Hostname: page-component-74656f9884-qr5l4 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-11-04T18:25:01.109Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Does European integration increase sub-national power? Evidence from a time-series cross-sectional analysis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2026

Jana Gómez Díaz  and
Abelardo Gómez Díaz
Jana Gómez Díaz*
Affiliation:
Deutscher Bundestag, Berlin, Germany
Abelardo Gómez Díaz*
Affiliation:
Department of Political and Social Sciences, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Carrer de Ramon Trias Fargas, 25-27 (20.199), Barcelona 08005, Spain
*
E-mail: janagomezdiaz@gmail.com
E-mail: abelardo.gomez@upf.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The literature on the relationship between European Union (EU) integration and regional power has produced two opposing theoretical models. Depending on the model, EU integration leads to either an increase or decrease in regional power. Evidence for both, however, has been largely inconclusive and mostly derived from qualitative case studies. This paper, on the other hand, offers a quantitative, large-N analysis, using data from fifty-six countries between 1960 and 2010. Its random effects model shows that EU membership considerably increases regional authority within member states over time, and its comparison with another international organization suggests that the effect is not idiosyncratic. Additionally, this paper finds support for two possible mechanisms: the establishment of the subsidiarity principle and the Commission’s requirement to create regional government structures.

Keywords

European integrationRegional powerSelf-ruleShared rule

Information

Type
Dataset
Information
European Political Science , Volume 19 , Issue 4 , December 2020 , pp. 622 - 640
Copyright
Copyright © 2020 European Consortium for Political Research

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

Footnotes

Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1057/s41304-020-00269-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

