Dynamics of Territorial Restructuring in Western Europe. Critical Junctures, Reactive Sequences and the Development of Regional Government

This paper employs the tools of comparative historical analysis to examine the dynamics of territorial restructuring in Western Europe (Great Britain, Spain, Belgium and Italy). The first section presents a theoretical framework that puts forth a conceptualisation of territorial restructuring and institutional change and develops a set of expectations regarding how interactions between actors and institutions influence the dynamics of territorial restructuring. The second sections demonstrates how the rules and ideas put into place during the ‘critical junctures’ surrounding the creation of regional government lay down the ‘reproduction mechanisms’ that influences the subsequent dynamic of restructuring. The next four sections analyse of positive and negative ‘reactive sequences’ in each case. They examine how the relative power of parties (mainstream vs regionalist) and levels of governments (central vs regional) influence the sequencing of territorial reform and how institutions regulating vertical intergovernmental relations (bilateral vs multilateral) and horizontal decision-making processes (majoritarian vs consensual) shape the velocity of territorial reforms. The conclusion compares the development of regional government by analysing how critical junctures create different combinations of actors and institutions that serve as the ‘reproduction mechanisms’ that underlie the entrenchment or reversal of territorial reforms.