偏向于正式机构，该项目的一个主要目的是使未记录的情况可见。因此，英国为研究分权单一制国家的政府间关系提供了一个很有吸引力的案例。自1999年以来，以前高度集权的英国逐渐将广泛的法律的和财政权力下放给苏格兰、威尔士和北方爱尔兰。然而，权力下放解决方案并没有解决关于自治和联合王国领土的辩论，而是在实践中造成了政治管辖权的重叠，而与此同时，联合解决冲突、决策和政策执行的安排仍然是不系统的。越来越多的政治和功能的相互依赖性承担了巨大的潜力，合作和不同级别的政府之间的冲突，并提出了如何在英国行使领土权力和影响力的问题，主要研究目标是分析和解释制度化，模式和政治影响在一个单一制国家的政府间关系。为此目的，本项目分为三个阶段：第一，分析既定的正式和非正式机构和做法对政府间互动的贡献。其次，它将解释合作和冲突模式对政府的偏好强度，他们的政治和功能的相互依赖性，党的一致性和他们的感知政治杠杆。第三，研究政府对其他政府的政策和决策施加的实际政治影响。本项目将依靠比较联邦主义的见解，通过全球视角的透镜研究分散的单一制国家。这将对（主要是但不限于）非联邦多层次政体中的权力共享和政府间关系的理论知识做出重要贡献。

In recent years many scholars have observed a growing decentralisation of political authority in multilevel polities, which corresponds to an increasing complexity of state structures. This research will make an important contribution to the existing knowledge about shared rule and intergovernmental relations by a qualitative case study approach. In unitary states in particular, intergovernmental relations are largely dealt with ad hoc and tend to fall under the public’s radar. As existing works on intergovernmental relations are clearly skewed towards formal institutions, a major aim of this project is to make the unrecorded visible. Thus, the UK presents a fascinating case for the study of intergovernmental relations in a decentralised unitary state.Since 1999 the formerly highly-centralised United Kingdom has gradually devolved a wide range of legal and fiscal powers to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The devolution settlements, however, have not resolved the debate about autonomy and the UK’s territories but has in practice created an overlap of political jurisdictions, while at the same time, arrangements for joint conflict-resolution, decision-making and policy-implementation have remained unsystematic. Increasing political and functional interdependencies bear great potential for both cooperation and conflict between different levels of government, and raise questions of how territorial power and influence are exercised in the UK.The primary research objective is to analyse and explain institutionalisation, patterns and political influence in the intergovernmental relations of a unitary state. For this purpose, this project is divided into three stages: First, it will analyse the contribution made by established formal and informal institutions and practices to intergovernmental interactions. Second, it will explain patterns of cooperation and conflict against governments’ preference intensity, their political and functional interdependencies, party congruency and their perceived political leverage. Third, it will examine the actual political influence that governments exert on polices and decisions of other governments in the UK.This project will rely on insights from comparative federalism to study a decentralised unitary state through the lens of a global perspective. This will make an important contribution to the theoretical knowledge of power sharing and intergovernmental relations in (primarily, but not exclusively) non-federal multilevel polities.