References

Alesina, A., Angeloni, I., and Schuknecht, L.. 2005. What does the European Union do?. Public Choice 123: 275-319. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Alesina, A., et al. 2003. Fractionalization. Journal of Economic Growth 43(3): 155-194. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Amat, F., Jurado, I. and León, S. 2009. A Political Theory of Decentralization Dynamics (Working Paper). Centro de Estudios Avanzados en Ciencias Sociales.Google Scholar
Amin, A., and Tomaney, J.. 1995. The Regional Dilemma in a Neo-Liberal Europe. European Urban and Regional Studies 2(2): 171-188. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bahl, R., and Nath, S.. 1986. Public Expenditure Decentralization in Developing Countries. Environment and Planning C: Politics and Space 4(4): 405-418. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bauer, M.W., and Börzel, T.A.. 2010. Regions and the European Union. Handbook on Multilevel Governance, ed. Enderlein, H., Wälti, S., and Zürn, M., 253-263. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishers. Google Scholar
Besley, T., and Coate, S.. 2003. Centralized versus Decentralized Provision of Local Public Goods: A Political Economy Approach. Journal of Public Economics 87(12): 2611-2637. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beyers, J., and Donas, T.. 2014. Inter-regional networks in Brussels: Analyzing the Information Exchanges Among Regional Offices. European Union Politics 15(4): 547-571. Google Scholar
Bird, R.M., and Vaillancourt, F.. 1999. Fiscal Decentralization in Developing Countries. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bochsler, D. 2010. Measuring Party Nationalisation: A New Gini-Based Indicator that Corrects for the Number of Units.. Electoral Studies 29(1): 155-168. Google Scholar
Bookman, M.Z. 1993. The Economics of Secession. New York: St. Martin’s Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brancati, D. 2006. Decentralization: Fueling the Fire or Dampening the Flames of Ethnic Conflict and Secessionism? International Organization 60(3): 651-685. Google Scholar
Brancati, D. 2008. The Origins and Strengths of Regional Parties. British Journal of Political Science 38(1): 135-159. Google Scholar
Brosio, G. 2012. Decentralization and Reform in Latin America: Improving Intergovernmental Relations. Northampton: Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brusis, M. 2002. Between EU Requirements, Competitive Politics, and National Traditions: Re-creating Regions in the Accession Countries of Central and Eastern Europe. Governance 15(4): 531-559. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bullmann, U. 1997. The Politics of the Third Level. In The Regional Dimension of the European Union: Towards a Third Level in Europe?,, ed. Jeffery, C., 3-19. London: Frank Cass. Google Scholar
Caporaso, J., and Keeler, J.. 1993. The European Community and Regional Integration Theory. Washington: European Community Studies Association.Google Scholar
Chacha, M. 2020. European Union Membership Status and Decentralization: A Top-down Approach. Regional & Federal Studies 30(1): 1-23. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dieringer, J. 2010. Regionen und Regionalismus im Europäischen Kontext. In Regional Governance in EU-Staaten, ed. Dieringer, J. and Sturm, R., 347-363. Barbara Budrich: Opladen. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dieringer, J., and Sturm, R.. 2010. Regional Governance in EU-Staaten. Opladen: Barbara Budrich.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Elazar, D.J. 1987. Exploring Federalism. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press.Google Scholar
Elias, A. 2008. Introduction; Whatever Happened to the Europe of the Regions? Revisiting the Regional Dimension of European Politics. Regional & Federal Studies 18(5): 483-492. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Garret, G., and Weingast, B.. 1991. Ideas, Interests, and Institutions: Constructing the European Community’s Internal Market. In Ideas and Foreign Policy: Beliefs, Institutions, and Political Change, ed. Goldstein, J., and Keohane, R. 173-203. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. Google Scholar
Garrett, G. 1992. International Cooperation and Institutional Choice: The EC’s Internal Market. International Organizations 46(2): 533-560. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hiscox, M.J. 2003. Political Integration and Disintegration in the Global Economy. In Governance in a Global Economy: Political Authority in Transition, ed. Kahler, M. and Lake, D.A., 60-86. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Google Scholar
Hoffmann, S. 1966. Obstinate or Obsolete? The Fate of the Nation State and the Case of Western Europe. Daedalus 95(3): 892-908. Google Scholar
Hoffmann, S. 1982. Reflections on the Nation-State in Western Europe Today. Journal of Common Market Studies 21(1): 21-37. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hooghe, L., and Keating, M.. 1994. The politics of European Union Regional Policy. Journal of European Public Policy 1(3): 367-393. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hooghe, L., and Marks, G.. 2001. Multi-level Governance and European Integration. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield.Google Scholar
