International Conference, Université de Poitiers (France), MSHS, MIMMOC, October 14-16, 2010 

Decentralisation, Devolution, Autonomy, (Con)Federation:

The Territorial Politics of the Nation-State 

Opening Conference:

Prof. SASKIA SASSEN, Columbia University / London School of Economics 

Key Note Speaker: Gregorio PECES BARBA, “Father of the Spanish Constitution”

Abstracts (300 words) should be sent to PCauvet@univ-poitiers.fr

before June 10, 2010. 

http://mimmoc.labo.univ-poitiers.fr/ 

Political systems in the Western world, and beyond, have been reshaped by decentralising, federalising, regionalising and devolution reforms since the 1960s. These reforms are often considered as challenging the Nation-State model.

The existence of multiple layers of citizenship – regional, national, European, global – allows citizens to have both rights and duties, to take part in political and social life, to be part of territorialised identities at the local, regional and even European scales but this raises the  question of socio-spatial inequalities. The current drive towards a more decentralised State, the ever intensifying delegation of powers to sub-state communities are ways of better adapting the law to each territorial community. However, one consequence is the growing conflict of vertical interests (between the regional, the national and the European levels) and of horizontal interests (between same-level units).

In continuation with previous work on the questions of national and regional identities at the University of Poitiers (Devolution in Britain, the Canadian and Spanish cases), this international conference will further explore this multidimensional political and territorial challenge.  

This conference invites 20-minute papers. Proposals for panels are also welcome. Although other topics may be considered, we welcome papers dealing with,
but not being limited to, issues and questions such as the following: 

• The history, sources, founding myths and ideologies of federalism, regionalism, decentralisation…
• The legal and constitutional stakes of such reforms.
• Are all forms of decentralisation an efficient way of addressing the question of the democratic deficit?
• The theoretical and scientific debate(s) around such reforms.
• Decentralisation reforms and party politics
• The global and European dimensions: what are the interactions between decentralisation and globalisation? The interactions between the European integration process and decentralisation reforms? Are they part of the same process of denationalisation of the State? Is there a pan-European convergence?
• The interrelations between national identity(ies) and the State.
• The role of such reforms in conflicts and their resolution.
• Case-studies and comparative approaches.

Abstracts (300 words) should be sent to PCauvet@univ-poitiers.fr before June 10, 2010.

For further information, http://mimmoc.labo.univ-poitiers.fr/. Click English and Calendar