This thesis explores the capacity of local government to influence intergovernmental organizations’ policy frameworks during the formulation and implementation of their instruments and policies. It provides empirical insights into the decision making and implementation of international policy regimes, specifically within a European context, and contributes to the broader theoretical understanding of these regimes through the development of multi-level governance as a framework of analysis. The thesis extends multi-level governance as a theoretical framework in two ways. First, it does so by going beyond its usual development and application within the European Union. The role of local government is examined in the pan-European political context shaped by the Council of Europe. Second, it pays special attention to the upstream link between local authorities and international actors in the context of multi-level governance settings. To date, most research on local government in multi-level governance settings has focused on the new challenges brought by extended multiple tiers of jurisdictions and how local government has been affected by the internationally shaped political arrangements. Little attention has been placed on the upward flow of interaction of local authorities or their capacity to influence international decision making and policy implementation. Empirical research in this thesis has focused on the capacity of local government to share the meta-steering role with the multi-level governance framework. The potential of local government to influence the international policy frameworks has been investigated based on its unique value in enhancing good governance in line with international norms and principles. At the theoretical level, the research argues multi-level governance reflects not simply the redistribution of power resources among various actors, but also the process of reshaping understanding and preferences through direct communication between actors at different territorial levels. It suggests that local political preferences can be shaped and reframed by broader values and consequently generates significant influence on higher level policy outcomes. However, despite the existence of specific constitutional devices for involving local development in the legislative processes of the Council of Europe, empirical evidence shows local authorities have largely failed to take up this opportunity, and their influence remains limited. Implications hence can be drawn for wider utilization of local engagement in intergovernmental organizations; for example, within the context the Committee of the Regions of the Europe Union.

<p>Conflict between states in an anarchic international system is generally the result of an inability among state leaders to successfully negotiate perceived power imbalances within the system. Interstate conflicts are relatively rare events and are generally short in duration; international pressures to quickly and permanently resolve conflicts before their effects are felt outside the region of conflict are often intense. In an increasingly global community, an international order in turmoil ripples through the global financial system, often leading to a weakening of state power within it. </p> <p>Violent conflicts within state borders have been historically more common, with causative issues ranging from polity dissatisfaction or inequities in the economic structure of the state to disputes over territorial integrity and autonomy. Pressure to rapidly resolve conflict within states is differentially applied cross-regionally; however, where strategic interests of major-power states are involved, such conflicts are usually quickly addressed. Where no such interests exist, these conflicts can and do persist for decades, at often huge costs to state resources. </p> <p>In the mid-1990s the number of ongoing subnational conflicts appeared to be trending upward and increasingly between dissimilar people groups; Samuel Huntington's Clash of Civilizations thesis posited that future conflict at the subnational and international levels would be increasingly between groups of differing civilizational origin. This study disputes this claim, intending instead to show that conflict between groups of dissimilar religious beliefs is more likely to escalate to violence than that occurring between civilizational groupings, especially after the end of the Cold War.</p> <p>This study covers nearly 200 countries during the period 1946-2007, including those granted independence within the period and new republics formed in the wake of the breakup of the Soviet Union. If Huntington's thesis is correct, states located along defined civilizational "fault-lines" should experience a higher incidence of violent conflict at the state level. States that contain sufficiently large populations from differing civilizations (defined as cleft states) should also be more conflict prone. The differential advantages gained during modernization processes in the post-Cold War era should result in an upward trend in such conflict after 1989. </p> <p>This study uses conflict data from the Uppsala Conflict Data Program, recording 1,670 conflict-years in over 100 countries within the observation period. Descriptive statistics suggest subnational conflicts have not become increasingly civilizational as Huntington described. Instead, conflict between dissimilar religious groups has become more common since the end of the Cold War. Multivariate analysis is used to estimate the relative importance of religious differences on the initiation of violent subnational conflict. In addition to the existence of religious cleavages, the salience of a number of realist variables is also considered. </p> <p>Results show Huntington's theory to be insufficient to describe this evolution of subnational conflict. Civilizations are too broad to engender the necessary inclusivity in times of crisis, and the number of classifications theorized too narrow. However, results suggest religious cleavages to be equally weak predictors of future conflict likelihood at the subnational level. As in prior studies of civil wars, religion seems epiphenomenal in causative predictions of low-level subnational conflict initiation in the modern era.</p> / Dissertation

