<p>State practice and literature suggest that devolution of power can address the main challenges of underdevelopment, internal conflict and abuse of centralised power in developing states. However, this thesis advances the argument that the design features of devolved government for these purposes are not always compatible. Accordingly, while there are complementary and neutral design features in the three designs, trade-offs have to be made between the unique design features in order to ensure the effective pursuit of the three purposes through a single system of devolved government. Kenya, the case study for this inquiry, confirms the international trend as its major challenges over the last 50 years have been underdevelopment, internal conflict and abuse of central power. As such, development, ethnic harmony, and the limiting of central power featured prominently throughout the entire constitutional review process as purposes to be pursued by means of devolution of power. To this end, the devolution of state power is one of the central elements of the current constitutional dispensation in Kenya. There are trade-offs made in Kenya‟s devolution design in order to accommodate the three purposes of devolution. However, the overall result has been that the emphasis falls on development at the expense of conflict resolution and limiting central power. Nevertheless, regardless of the trade-offs and nature of the final design, the design‟s effectiveness or lack thereof may depend very much on factors external to the design. Lack of political will to make devolution work can negate the effectiveness of even the most perfect design / by same token, political will could make an apparently bad design effective. In practice, therefore, effectiveness depends on an array of other context-specific factors.</p>

<p>State practice and literature suggest that devolution of power can address the main challenges of underdevelopment, internal conflict and abuse of centralised power in developing states. However, this thesis advances the argument that the design features of devolved government for these purposes are not always compatible. Accordingly, while there are complementary and neutral design features in the three designs, trade-offs have to be made between the unique design features in order to ensure the effective pursuit of the three purposes through a single system of devolved government. Kenya, the case study for this inquiry, confirms the international trend as its major challenges over the last 50 years have been underdevelopment, internal conflict and abuse of central power. As such, development, ethnic harmony, and the limiting of central power featured prominently throughout the entire constitutional review process as purposes to be pursued by means of devolution of power. To this end, the devolution of state power is one of the central elements of the current constitutional dispensation in Kenya. There are trade-offs made in Kenya‟s devolution design in order to accommodate the three purposes of devolution. However, the overall result has been that the emphasis falls on development at the expense of conflict resolution and limiting central power. Nevertheless, regardless of the trade-offs and nature of the final design, the design‟s effectiveness or lack thereof may depend very much on factors external to the design. Lack of political will to make devolution work can negate the effectiveness of even the most perfect design / by same token, political will could make an apparently bad design effective. In practice, therefore, effectiveness depends on an array of other context-specific factors.</p>

The promise of devolution was to ‘do politics differently’ by creating a more plural, consensual and participative political landscape underpinned by the Scottish Parliament’s founding principles of openness, accountability, sharing of power and equal opportunities. In this context, it might be expected that post-devolution Scotland would provide a fertile environment for fostering innovation in family policy-making. Using a case study approach to critically analyse the policy processes of both the family law reforms and the sexual health strategy, the research uses Kingdon’s multiple streams framework to explore:- - the extent to which devolution has enabled civil society to participate in the policy process - how political activity by civil society impacts on government policy - whether or not devolution has fostered innovation in family policy-making. - who is influencing the family policy agenda in post-devolution Scotland The multiple streams framework offers a useful entry point for analysing the public policy process but Kingdon’s claim for the independence of the three streams of problems, policy and politics is problematic since these were found to be inter-related with a symbiotic relationship between the policy and politics streams. This supports work by Kendall (2000) which found a greater degree of connectedness between the policy and politics stream. The findings indicate that devolution has created a more fluid space for civil society participation in family policy-making but a paradoxical effect has been to increase the potential for interests to clash in the public sphere. And although progressive reforms were implemented in both cases, the formal policy instrument of primary legislation to implement the family law reforms facilitated engagement of a wider range of actors, enabled fuller debate of the issues and provided more checks and balances on the system than the informal policy instrument of the expert reference group used to develop the sexual health strategy. Devolution has not reduced conflict in family policy debates – the family continues to be a site of contestation and in the policy processes observed in one of the case studies, the combined forces of religion, politics and a distinctive media presence coalesced to create a ‘radioactive’ political climate. This had a direct effect on the policy process inside government which in turn, shaped the tone and content of the final policy output raising questions about the extent to which post-devolution Scotland can be regarded as providing a fertile environment for fostering innovation in family policy-making.

