Devolution Is a Dynamic and Destabilizing Process - Essay Example

Devolution is not a "constitutional settlement" but a dynamic (and potentially destabilising) process. Explain and discuss this contention. Introduction: Devolution is considered as home rule in which the central government grants powers to the regional or local governments. The powers that are granted to the local or regional governments are temporary although they ultimately are controlled by the central governments and devolved assemblies can be repealed by the central government (O'Neill, 2004). Devolution of local regions can be triggered or associated with financial factors as regions become more independent financially and control the budget which was formerly controlled and implemented by the central government (Pilkington, 2002; Trench, 2004)). Regional or local governments who get the power of home rule may also get some legal powers to have their own legislative framework and legal rules which they can apply to their region exclusively. In the United Kingdom, a case of devolution in seen in the 1997 referenda in Wales and Scotland when a devolved or regional government was created and this was followed by the establishment of Scottish Parliament, National Assembly for Wales, Northern Ireland Assembly and Greater London Assembly in 1999 (see O'Neill 2004; Trench 2004). The proposals for a devolved state in Wales and Scotland were made in 1979 although the actual implementation of such a proposal could only be made two decades later. However there have been no devolved governments or devolution within England as the Labour government faced defeat in their proposals for a devolved regional government in North East England in 2004. Since then there have been no successful plans of devolution or formation of local and regional governments within England and all are failed plans. Apart from Wales and Scotland, there has been a system of home rule in the US as District of Columbia represents a regional and devolved government and is under the sole control of the United States Congress and the district government was created by statute. Home rule is also found in Greenland, the Faroe Islands, Aruba, and the Netherlands Antilles. Fothergill (2005) states that the Britain's Labour government has been setting new directions for regional policy changes within the UK and has proposed radical changes in the European Union regional policy. Fothergill discusses three government reports to argue that the new directions set by the Labour government do not take account of the accumulated knowledge or even the long history and background of the UK regional policy, Thus the regional policies which are already existing have serious lessons to impart which the new approach of Labour government seems to be overlooking or ignoring. The paper further states that, 'The new approach (of Labour) also prioritizes the devolution of decision-making over positive discrimination from the centre in favour of less prosperous areas'. Thus devolution has become not just a means of constitutional settlement but a dynamic process of change with possible uncertain consequences. In the later part of the analysis we will consider the process of devolution using case studies, examples and research reports. Implications of Devolution Even following devolution, there are many issues and concerns that are applicable to devolved governments. Elliott et al (2005) write that public sector pay is of critical concerns to governments of Westminster and Edinburgh. Public sector pay accounts for the major part of the government's expenditure and when not controlled by the central government, may have to be controlled according to budget in case of regional or devolved governments. The quality and range of services provided by the public sector is largely dependent on this pay controlled by the government. Within the UK, there is a national rate of pay that may not be sensitive to labour market conditions. However many recent changes have been made and consequently in Scotland there have been pay scale revisions and "public sector workers toward the lower end of the distribution of pay are now significantly better paid than their private sector counterparts while those at the upper end are now paid about the same" (Elliot, 2005, p.520). There has been a growing need for reforms that aim to bring rates of pay of the private sector in line with the public sector payment rates. Along with changes to the public sector payment systems, the devolution process can also show changes within the public expenditure systems. Heald D. and McLeod A. (2005) suggest that the establishment of the devolved government in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland in 1999 brought in expectations of a more transparent public expenditure system by the regional government. Yet the authors point out that although there has been greater transparency for the process or rules and legislative systems of the regional government, the financial or budgetary operations have not been made as transparent as they would be expected from devolved administrations. Researchers have used the implementation of the Barnett formula to understand how devolution finance is embedded within the UK's public expenditure planning system and data of UK spending reviews are analysed to get a deeper understanding of the UK devolution system (Heald and McLeod, 2005; McGregor and Swales, 2005). Heald and McLeod (2005) suggest that as relevant data are not available for Wales and Scotland, an examination into the public expenditure system of these areas could not be made and consequent devolution finances could be not be obtained for these regions. According to the authors, the empirical results show that the 'UK devolution financing system cannot be understood simply in terms of applying the Barnett population-based formula proportions to changes in comparable expenditure in England' (Heald and McLeod, 2005, p.495). The authors highlight the need for a fully transparent financial system in devolved administrations. McGregor P. G. and Swales K. (2005) use this background information of public expenditure and government pay outs to give a wider picture of economic implications of the radical process of devolution and decentralization. They highlight on the nature of decision making and policy formation in the stages of devolution and decentralization as initiated by the post 1997 UK Labour government. They suggest that all devolved economies should focus on potential gains from cooperation and coordination and on regional economic development policies, exploiting regional information advantages, and regional economic interdependence (McGregor and Swales, 2005). The authors emphasize that 'the efficiency of devolving fiscal authority involves a balance of positive and negative elements (depending on wage bargaining and migration responses)'. Thus decentralisation and devolution should be based on approaches to greater regional cooperation and coordination and economic interdependence to promote a balance of negative and positive elements of economic development policies (also in Jones, 2005). Although decentralisation and devolution may be responsible for destabilisation of the region, it can create a situation for greater economic cooperation and advanced development policies. In this context devolution and change in European policy making was analysed by Burch et al (2005) who explored the extent to which European Union policy-making in the UK has changed as a result of devolution. The policy issues important are in areas of economic development, structural funds, agriculture, rural development, and environmental policy. Scotland, Wales and UK central governments have revealed that changes to policy outcomes may not be available or may not