What explains the resilience of formerly nationally dominant parties at the subnational level? This dissertation demonstrates that factionalism is key. When intra-party factions are united, subnational dominant parties retain power even under adverse electoral conditions. By contrast, divisions and conflicts among internal groups lead these parties to lose even in favorable electoral contexts. I test these claims using a variety of quantitative and qualitative evidence from Mexico, focusing on the electoral performance of the Revolutionary Institutional Party (PRI) in contemporary gubernatorial elections. Democratization potentially undermines unity in dominant parties because it provides politicians with viable exit options (i.e., joining the opposition) and because authoritarian central party committees no longer control subnational politics. Yet, I argue that factions can cooperate under democracy when they were more autonomous from the center during the authoritarian period. The negotiation skills acquired in the past help them "get along" in the absence of an external enforcer. By contrast, previously subordinated factions never acquired such skills and quickly became antagonistic to each other under democracy. As I show, collaboration had positive electoral consequences in subnational elections whereas antagonism had pernicious ones. / text

This article analyzes the factors that contributed to Cesar Alvarez’s administration stability as regional president of Ancash during almost two full consecutive terms (2006 – 2013). Thus, the research focuses on the development of clientelistic and patronage networks that strength- ened his ties with citizens, providing him with constant support. Moreover, those practices protected him from any act of fiscalization or investigation. Finally, public spending, largely financed with mining canon, made possible for Alvarez to show himself as an efficient regional president by developing major infrastructure projects in the region. / El presente artículo se centra en los factores que dieron estabilidad a la gestión del expresidente regional de Áncash,  César Álvarez,  durante casi dos periodos consecutivos (2006- 2013) y con probables miras hacia uno tercero. De esta manera, la investigación se enfoca en el desarrollo de redes clientelares y de patronazgo que fortalecieron los nexos que estableció con la ciudadanía, proporcionándole apoyo constante. Asimismo, aquellas prácticas le sirvieron de blindaje ante cualquier acto de fiscalización o investigación. Por último, el gasto público en gran parte producto del canon minero, hizo que Álvarez se demuestre como una autoridad eficiente alpromocionar grandes obras de infraestructura -sobrevaloradas- en la región.

abstract: What explains why governments and militaries pursue accountability against some human rights violations committed by members of their armed forces during ongoing conflicts, but not other violations? Further, what are the consequences of such prosecutions for their military and governmental objectives? The theory put forth by this study suggests that rather than only the natural outcome of strong rule of law, domestic prosecutions within a state’s security apparatus represents a strategic choice made by political and military actors. I employ a strategic actor approach to the pursuit of accountability, suggesting that the likelihood of accountability increases when elites perceive they will gain politically or militarily from such actions. I investigate these claims using both qualitative and quantitative methods in a comparative study across the United States and the United Kingdom. This project contributes to interdisciplinary scholarly research relevant to human rights studies, human rights law, political science, democratic state-building, democratic governance, elite decision making, counter-insurgency, protests, international sanctions, and conflict resolution. Particularly, this dissertation speaks to the intersection of strategy and law, or “lawfare” a method of warfare where law is used as means of realizing a military objective (Dunlap 2001). It provides generalizable results extending well beyond the cases analyzed. Thus, the results of this project will interest those dealing with questions relating to legitimacy, human rights, and elite decision making throughout the democratic world. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Political Science 2018

D.Litt. et Phil. (Politics) / South Africa’s 1996 Constitution makes provision for relatively autonomous provincial administrations, which share responsibility with the national government for important functional areas while also exercising exclusive authority over others. Although the Constitution is not explicit on the distribution of foreign policy competence, the dominant interpretation among South African policy-makers is that this functional area is the exclusive domain of the national government. Consequently, the foreign policy-making process in the country has over the years been dominated by the national executive. Even so, since 1995 the interplay of a set of push and pull factors has encouraged all provinces to assume an active and direct international role, to the extent that provincial international relations or paradiplomacy has become an important feature of South Africa’s international relations. This study examines the paradiplomacy of the South African provinces of Gauteng, the North West and the Western Cape against the backdrop of a relatively weak scholarly and public discourse of the phenomenon in the country. Through an in-depth and empirically based analysis of the three case studies, the inquiry generates insight into the nature and meaning of paradiplomacy in South Africa, as a contribution to the development of alternative accounts of a phenomenon whose scholarship is still heavily dominated by Western perspectives. The study finds that paradiplomacy has evolved in South Africa as a predominantly functional project, which has little significance for the authority of the national government over the country’s foreign policy and international relations. The provincial governments in Gauteng, the North West and the Western Cape engage in international relations primarily as a strategy to harness the opportunities of globalisation and economic interdependence, in the interest of the socio-economic development of their respective jurisdictions. This ‘developmental paradiplomacy’ is conditioned to a large extent by the limited provincial powers on foreign affairs, strong centripetal forces in South Africa’s political system, as well as the pervasive influence of the post-apartheid discourse on socio-economic transformation. Thus, although all three provinces examined conduct their international relations with relative autonomy and in ways that have at times undermined the country’s international reputation and attracted Pretoria’s ire, these activities are consciously defined within the framework of the country’s foreign policy and, in some cases, are executed in close collaboration with the national government. In a sense, therefore, provinces conceive of their international role as that of agents or champions of Pretoria’s foreign policy agenda. The key findings of this study, especially as they pertain to the nature and significance of paradiplomacy in South Africa, highlight the North-South geopolitical cleavage in the manifestation of the phenomenon. On the one hand, the South African case resonates with the experience in other developing countries like India, China, Malaysia and Argentina, where paradiplomacy evolves under the shadow of national foreign policy processes. On the other hand, the findings contrast with the experience in most countries in Europe and North America where questions of nationalism, sub-national identity and the sovereign authority for international representation have contributed to defining the international agency of sub-national governments.