Doctor Legum - LLD / Kenya adopted a new Constitution in 2010, with devolution of political power, responsibilities and resources to newly created counties as its centrepiece and most transformative aspect. Devolution was intended to address the many governance, economic and development problems of the country, which arose from the long history of a highly centralised, undemocratic and inequitable system. The main problem, however, is how to give effect to the stated intent of the Kenyan people and make devolution as envisaged, a reality. This is compounded by the fact that devolution’s constitutional design has its provisions spread across and permeating the entire Constitution. Thus, the main aim of this thesis was to give a coherent and purposeful interpretation of the constitutional provisions on devolution in order to realise the objectives and intent of the Kenyan people. This study has advanced the argument that the central nature of devolution and its intended objectives can be realised through a purposive interpretation. This entails the practical realisation and application of the constitutional provisions by identifying the objects and purposes of devolution and giving effect to them. Such interpretation draws on textual, structural, contextual and historical elements. The Constitution is interpreted as a whole, taking into account both intra-textual and extra-textual context, including the social, economic, political and cultural context of the country in its historical and contemporary dimensions. Comparative law, especially the South African jurisprudence and scholarly commentaries, provided instructive lessons, given the significant textual similarities between the Kenyan and South African constitutional provisions on devolution. A coherent and purposive interpretation has demonstrated that devolution was adopted to promote and advance democracy and accountability; development and service delivery; equity and inclusiveness; and limitation of centralised power. This is reflected in the values, objects and principles of devolution, which are not only aids for the interpretation of other provisions of the Constitution but also themselves operative provisions demarcating the limits of powers of the two levels of government. The interpretation demonstrates that the Constitution creates two distinct governments that must conduct their intergovernmental relations in a cooperative manner. The county governments are relatively autonomous; are represented in selected decision-making at the national level, through the Senate; and have both exclusive and concurrent powers. Although they have limited revenue-raising powers comprising property rates and entertainment taxes, they are entitled to a share of the revenue raised nationally as equitable shares and conditional or unconditional additional grants. The national government, however, has some limited and circumscribed supervision powers. These conclusions have been arrived at by interpreting the devolution- and county-empowering provisions liberally, broadly and generously in favour of the counties and devolution, and the national government intervention and devolution limiting provisions narrowly and strictly against the national government. In this process, the South African case law has been very useful in giving content to the purposive interpretation.

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Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / State practice and literature suggest that devolution of power can address the main challenges of underdevelopment, internal conflict and abuse of centralised power in developing states. However, this thesis advances the argument that the design features of devolved government for these purposes are not always compatible. Accordingly, while there are complementary and neutral design features in the three designs, trade-offs have to be made between the unique design features in order to ensure the effective pursuit of the three purposes through a single system of devolved government. Kenya, the case study for this inquiry, confirms the international trend as its major challenges over the last 50 years have been underdevelopment, internal conflict and abuse of central power. As such, development, ethnic harmony, and the limiting of central power featured prominently throughout the entire constitutional review process as purposes to be pursued by means of devolution of power. To this end, the devolution of state power is one of the central elements of the current constitutional dispensation in Kenya. There are trade-offs made in Kenya‟s devolution design in order to accommodate the three purposes of devolution. However, the overall result has been that the emphasis falls on development at the expense of conflict resolution and limiting central power. Nevertheless, regardless of the trade-offs and nature of the final design, the design‟s effectiveness or lack thereof may depend very much on factors external to the design. Lack of political will to make devolution work can negate the effectiveness of even the most perfect design; by same token, political will could make an apparently bad design effective. In practice, therefore, effectiveness depends on an array of other context-specific factors. / South Africa

