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There is no one-size-fits-all decentralized fix to deeply divided and conflict-ridden states. One of the hotly debated policy prescriptions for states facing self-determination demands is some form of decentralized governance - including regional autonomy arrangements and federalism - which grants minority groups a degree of self-rule. Yet the track record of existing decentralized states suggests that these have widely divergent capacity to contain conflicts within their borders. Through in-depth case studies of Chechnya, Punjab and Québec, as well as a statistical cross-country analysis, this book argues that while policy, fiscal approach, and political decentralization can, indeed, be peace-preserving at times, the effects of these institutions are conditioned by traits of the societies they (are meant to) govern. Decentralization may help preserve peace in one country or in one region, but it may have just the opposite effect in a country or region with different ethnic and economic characteristics.
List of contents
1. 'Peace-preserving' decentralization?; 2. Divisions, diversity, and disparity in federal states; 3. The First War in Chechnya; 4. The rise and decline of the Punjab crisis; 5. Québec's sovereignty movement; 6. Decentralization and restoring peace after war.
About the author
Kristin M. Bakke is Senior Lecturer in Political Science at University College London. She has previously taught at Leiden University and been a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University. She holds a PhD from the University of Washington, Seattle. Her research, focusing on self-determination struggles and post-war states, has appeared in journals such as International Security, International Studies Quarterly, the Journal of Conflict Resolution, the Journal of Peace Research, Perspectives on Politics, and World Politics. She has received grants from the Economic and Social Research Council (UK), the National Science Foundation (US), and the Chr. Michelsen Institute (Norway). She is an associate editor at the Journal of Peace Research and serves on the advisory board of Nations and Nationalism, the management committee of the European Network of Conflict Research, and the council of the British Conflict Research Society.
Summary
Examining self-determination struggles in Chechnya, Punjab and Québec, as well as elsewhere, this book argues that while decentralization may help preserve peace in one country or in one region, it may have just the opposite effect in a country or region with different ethnic and economic characteristics.
