Is Regional Centralism Inevitable? The Case of the Welsh Assembly

Laffin M. (2004) Is regional centralism inevitable? The case of the Welsh Assembly, Reg. Studies 38, 213-223. Scottish and Welsh devolution raises the question of regional centralism - can strong governments at the sub-nation state or regional level co-exist with strong local governments? The case of Wales indicates that regional centralism is not inevitable. The Welsh Assembly allows local government considerable policy influence and exercises looser direct controls compared with Whitehall departments. The paper concludes that regional-local tensions are likely to be lessened where regional assemblies have substantial responsibilities, regional-local relations work best when the regional level body is recognized as the senior partner and where regional assemblies are designed to prevent them becoming one-party dominated.