Hooghe, L., et al. 2016a. Community and the Structure of Governance. In Community, Scale, and Regional Governance: A Postfunctionalist Theory of Governance, ed. Hooghe, L., Marks, G., Schakel, A., Chapman Osterkatz, S., Niedzwiecki, S., and Shair-Rosenfield, S., 122-147. Oxford: Oxford University Press. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hooghe, L., et al. 2016b. Measuring Regional Authority: A Postfunctionalist Theory of Governance. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hooghe, L., Marks, G., and Shakel, A.H.. 2010. The rise of Regional Authority: A Comparative Study of 42 Democracies. London: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huwyler, O., Tatham, M., and Blatter, J.. 2018. Party Politics, Institutions, and Identity: The Dynamics of Regional Venue Shopping in the EU. West European Politics 41(3): 754-778. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jeffery, C. 1997. The Regional Dimension of the European Union: Towards a Third Level in Europe. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Jeffery, C. 2000. Sub-National Mobilization and European Integration: Does it Make any Difference?. Journal of Common Market Studies 38(1): 1-23. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jolly, S.K. 2015. The European Union and the Rise of Regionalist Parties. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jones, M.P., and Mainwaring, S.. 2003. The Nationalization of Parties and Party Systems: An Empirical Measure and an Application to the Americas. Party Politics 9(2): 139-166. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jordana, J. 2001. Relaciones Intergubernamentales y Descentralización en América Latina: Una Perspectiva Institucional. Inter-American Development Bank.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kahler, M., and Lake, D.A.. 2003. Globalization and Changing Patterns of Political Authority. In Governance in a Global Economy: Political Authority in Transition, ed. Kahler, M. and Lake, D.A., 412-438. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Google Scholar
Keating, M. 1993. Regionalismo, Autonomía y Regímenes Internacionales. Barcelona: Institut de Ciències Polítiques i Socials.Google Scholar
Keating, M. 1998. Is there a Regional Level of Government in Europe?. In Regions in Europe, ed. Lequesne, C. and Le Galès, P., 11-29. London: Routledge. Google Scholar
Keating, M. 2004. Regions and Regionalism in Europe. Northampton: Edward Elgar.Google Scholar
Keating, M. 2008. Thirty Years of Territorial Politics. West European Politics 31(1–2): 60-81. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Keating, M., Hooghe, L., and Tatham, M.. 2015. Bypassing the Nation-State? Regions and the EU Policy Process. In European Union: Power and Policy-Making, ed. Richardson, J. and Mazey, S., 269-286. Abingdon: Routledge. Google Scholar
Kohler-Koch, B. 1998. The Evolution and Transformation of European Governance (Reihe Politikwissenschaft). Vienna: Institut für Höhere Studien.Google Scholar
La Cruz, R., Pineda, C., and Pöschl, C.. 2010. La Alternativa Local: Descentralización y Desarrollo Económico. Washington, DC: Inter-American Developing Bank.Google Scholar
Letelier, L. 2016. Explaining Fiscal Decentralization. Public Finance Review 33(2): 155-183. Google Scholar
Litvack, J., Ahmad, J., and Bird, R.. 1999. Rethinking Decentralization in Developing Countries. Washington, DC: World Bank.Google Scholar
López, F., and Tatham, M.. 2018. Regionalisation with Europeanisation? The Rescaling of Interest Groups in Multi-level Systems. Journal of European Public Policy 25(5): 764-786. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Loughlin, J. 1997. Representing Regions in Europe: The Committee of the Regions. In The Regional Dimension of the European Union: Towards a Third Level in Europe?, ed. Jeffery, C., 147-165. London: Frank Cass. Google Scholar
Loughlin, J., and Antunes, S.. 2019. State Rescaling and a ‘Europe of the Regions’ in Small Unitary States: A Damp Squib?. Regional & Federal Studies 30(2): 1-19. Google Scholar
Margedant, U. 2006. Regionen in Europa. In Regionale Wege in Europa: Föderalismus, Devolution, Dezentralisierung, ed. Zimmermann-Steinhart, P., 162-168. Allitera Verl: Munich. Google Scholar
Marks, G. 1993. Structural policy and multi-level governance in the EC. In The State of the European Community: The Maastricht Debate and Beyond, ed. Cafruny, A. and Rosenthal, G., 391-441. Lynne Rienner: Boulder(CO). CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marks, G., and Hooghe, L.. 2004. Contrasting Visions of Multi-Level Governance. In Multi-level Governance, ed. Bache, I. and Flinders, M., 15-30. Oxford: Oxford University Press. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marks, G., Hooghe, L., and Blank, K.. 1996. European Integration from the 1980s: State-Centric v. Multi-level Governance. Journal of Common Market Studie 34(3): 341-378. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marshall, M.G., Gurr, T.R., and Jaggers, K.. 2018. Polity IV Project: Political Regime Characteristics and Transitions, 1800-2017. Dataset Users’ Manual. Vienna: Center for Systemic Peace.Google Scholar
McCormick, J. 1999. The European Union: Politics and Policies. Boulder: Westview Press.Google Scholar
Milward, A. 1992. The European Rescue of the Nation-State. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Moravcsik, A. 1991. Negotiating the Single European Act: National Interests and Conventional Statecraft in the European Community. International Organization 45(1): 651-688. Google Scholar
Moravcsik, A. 1993. Preferences and Power in the European Community: A Liberal Intergovernmental Approach. Journal of Common Market Studies 31(4): 473-524. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nagel, K.-J. 2010. Spanien-Auf dem Weg zur Föderation?. In Regional Governance in EU-Staaten, ed. Dieringer, J. and Sturm, R., 149-172. Barbara Budrich: Opladen. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Oates, W. 1972. Fiscal Federalism. New York City: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.Google Scholar
