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Civil Conflict, Federalism and Strategic Delegation of Leadership

Author

Listed:
  • Colin Jennings

    (Department of Economics, University of Strathclyde)

  • Hein Roelfsema

    (Utrecht School of Economics, Utrecht University)

Abstract
This article analyses negative externalities that policy makers in one region or group may impose upon the citizens of neighbouring regions or groups. These externalities may be material, but they may also be psychological (in the form of envy). The latter form of externality may arise from the production of "conspicuous" public goods. As a result, decentralized provision of conspicuous public goods may be too high. Potentially, a centralized legislature may internalize negative externalities. However, in a model with strategic delegation we argue that the median voter in each jurisdiction may anticipate a reduction in local public goods supply and delegates to a policymaker who cares more for public goods than she does herself. This last effect mitigates the expected benefits of policy centralization. The authors' theory is then applied to the setting of civil conflict, where they discuss electoral outcomes in Northern Ireland and Yugoslavia before and after significant institutional changes which affected the degree of centralization. These case studies provide support for the authors' theoretical predictions.

Suggested Citation

  • Colin Jennings & Hein Roelfsema, 2008. "Civil Conflict, Federalism and Strategic Delegation of Leadership," Working Papers 0803, University of Strathclyde Business School, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:str:wpaper:0803
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. R. Emre Aytimur & Aristotelis Boukouras & Robert Schwager, 2012. "The Citizen-Candidate Model with Imperfect Policy Control," CESifo Working Paper Series 3900, CESifo.
    2. R. Emre Aytimur & Aristotelis Boukouras & Robert Schwager, 2016. "The citizen-candidate model with imperfect policy control: Strategic delegation and polarization," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 49(3), pages 997-1015, August.
    3. Colin Jennings, 2011. "Intra-Group Competition And Inter-Group Conflict: An Application To Northern Ireland," Defence and Peace Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(1), pages 63-83.
    4. Stefan Brandauer & Florian Englmaier, 2009. "A model of strategic delegation in contests between groups," Review of Economic Design, Springer;Society for Economic Design, vol. 13(3), pages 205-232, September.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    conflict; federalism; strategic delegation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
    • D74 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Conflict; Conflict Resolution; Alliances; Revolutions
    • H77 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - Intergovernmental Relations; Federalism

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