This is a comparative study of intergovernmental relations in labour market policy in Canada and the United Kingdom (UK) between 1996 and 2006, the first phase of devolution in each country. The study focuses primarily on relations between the central government and a single sub-state in each country (Alberta in Canada and Scotland in the UK) and addresses three research questions: 1) to what extent were there differences in intergovernmental relations between the countries?2) what accounted for these differences? 3) what impact did these differences have on the character and workability of the intergovernmental relations system in each country? Workability was assessed based upon the degree to which trust ties developed between senior officials. The analysis concludes that the structure of the state, the structure of the policy domain, and the presence of two important accommodation mechanisms in the UK not found in Canada (the party system and the civil service) made intergovernmental relations in labour market policy in the two countries fundamentally different. In Canada, intergovernmental relations were multilateral, interprovincial and bilateral, whereas in the United Kingdom they were only bilateral. Despite devolution, the UK Government retained control of most policy levers, whereas in Canada devolution has limited federal control and influence and any notion of a national labour market system. Trust ties were enhanced by consistency between the key players, routinized engagement, reliability, honesty, respect, capacity and willingness to engage, and transparency. Although shared objectives made engagement easier, they were not a prerequisite for a positive relationship. Bilateral relationships that took place within the geographic boundaries of Alberta and Scotland were considered as positive and highly workable. Difficulties arose when relationships became multilateral or bilateral relations were managed at a distance. Despite devolution, multilateral relations in the historically conflicted labour market policy domain in Canada remained competitive, with a low degree of workability. Relationships with respect to disability and immigration issues were more positive. In the UK relationships in the welfare to work policy area were cooperative and highly workable. Relationships in skills and immigration did not fare as positively.

The devolution of welfare services in the United States has increased the importance of the nonprofit sector. Geiger and Wolch argue that decentralization has left nonprofit organizations (NPOs) under the purview of the state. They refer to this as the “shadow state.” Trudeau argues for a more nuanced view of the shadow state in which governmental agencies and NPOs are highly interdependent. This research expands on the findings of Trudeau by extending the shadow state construct to the individual. I examine the role of refugees in the shadow state construct and their ability to affect government policy through participation in NPOs and find that refugees do indeed play a role in the shadow state. Through feedback, experience and, most importantly, by becoming part of the organization, refugees can have an impact on refugee services through participation in NPOs.

In the Canadian North, capacity building through post-secondary education is a key policy strategy of territorial and federal governments. However, government support for the University of the Arctic (UArctic), a viable policy instrument that makes an important contribution to the capacity building efforts of the territories, has been inconsistent. This thesis will investigate whether devolution has impacted capacity building through post-secondary education, by using UArctic as a case study.

