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

近年来，许多学者观察到，在多层政治中，政治权力的分散化日益加剧，这与国家结构的日益复杂相对应。这项研究将通过定性的案例研究方法，对现有的关于共同规则和政府间关系的知识做出重要贡献。特别是在单一制国家，政府间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显然偏向于正式机构，本项目的一个主要目标是使未记录的内容变得可见。因此，英国为研究分散的单一国家中的政府间关系提供了一个有趣的案例。自1999年以来，以前高度中央集权的联合王国逐渐将广泛的法律和财政权力下放给苏格兰、威尔士和北爱尔兰。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争论，实际上造成了政治管辖权的重叠，同时，联合解决冲突、决策和政策执行的安排仍然缺乏系统性。日益增加的政治和职能上的相互依赖对不同级别政府之间的合作和冲突具有巨大的潜力，并引发了领土权力和影响力在英国如何行使的问题。主要研究目标是分析和解释一个统一国家的政府间关系中的制度化、模式和政治影响。为此，本项目分为三个阶段：第一，将分析已建立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的模式，与政府的偏好强度、它们的政治和职能相互依赖、政党的一致性以及它们被认为是政治筹码的关系。第三，它将考察政府对英国其他政府的政策和决策施加的实际政治影响。该项目将依靠比较联邦主义的见解，通过全球视角研究一个分散的单一国家。这将对(主要但不完全是)非联邦多层级政治中的权力分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.