States increasingly decentralise domestically and pool competences and resources supranationally. A consequence of this is that governance arrangements are in a state of flux. This panel brings together five papers which all tackle different dimensions related to the evolution of democratic multi-level systems. The first paper delves at the core of the topic by highlighting the tension between competence allocation, fiscal decentralisation, and subnational debt. It breaks new empirical ground by using regional-level data to link spending and competence transfers (Hanna Kleider). The second paper focuses on the question of competence allocation over different levels of government and across different policy areas by exploring the determinants of regional élite preferences on the question (Tatham & Bauer). The third paper enquires about the consequences of multi-level politics by studying government accountability and second order elections in Europe. It presents a novel dataset which includes regional, national and European election vote shares and government data at the regional, national and European level for 12 EU-member states for 1979-2014 (Schakel). While multi-level politics generates new dynamics in terms of voting and accountability patterns, the fourth paper highlights that such processes can sometimes be confusing for citizens. This is even more the case when governance arrangements become territorially asymmetric (Leon & Orriols). The final contribution continues on the theme of asymmetrical decentralisation by exploring what its determinants may be, with a specific emphasis on actor-based explanations (Röth & Kaiser).