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Thesis advisor: Jonathan Laurence / The purpose of this thesis is to identify the political, institutional and economic obstacles to achieving economic integration and stability in the euro area while finding a solution to those obstacles by examining the economics and political dynamics of the currency union. The benchmarks of the Maastricht Treaty and the Stability and Growth Pact encouraged cosmetic reforms that did little to alter the structural problems of the Eurozone's economic periphery. Therefore, the best political and economic solution to the problem of integration is to allow for fiscal federalism within the union whereby Member States take full ownership of their economic policies. Although decentralizing fiscal policy is an essential part of fostering integration, harmonizing banking regulation throughout the Eurozone is also necessary course of action. The guarantee of emergency funds for Eurozone states at the precipice of default will only breed a moral hazard for more rule-breaking. The conditionality of tough austerity measures of the emergency programs also breeds popular animosity against the euro and outsources the moral and political responsibility of unpopular structural reform to forces outside of the country. Member States should allow heavily indebted states to default and allow banks that made investments in those countries' debts to incur losses. Through enforcement of the no-bailout clauses of Eurozone agreements, domestic political actors will be unable to issue more debt and thus have the political cover to impose the necessary structural reforms to improve the economic sustainability of their respective countries. Since an exit from the currency union would aggravate the debt problems of a peripheral Member State, the rest of the euro area is unlikely to suffer the loss of membership by refusing to transfer funds to its insolvent members. / Thesis (MA) — Boston College, 2011. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Political Science.

This thesis examines the process of gradual political centralisation in Nigeria from the colonial period until today. It argues that since the formation of Nigeria in 1914, there has not been an effective state administrative structure in the governing of the nation. Pre-independence Nigeria (1888-1960) was characterised by a flawed structure put in place by the British colonial administration and the changes implemented by the successive military regimes and associated constitutional developments that followed independence have not changed the underlying problems established during this period. Traditional approaches to political decentralisation in developing countries generally involve delegation, devolution and deconcentration. However, the role of traditional institutions in a decentralised governance structure is not always made explicit. Rather the potential roles of traditional institutions are assumed to be part of the local administrative system (e.g. l ocal governments). As a result, they are defined as part of the governance process. This limits applicability of these models to a country as ethnically diverse as Nigeria. The central argument put forward in this thesis is that an ideal decentralised administrative system is practicable in Nigeria only if the traditional institutions actively participate in the governance of the country. However, a review of the administrative system for the period 1914-2005 shows that the powers of the traditional institutions have been eroded over time. The thesis concludes by proposing a model for decentralising the complex administrative structure of Nigeria through 'institutional reconciliation'. The model follows previous approaches, but proposes a separation of the traditional institutions from both the administrative and governmental units (federal, state and local government). The thesis argues that the legitimacy of policies undertaken by any of the government units rests on these policies being consistent with et hnic, religious and cultural beliefs. It proposes one means of putting in place such a form of 'institutional reconciliation' while highlighting the potential problems that may also result.

Canadian Federalism has grown to incorporate the opposing ideologies of communitarianism and individualism, which compete in both social and political arenas. The cultural industry sector in Canada negotiates this ideological landscape in order to secure favourable public policy in the form of both political support and access to public resources. Within the cultural sector and as a result of the environment, the book publishing industry is active in expressing its value as both community builders and economic worthy enterprises. Drawing upon research in federalism, cultural and policy studies, an analytical framework is developed to assess the underlying intentions of cultural policy and distribution of resources with respect to cultural or economic outcomes. This comparative analysis of federal and provincial policies supporting the book publishing industry in Canada demonstrates divergent policy choices between jurisdictions. These choices gravitate towards either communitarian/collectivist or individualist/economic values, mirroring those values incorporated into the current Canadian federalist structure.

This thesis defines "federation" as a set of structures and techniques, by means of which the constituent members of a union are given guaranteed access to and are accommodated within the decision-procedure of the centre. Meanwhile, "federalism" is taken to signify the philosophical, or ideological prescription, or promotion, of such a union. The thesis commences by identifying the major shortcomings of the Anglo-Saxon academic literature on federation for a comparative analysis of federalism and federation in Austria, Switzerland and Germany. The two main aims of the thesis are then outlined. These are first, to identify the nature of the tradition of federalism in Austria, Switzerland and Germany. The second is to illustrate, by reference to the period immediately preceding the crystallisation of the party systems of those countries, the use of federalism as a political ideology. These aims are fulfiled in Parts 2 & 3 of the thesis. By means of its systematic, comparative analysis of federalism in Austria, Switzerland and Germany from the early sixteenth century until 1850, the thesis develops a typology of federalism, which permits it to identify the six “dimensions" of a distinctive, "Germanic”, tradition of federalism. Second, the detailed analysis in the thesis of the use of federalism during the first half of the nineteenth century shows how, within existing federations, a wide range of political groupings constituting the antecedents of modern political parties availed themselves of federalism for the promotion of their political aims. Amongst the conclusions of Part 4 of the thesis is that more attention should be devoted to the study of the interaction of federalism and federation and in particular, to how federalism is utilised by politial parties, both to legitimate and to reform federations.

Canadian Federalism has grown to incorporate the opposing ideologies of communitarianism and individualism, which compete in both social and political arenas. The cultural industry sector in Canada negotiates this ideological landscape in order to secure favourable public policy in the form of both political support and access to public resources. Within the cultural sector and as a result of the environment, the book publishing industry is active in expressing its value as both community builders and economic worthy enterprises. Drawing upon research in federalism, cultural and policy studies, an analytical framework is developed to assess the underlying intentions of cultural policy and distribution of resources with respect to cultural or economic outcomes. This comparative analysis of federal and provincial policies supporting the book publishing industry in Canada demonstrates divergent policy choices between jurisdictions. These choices gravitate towards either communitarian/collectivist or individualist/economic values, mirroring those values incorporated into the current Canadian federalist structure.

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Diss. Stockholm : Stockholms universitet, 2006.

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