TERRITORY, DEMOCRACY AND JUSTICE: REGIONALISM AND FEDERALISM IN WESTERN DEMOCRACIES; ED. BY SCOTT L. GREER

Territory, Democracy and Justice brings together experts from six countries to ask what territorial decentralization does and what it means for democracy, policymaking and the welfare state. Integrated and international in a fragmented field, the chapters identify the importance and consequences of territorial decentralization. The authors analyze the successes, the generalizable ideas, and the international lessons in the study of comparative territorial politics as well as new directions for research. The world is facing a wave of decentralization and a boom in federalism. But despite all the single-country studies, practice and prescriptive literature on the case for decentralization, there has been relatively little generalizable, international, comparative theory. The authors in this book, important scholars from six countries, take advantage of the empirical richness of the field of territorial politics. They ask and answer three basic questions: What does decentralization do for democracy? What does it do for the welfare state and social justice? What does it do to policy and policymaking? Territory, Democracy and Justice answers these questions while identifying the successes, flaws, generalizable ideas, and international similarities in the study of territorial politics to date. It brings together new literature and a wide range of data from across the advanced industrial countries. It should be a catalyst for the development of comparative territorial politics and an important book for students of federalism, decentralization, nationalism, the welfare state, and territorial politics around the world