15 Jul Post-Independence: Comparing city-regional devolution strategic scenarios in Scotland, Catalonia and the Basque Country, paper that will be given at the Policy & Politics Conference 2014 at the University of Bristol (England), 17th September.

“PostIndependence: Comparing city-regional devolution strategic scenarios in Scotland, Catalonia and the BasqueCountry” paper has been accepted and will be presented at Policy & Politics 2014 Conference at the University of Bristol in September 17th (just the day before the Scottish #indyref). Here the full paper.

Abstract:

Milestone changes are taking place in Europe in which the rights of territories to determine their own future and make democratic choices for devolution are becoming key issues. The referenda in Scotland and Catalonia, in September and November, respectively and – presumably, in the near future – in the Basque Country, bring into are question the issue of democratic representation beyond the level of the nation-state, while legitimating the territories as unique actors by activating city-regional (Herrschel, 2014) devolution processes. Thus, 2014 seems to appear to be a turning-point year regarding city-regional devolution. Here, the author suggests and develops  an original concept of post-independence in reference to a strategic scenario of city-regional devolution aiming at the right to decide for this hypothetical independent territory of tomorrow and the need to thus prepare, research, implement and disseminate territorial strategies and policies. As Michael Keating (2001) argues, globalisation and European integration have encouraged the re-emergence of nationalisms within established nation-states, a notion that connects directly with strategic city-regional devolution scenarios, to which city-regions are contributing through their own self-governance responses to contemporary global developments. Presenting a comparative analysis of the three cases mentioned, Scotland, Catalonia and the Basque Country, the main conclusion of this paper lays in the importance given to anticipating for a better understanding and implementation of the city-regional governance, regardless of whether or not these city-regions do, in fact, finally gain full independence.

See the paper in Academia.