Panizza, U. 1999. On the Determinants of Fiscal Centralization: Theory and Evidence. Journal of Public Economics 74(1): 97-139. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rokkan, S., and Urwin, D.W.. 1982. The Politics of Territorial Identity: Studies in European Regionalism. London: Sage Publications.Google Scholar
Saarts, T. 2019. Introducing Regional Self-governments in Central and Eastern Europe: Paths to Success and Failure. Regional & Federal Studies, 1–25.Google Scholar
Sargan, J. 1958. The Estimation of Economic Relationships Using Instrumental Variables. Econometrica 26(3): 393-415. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schakel, A.H. 2009. A Postfunctionalist Theory of Regional Government: An Inquiry into Regional Authority and Regional Policy Provision. Veenendaal: Universal Press.Google Scholar
Shah, A. 2004. Fiscal Decentralization in Developing and Transition Economies: Progress, Problems, and the Promise. Washington: World Bank.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sharpe, L. 1993. The Rise of the Meso Government in Europe. London: SAGE Publications.Google Scholar
Stegarescu, D. 2009. The Effects of Economic and Political Integration on Fiscal Decentralization: Evidence from OECD Countries. The Canadian Journal of Economics 42(2): 694-718. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stephenson, P. 2013. Twenty Years of Multi-level Governance: ‘Where Does It Come From? What Is It? Where Is It Going?’. Journal of European Public Policy 20(6): 817-837. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Streeck, W. 1996. Neo-Voluntarism: A New European Social Policy Regime?. In Governance in the Emerging Euro-Polity, ed. Marks, G., Scharpf, S., Schmitter, P.C., and Streeck, W.. London: Sage. Google Scholar
Sturm, R. 2009. Die ‘Europafähigkeit’ der Regionen. In Europapolitik und Europafähigkeit von Regionen, ed. Lambertz, K.-H. and Große-Hüttmann, M., 11-20. Europäischen Zentrums für Föderalismus-Forschung Tübingen: Tübingen. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sturm, R., and Bauer, M.W.. 2010. Governance und Regionen: Die Theoretische Debatte. In Regional Governance in EU-Staaten, ed. Dieringer, J. and Sturm, R., 11-34. Barbara Budrich: Opladen. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tatham, M. 2008. Going solo: Direct Regional Representation in the European Union. Regional and Federal Studies 18(5): 493-515. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tatham, M. 2010. ‘With or Without You’? Revisiting Territorial State-Bypassing in EU Interest Representation. Journal of European Public Policy 17(1): 76-99. Google Scholar
Tatham, M. 2014. Limited Institutional Change in an International Organisation: Accounting for the EU’s Shift Away from ‘Federal Blindness’. European Political Science Review 6(1): 21-45. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tatham, M. 2015. Regional Voices in the European Union: Subnational Influence in Multilevel Politics. International Studies Quarterly 59(2): 387-400. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tatham, M. 2018. The Rise of Regional Influence in the EU—From Soft Policy Lobbying to Hard Vetoing. Journal of Common Market Studies 56(3): 672-686. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tatham, M., and Bauer, M.W.. 2014. Competence Ring-Fencing from Below? The Drivers of Regional Demands for Control Over Upwards Dispersion. Journal of European Public Policy 21(9): 1367-1385. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tatham, M., and Thau, M.. 2014. The More the Merrier: Accounting for Regional Paradiplomats in Brussels. European Union Politics 15(2): 255-276. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Taylor, P. 1983. The Limits of European Integration. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Urwin, D.W. 1998. Modern Democratic Experiences of Territorial Management: Single Houses, But Many Mansions. Regional and Federal Studies 8(2): 81-110. Google Scholar
Van Houten, P. 2003. Globalization and Demands for Regional Autonomy in Europe. In Governance in a Global Economy: Political Authority in Transition, ed. Kahler, M. and Lake, D.A., 110-135. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Google Scholar
Weyand, S. 1997. Inter-Regional Associations and the European Integration Process. In The Regional Dimension of the European Union: Towards a Third Level in Europe, ed. Jeffery, C., 166-182. London: Frank Cass. Google Scholar
Willis, E., Garman, C.D.C.B, and Haggard, S.. 1999. The Politics of Decentralization in Latin America. Latin American Research Review 34(1): 7-56. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
2004. Devolution in Pakistan: An Assessment & Recommendations for Action. Washington: World Bank. Google Scholar
World Bank. 2018. Member Countries. [Online]. Available at: http://www.worldbank.org/en/about/leadership/members.Google Scholar
World Bank. 2019. Member Countries. [Online]. Available at: https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.CD.Google Scholar
Wu, A., and Want, W.. 2013. Determinants of Expenditure Decentralization: Evidence from China. World Development 46: 176-184. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Supplementary material: File

Gómez Díaz and Gómez Díaz supplementary material

Gómez Díaz and Gómez Díaz supplementary material 1
Download Gómez Díaz and Gómez Díaz supplementary material(File)
File 11.7 KB
Supplementary material: File

Gómez Díaz and Gómez Díaz supplementary material

Gómez Díaz and Gómez Díaz supplementary material 2
Download Gómez Díaz and Gómez Díaz supplementary material(File)
File 1.4 MB