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.
Decentralization may help preserve peace in one country or in one region, but may have the opposite effect in others.
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.
'Kristin M. Bakke has produced the best and most systematic study
to date on how decentralization can impact prospects for peace and
stability in countries facing separatist threats. Challenging
prominent preexisting approaches, this book treats decentralization
not as a single act that then generates one outcome or another, but
instead as the institutionalization of a certain set of processes
that shape relationships between center and periphery. The impact
of decentralization is thus neither uniformly positive nor negative
but depends crucially on context, in particular the nature of the
identity divides facing the country and patterns of wealth
distribution across and within regions. … Decentralization and
Intrastate Struggles will be important for anyone who is interested
in federalism, ethnic conflict, and post-conflict settlement.'
Henry Hale, George Washington University
'For decades, both scholars and policy makers have debated the
advantages and disadvantages of decentralization in maintaining
peace in divided societies; but with little resolution about when
it might be desirable. Until now. … Bakke weaves together a
compelling set of arguments, statistical analysis, and deeply
researched case studies of Chechnya, Punjab, and Quebec to reduce a
potentially bewildering array of plausible explanatory factors to
the interactions of just a few: the interplay between states and
regions, and autonomy and societal traits. The result is a
satisfying and useful general explanation unpacking the conditions
under which decentralization is war-provoking or peace-preserving.'
Monica Duffy Toft, Blavatnik School of Government, University of
Oxford
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