be judged in any definitive way. Burch et al analyses the changes of European Union-related policies after devolution. Policies that were implemented in the pre devolution phase were found to be ineffective and the political implications for potential future implementation of policies have been highlighted (Burch et al, 2005). The role of policy making, policy makers and policy handling networks have been shown as important with Wales and Scotland enjoying a privileged and dependent position in national European policy making. The authors have concluded emphatically that the UK multilevel central and regional governments play a major role in framing European policies and have a large impact on the outcome of policy making not just for UK but for other European countries as well. They write that 'in the emerging system of UK multilevel governance, the magnitude of change in the handling of European policy varies across territory and policy, but is especially significant in relation to Wales and Scotland. Moreover, these changes are beginning and will continue to impact on outcomes' (Burch et al, 2005). Cooke and Clifton (2005) have discussed several varieties of devolution to explore the economic development financing and action in devolved administrations. The role of the economic development and financing could be importantly placed in the historical and theoretical context. The downsides of devolution have been shown as they claim that 'since devolution in 1999, manufacturing job loss has been a common fear in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales as the UK government, even from 1997, pursued a strong sterling policy outside the Eurozone'. Development alternatives have been halted in Northern Ireland with demands to reduce public administration. The knowledge economy followed by Scotland has evolved around the concept of endogenous growth whereas in Wales the public administration employment has grown rapidly. In a different context, Kay (2005) discusses the concept of territorial justice to study spatial distribution of welfare state services in the UK. Since devolution processes have been established, the concept of territorial justice has been instrumental in maintaining support as a principle and has been instrumental in guiding policies with the objective of reform of financial changes within the devolved administrations (Kay 2005). Territorial justice however has been argued as not workable or applicable as a political principle of justice after devolution or local home rule has been established. However territorial justice could be used in case of the Union state and the pertaining policy issues of devolution is according to Kay related to 'intergovernmental fiscal relations; health care policy including access to medicines; and free community care for the elderly' (Kay 2005; p.544-550). This is definitely a new perspective compared with other emphases on public and government spending or pay scales, or revenue raising and an overemphasis on financial arrangements based on strictly business transactions. Areas of health and community care seem to be extremely relevant to determine the effects of devolution and in many cases destabilisation of health or community care policies as well as a deficit budget can show a failure of the devolved administration or the process of the devolution which would be considered not just as a constitutional settlement but also a potential factor for destabilising administrations. The process of devolution has major political and social implications apart form the obvious effects to changes in financial arrangements. Bradbury (2005) suggests that the devolved governance in Scotland and Wales has shown several opposing developments and agendas. For instance Scotland has not been able to develop novel policy agendas whereas several changes in health and education policies have been taken up by Wales following the attainment of Home rule and separate powers. The role of constitutional development is important as policies are made on the basis of constitutional changes and there have been several political issues such as the changing electoral systems. However Bradbury suggests that despite strong political implications of devolution and a decentralised agenda, the devolution of North East England failed to attain a majority in 2004 and thus regional devolution was removed from national political agenda for some time. The political implications of devolution have been a significant basis for public policy development within the UK. In fact there are differing political views on devolution that shows differing political agendas of Conservatives and New Labour. In this regard the West Lothian question could focus on the expected tensions of separation and decentralisation within the UK and is given by the fact that after devolution, why should Scottish MPs at Westminster be allowed to vote on English domestic matters while they would not be allowed to vote on Scottish domestic matters, which would be dealt with by the Scottish Assembly The more threatening and destabilising factors of devolution and political implications could be analysed in terms of changes within Ireland. Neumann (2005) correctly asks whether the IRA is a threat to peace in Northern Ireland and uses strategic analyses to interpret the IRA's strategy and stress on the importance of organised violence in Northern Ireland. Neumann analyses that IRA's current strategy may be against the peace process that the governments have been trying to attain and also highlights the IRA's continued involvement in paramilitary activity to show that violence as a potential underlying factor of any devolved administration. The purpose of paramilitary activity used as an example to show the peace process of Northern Ireland only make its perfectly constentious that devolution is a constitutional settlement rather than a dynamic and ongoing process towards violence and even possible destabilisation. Goodwin et al (2005) show that devolution has resulted in several political and social changes as well as changes to institutional geographies and state restructuring, as seen within the UK. The paper points out that the Labour government established the Scottish Parliament, elected Assemblies for Wales, Northern Ireland, and London, and Regional Development Agencies within England's regions (Goodwin et al, 2005). A new conceptual approach has been provided by Goodwin to explore the full implications of the new institutional geographies. The strategic relational approach has been taken to suggest that devolution is according to Goodwin et al, a "geographically uneven 'filling-in'" and leads to a complex spatial division of the state which may not be strictly explained within geographical boundaries and are associated with several social and political implications. Keating (2005) has discussed policy implications convergence and divergence of policies to show the importance of cooperation between regional economies and the special position of Scotland following devolution. Conclusion: The implications of devolution as studied through research papers and political agenda go beyond a mere constitutional settlement. It is an ongoing and dynamic process as seen from examples of Ireland and Scotland as new changes to policy making have to be made and new political decisions are affected by the devolution process. Devolution can lead to financial changes, and greater transparency has been expected and recommended for developed administrations as also emphases on greater power to devolved administrations. Devolution has more than long term financial implications and with changes in institutional geographies, political and social changes and healthcare systems are also affected. 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