The UK’s recent exit from the European Union has sparked new interest in secession and has generated debate on the right to secede. The majority of people in the United States are either dissatisfied or extremely dissatisfied with their federal government. The problem is that there is no...

The UK’s recent exit from the European Union has sparked new interest in secession and has generated debate on the right to secede. The majority of people in the United States are either dissatisfied or extremely dissatisfied with their federal government. The problem is that there is no...

Just three months after the Senate immigration bill met its well-deserved end, amnesty advocates in the U.S. Congress resumed their efforts. The Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act is a nightmare. It is a massive amnesty that extends - conditional - lawful permanent...

Piper Aircraft Co. v. Reyno is the Supreme Court's leading case on forum non conveniens - that is, on when a federal court should dismiss a pending case in favor of litigation in a foreign forum. Every casebook features the case and every civil procedure professor has taught it. The greatest...

This essay addresses the institucional governance-related factors associated with Colombia´s civil war and fight against terrorism. The piece identifies governance-related explanatory indicators based on measuring government effectiveness, efficiency, transparency, abuses of discretion,...

The citizen assembly of the Swiss canton Glarus decided to radically reduce the historical number of communes from 25 to three. Studies show that the financial and economic consequences are surprisingly small. This paper analyzes the effects on citizens’ vote participation as an indicator of...

The current system of federalism undermines the social and economic equality of the people of the United States. Although states have broad responsibilities to provide basic services, they have vastly different financial capacities. Some states are richer while others are poorer, and these...

The organisation of inpatient care provision has undergone significant reform in many southern European countries. Overall across Europe, public management is moving towards the introduction of more flexibility and autonomy . In this setting, the promotion of the further decentralisation of...

We revisit the classic problem of tax competition in the context of federal nations, and derive a positive theory of partial decentralization. A capital poor median voter wants to use capital taxes to provide public goods. This results in redistributive public good provision. As a consequence,...

Though decentralization for past one and half decade or so has become the most favoured policy priority among the policy makers yet the countries around the world differ dramatically in the degree of decentralization that is accommodated. While diversity in degree of decentralization across the...