En este trabajo nos hemos interesado por las actitudes ciudadanas hacia el Estado de las autonomías y la política autonómica, y cómo estas actitudes afectan a la manera en que los ciudadanos toman sus decisiones de voto en las elecciones autonómicas. En la primera parte nos hemos centrado en las preferencias sobre la organización territorial del Estado. Aquí, hemos podido describir las preferencias y conocer sus causas, y analizar cómo éstas pueden haber cambiado con el tiempo. Hemos extraído dos conclusiones fundamentales. Primero, hemos comprobado que las distintas preferencias dependen fundamental (pero no exclusivamente) de las predisposiciones políticas de los individuos, en concreto, del sentimiento de pertenencia y de las autoubicaciones ideológicas. Segundo, se evidencia que las predisposiciones políticas de los individuos no siempre se han traducido en las mismas preferencias concretas sobre la organización territorial del Estado, y que estos cambios parecen ajustarse a los posicionamientos cambiantes de los partidos. Esto indica que al tratarse la cuestión autonómica de un tema de enfrentamiento político, en el que las negociaciones partidistas juegan un papel fundamental en la definición del proceso autonómico, las élites políticas disfrutan de una capacidad muy importante para activar y modificar las preferencias de sus seguidores. En la segunda parte de esta investigación nuestro interés se ha centrado en las relaciones de los ciudadanos con la política y las elecciones autonómicas. Aunque estas elecciones sirven para elegir parlamentos y gobiernos con importantes atribuciones, existen dudas acerca de si los ciudadanos fomentan sus decisiones de voto sobre consideraciones relativas a la política autonómica. Dos cuestiones teóricas emergen. Los ciudadanos, al tomar sus decisiones de voto, ¿tienen en cuenta el rendimiento de gobiernos y líderes autonómicos, o se dejan llevar por consideraciones de alcance estatal? ¿Por qué unos electores votan en clave española mientras que otros lo hacen en clave autonómica? Para responder a estas preguntas, hemos analizado diferentes aspectos de la relación entre ciudadanía y política autonómica: los niveles de interés por la política autonómica, y el grado de conocimiento de la distribución de competencias y de las principales figuras políticas autonómicas; la habilidad de la ciudadanía para mantener evaluaciones separadas de los actores políticos estatales y regionales; y las consideraciones que utilizan los votantes en sus decisiones de voto autonómicas. La evidencia sugiere que el elemento más característico de la política autonómica es el componente identitario, lo que tiene profundas implicaciones en cómo la opinión pública se relaciona con las instituciones. Así, los ciudadanos con un sentimiento de identificación con la comunidad autónoma más intenso tienden a estar más a favor de la descentralización política, lo que les hace estar más atentos e informados acerca de la política autonómica, y a dar mayor importancia a estas consideraciones autonómicas en sus decisiones de voto. En cualquier caso, no parece que estemos delante de una característica exclusiva de los territorios donde existen proyectos nacionales alternativos (como en Cataluña y el País Vasco), sino ante una particularidad de toda la política autonómica en España. Sin embargo, las predisposiciones afectivas no son la única fuente de variación en las actitudes y comportamientos de los ciudadanos. También aparecen variaciones según la sofisticación política de los individuos y en función del contexto político de la comunidad autónoma. Así, los ciudadanos con un mayor nivel educativo, y aquellos que residen en comunidades autónomas gobernadas por un partido distinto al partido que ocupa el gobierno estatal, tienden a dar más peso a los elementos autonómicos en sus decisiones de voto. / This dissertation deals with citizens’ attitudes towards the State of autonomies and regional politics, examining how these attitudes influence voting patterns in Spanish regional elections. The study is divided in two sections. The first part analyses constitutional preferences regarding the territorial organization of the State. Here we describe citizens’ preferences and their variations, and then look for the individual causes of the different choices. We draw two main conclusions. First, individual preferences depend fundamentally (but not exclusively) on political predispositions, namely, national identity and ideology. Second, the changing positions of the parties adjust very well to the changes in the relationship between individual political predispositions and preferences over time. This is the case because the regional question is a contentious issue in Spanish politics, and because the devolution process is in flux and its development depends heavily on arrangements between parties. Thus, political elites seem to play a pivotal role in the changing relationship between political predispositions and constitutional preferences in Spain. The second part focuses on citizens’ awareness and involvement in regional politics and elections. Although regional elections are used to elect parliaments and governments with significant powers, there is some doubt as to whether voters base their decisions in these elections on considerations related to the regional or the national political arena. Thus, two theoretical questions emerge. In regional elections, do voters take the performance of governments and regional leaders into account, or are their choices instead driven by national considerations? Are there any variations in how voters approach regional elections depending on their individual characteristics or the context in which they make their choices? In order to answer these questions I have analysed different aspects of regional politics: citizens’ level of interest in regional politics and their knowledge of the distribution of powers and the regional political figures; voters’ ability to maintain separate evaluations of regional and national political actors; and the factors considered by voters in regional elections. The evidence suggests that the most characteristic element of Spanish regional politics is national identity, which has profound implications for how public opinion relates to the regional institutions. Those with a stronger sense of identification with their region tend to more strongly favour political decentralization, which makes them more aware of and informed about regional politics; consequently, they give more weight to regional politics in their voting decisions. In any case, this is not an exclusive feature of regions where national alternative projects exist (mainly Catalonia and the Basque Country), but rather a characteristic element of Spanish regional politics in general. However, affective predispositions are not the only source of variance. Cognitive and contextual differences also emerge. Thus, those with higher levels of education and those who vote in regions where the incumbent party is different from the party in national office also focus more strongly on regional considerations in their voting choices.