No description available.

This study evaluates Hong Kong's soft power through investigating the relations between the city's paradiplomatic ambits and performance and critically reflects on how the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) to further develop its presence in international stage and its identity as an active non-sovereign international actor. This study also enriches the literature of paradiplomacy and soft power of non-sovereign actors since the soft power analysis is still limited to state-centric research. This research also explores new angles to deal with Hong Kong-China relations by highlighting how the paradiplomacy and the soft power of Hong Kong can create space and flexibility for the city's international engagement. A theoretical framework which incorporates new institutionalism and normative theory to explain the interplay of paradiplomacy and soft power is proposed and tested. This study adopts multi-pronged method to investigate Hong Kong's soft power and its leaders' capabilities in upholding the city's international profile under "One Country, Two Systems". Through studying the international indexes, surveys of public opinion, official documents like Hong Kong Policy Addresses and conducting in-depth interviews, this study delineates and evaluates the soft power capacities within paradiplomatic ambits of the city. The key findings of the research indicate the HKSAR government has had a very restrictive understanding of the soft power for the city. In particular, the study proves that both institutions and values of Hong Kong are crucial for boosting the city's soft power. In contrast to the conventional system, the institutions of the HKSAR have limited the fostering of values of Hong Kong, but also the development of the city's soft power. This study shows that the tensions between the government and civil society have weakened some of the potential soft power resources. Moreover, the prevailing policy focus on strengthening the city's financial and economic status with respect to China's rise to power has not done justice to other stakeholders such as the film industry and the civil society who could have made considerable impacts on enriching and enhancing Hong Kong's global attractiveness. The paradiplomatic power of the HKSAR government has not been persistently pursued in the policy implementations. As the HKSAR government claimed it is committed to upholding the city's international profile and to promote its soft power globally, this study intends to make an original contribution to our understanding of the relations of the city's soft power, paradiplomacy and policy implementations.

Around 20 years ago subnational actors connected in Northern Sweden/Finland founding the Bothnian Corridor Project and lobbying successfully for support from the European Union/on the European level. This research paper will investigate the story of success from the perspective of the subnational actors. The case of the Bothnian Corridor is of interest because the Swedish subnational actors are often considered as weak or not so formalised. The Research Paper will investigate the processes which led to the activity on the European level and will review how the communication between the European level and the subnational actors is functioning.There are three driving processes. The first one is that there was a need in renewing the railroad system and the regions had a common interest. The second one is the establishment of regions as a subnational actor with a formalised responsibility for regional development. In the beginning of the 2000s the third process started where a stronger focus on regions and regional development on the European level became visible. Those driving forces are identified by this paper as the base of the Bothnian Corridor Project.The other aspect the paper is investigating is the communication between the different policy levels. There can be the picture drawn that the communication between the subnational players and the EU is cooperative; they both see the potential in this relationship. They are very open to working together which is just possible because the North Sweden European Office explained each other position to both parties and did "interest translation" and the national level is setting up limitations for the communication.

This study investigates what factors impede women's ability to be included in politics in Kenya in light of reforms such as decentralization and electoral gender quotas. The Kenyan case highlights a paradox: reforms are progressive in reaching a more gender-balanced representation, including women from more levels of the country in the political sphere. Despite this, women in Kenyan politics face several barriers when aiming for a position in office and partaking in political activities on equal terms as men. The material was collected through a three-week field trip to Nairobi, interviewing female politicians either elected through the number of votes or nominated through quota in the National Parliament and the devolved level of Nairobi City County Assembly. Findings suggest that women on both levels face several barriers when attaining a political position and performing their roles in the office. Women face unattainable financial requirements, violence and threats, voters' biases towards their capacity, and parties favoring men. Patriarchal structures also hinder women's political inclusion, where non-governmental organizations play an important role by offering different venues for political training to build aspiring female politicians from the bottom-up. More work is needed to ensure women's political inclusion in Kenya, starting with implementing the two-thirds gender rule in National Parliament and pressuring political parties to be gender-inclusive. To reach women's political inclusion, educating people on women's equal rights to gain political representation and be included in political work on similar terms as men is vital.