Devolution as a Post-Brexit Factor of the British Regions Political Actorness: The Cases of Scotland and Wales
DOI: 10.20542/afij-2023-3-79-90
EDN: SZQVQO
© Sergei A. SHEIN, Yulia A. BELOUS, Polina I. CHUPRIYANOVA, Natalia O. SEMENOVA, Lolita V. KOROLEVA, 2023
Received 07.12.2022.
Revised 25.10.2023.
Accepted 04.12.2023.
Sergei A. SHEIN (sshein@hse.ru), ORCID: 0000-0001-9749-9116,
National Research University ‘Higher School of Economics’, 17 Malaya Ordynka Str.1, Moscow 119017, Russian Federation.
Yulia A. BELOUS (ybelous@hse.ru), ORCID: 0000-0002-0871-8223,
National Research University ‘Higher School of Economics’, 17 Malaya Ordynka Str.1, Moscow 119017, Russian Federation.
Polina I. CHUPRIYANOVA (pichupriyanova@edu.hse.ru ; pchupriyanova@russiancouncil.ru), ORCID: 0009-0005-5982-3380,
National Research University ‘Higher School of Economics’, 17 Malaya Ordynka Str.1, Moscow 119017, Russian Federation,
Russian International Affairs Council, 8, 4th Dobryninsky Pereulok, Moscow 119049, Russian Federation.
Natalia O. SEMENOVA (nosemenova@edu.hse.ru),
National Research University ‘Higher School of Economics’, 17 Malaya Ordynka Str.1, Moscow 119017, Russian Federation.
Lolita V. KOROLEVA (lkrasikova@hse.ru), ORCID: 0000-0002-5112-7875,
National Research University ‘Higher School of Economics’, 17 Malaya Ordynka Str.1, Moscow 119017, Russian Federation.
Brexit, as a profound political and institutional shock for the United Kingdom and the whole European Union as an integration organization, has significantly changed the context of the functioning of British ethno-regional autonomies. The UK’s exit from the European Union has transformed the parameters of the political actorness of British regions in the context of an ongoing devolution. The devolutionary framework, characterized by asymmetrical relations between the center and the regions, as well as the unthorough nature of the reforms carried out, created barriers to the development of the political actorness of the regions in a situation of redistribution of powers after the elimination of the supranational level of governance after Brexit. Britain’s exit from the EU led to an attempt to recentralize domestic policy by the Conservative government of Boris Johnson, following which he acted in line with the previously pursued devolutionary policy. The authors of the article set out to identify the impact of Brexit on the political actorness of the British regions of the United Kingdom – Scotland and Wales – using theoretical tools of historical institutionalism. The study concluded that the increased demand for expanding the political actorness of British regions after Brexit does not lead to an increase in the powers and preferences of regional administrations, based on the existing devolutionary framework that limits the ability of regions to fight for their status, powers and preferences within the existing political system. The system determines the limits of the strategy of regional government actors in the absence of a clear configuration of multi-level politics in the United Kingdom and the lack of institutional mechanisms to increase the actorness of the regions. It was revealed that the central authorities use an exclusionary policy of ‘soft recentralization’ after Brexit in relations with the regions. Scotland and Wales, in turn, implement strategies of ‘managable confrontation’ and ‘forced cooperation’ in relation to the center based on the lack of effective institutional mechanisms for increasing their own status within the national political system.
Keywords
Authors’ contribution:
Shein S.A. – conceptualization, editing, approval of the final version of the article;
Belous Yu.A. – research methodology, formation of research conclusions;
Chupriyanova P.I. – writing a part about the center’s strategy on Scotland and Wales regarding the political actorness of the ethno-regional autonomies;
Semenova N.O. – writing a part about the center’s strategy on Wales regarding the political actorness of the ethno-regional autonomies;
Koroleva L.V. – critical analysis of the literature, description of the results.
Competing interests: no potential competing financial or non-financial interest was reported by the authors.
Financial support: The study was conducted in 2022 as a part of the project No. 22-00-047 of the Scientific Foundation of the National Research University ‘Higher School of Economics’ for the creation of a scientific and educational group ‘Evaluation of the political acrtorness of ethno-regional autonomies’.
About the authors:
Sergei A. SHEIN, Cand. Sci. (Polit.), Associate Professor, International Regional Studies Department, Research Fellow, Centre for Comprehensive European and International Studies (CCEIS);
Yulia A. BELOUS, Postgraduate Student, International Affairs Department, Junior Research Fellow, Centre for Comprehensive European and International Studies (CCEIS);
Polina I. CHUPRIYANOVA, Student, Faculty of World Economy and International Affairs, Program Coordinator at the Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC);
Natalia O. SEMENOVA, Student, Faculty of World Economy and International Affairs;
Lolita V. KOROLEVA, Research Assistant, Centre for Comprehensive European and International Studies (CCEIS).
For citation:
Shein S., Belous Y., Chupriyanova P., Semenova N., Koroleva L. Devolution as a Post-Brexit Factor of the British Regions Political Actorness: The Cases of Scotland and Wales. Analysis & Forecasting. Journal of IMEMO, 2023, no 3, pp. 79-90. https://doi.org/10.20542/afij-2023-3-79-90
