Davide Vampa

New blog!

For our series by @regfedst.bsky.social, Onyedikachi Madueke writes that Nigeria is drifting towards federal autocracy as power concentrates across every tier of government.

Read more: edin.ac/4oTR92h

We are delighted to support the publication of a new blog series by @regfedst.bsky.social, identifying and analysing emerging issues in the study of federalism, regionalism, and multi-level governance.

The first blog in the series is live here: edin.ac/43V8AH0

💭 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗻𝗲𝘄 𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗹𝗲 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗹𝗼𝗴!
You can find the blog post by Philip Toney here 👉 www.centreonconstitutionalchange.ac.uk/blog/2025/ri...

📢 #BGAEvent: It is not too late to book for our first in-person event in Edinburgh, organised jointly with @ccc-research.bsky.social. We're honoured that @angusrobertson.bsky.social will share this thoughts on German federalism. Register here: eventbrite.co.uk/e/still-a-mo...

New publication!

Devolution has reshaped how Scotland is governed. Yet power and prosperity have become ever more concentrated in and around Edinburgh. Our new report makes the case for a distinctive Scottish approach for reform to rebalance central–local relations.

Read more: edin.ac/3JonpLb

Sticking to the script: nationalist contestation and the cost-of-living crisis in plurinational states In the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic, the growth of the transnational cost-of-living crisis provided an impetus for state and substate nationalist cooperation but has also created a window of ...

🚨𝗡𝗲𝘄 𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗻 𝗮𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗹𝗲 𝗼𝗻𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲🚨
🛒 Sticking to the script: 𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘀𝘁 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 and the 𝗰𝗼𝘀𝘁-𝗼𝗳-𝗹𝗶𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗰𝗿𝗶𝘀𝗶𝘀 in plurinational states
🔓Read the new #openaccess article by Judith Sijstermans, @paulanderson88.bsky.social & Coree Brown Swan 👉 doi.org/10.1080/1359...
#nationalism #Spain #UK #Belgium

Aliança Catalana and Vox in Catalonia: united in nativism, divided by the nation Radical right nativist parties have gained ground across Europe in recent decades. However, a key unanswered question is how these parties adapt in contexts marked by the centre–periphery cleavage ...

🚨 𝗡𝗲𝘄 𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗻 𝗮𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗹𝗲 𝗼𝗻𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲! 🚨
🇪🇸 𝗔𝗹𝗶𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗮 𝗖𝗮𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗮 and 𝗩𝗼𝘅 in Catalonia: united in nativism, divided by the nation
🔓Read the new #openaccess article by @javiermcanto.bsky.social & @julitudo.bsky.social here 👉 doi.org/10.1080/1359...
#Radicalright #Catalonia #Vox #AliançaCatalana #nationalism

New blog

Cracks in the Stonehenge of Welsh Politics: Caerphilly and Labour’s Future

Read @nyedavies.bsky.social on why the result in Caerphilly should act as a wake-up call to Welsh Labour, despite many in the party having warned against reading too much into the defeat

Read more: edin.ac/4949g0m

It's not too late to register for our upcoming event with Angus Robertson on what we can and can't learn from German federalism.

More info here: edin.ac/46JYj2v

Logo of the European Political Science Review, featuring the acronym EPSR in bold letters, next to the full name spelled out, with a hashtag OpenAccess at the bottom right.

#OpenAccess from @epsrjournal.bsky.social -

Far-right against green: the re-emergence of geographically defined voting patterns and the new environment cleavage in Western Europe - https://cup.org/3LB7xpl

- @dafnoukos.bsky.social, @chvrakopoulos.bsky.social & Christoph Arndt

#FirstView

📢 Great news: we have launched 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗷𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗻𝗮𝗹'𝘀 𝗯𝗹𝗼𝗴!
If you are interested in #regionalism and #federalism, take a look at the first article and find out how you can contribute:
www.centreonconstitutionalchange.ac.uk/blog/2025/sh...

New Scot Parl poll puts SNP ahead by 12% & 9%, has Reform in 2nd place & underlines the near-demise of the Scottish Tories.
Constituency / List %:
SNP 34 / 29
Reform 22 / 20
Labour 18 / 17
Cons 10 / 12
LibDem 8 / 10
Green 7 / 10
Alba 1 / 2 Alba
Via @survation.bsky.social

Still a Model? What We Can (and Can’t) Learn from German Federalism This event explores whether German federalism still offers useful lessons for Scotland and the UK.

Event rescheduled

Still a Model? What We Can (and Can’t) Learn from German Federalism

The CCC & @britgerassoc.bsky.social welcome @angusrobertson.bsky.social to discuss whether German federalism still offers useful lessons for Scotland & the UK

11 Nov, 6-7:30pm
Edinburgh
Register: edin.ac/46JYj2v

📘 New article!

“Uneven benefits? Territorial divides in perceptions of devolution in Scotland and Wales" in @rsa-tpg.bsky.social

➡️ Where within devolved nations are the benefits of devolved power actually felt? With what political implications?

📄 Open access 🔗:
doi.org/10.1080/2162...

thread 🧵👇

Capital cities in multi-level settings: Assessing Scottish and Welsh residents’ perceptions of London, Edinburgh and Cardiff - Davide Vampa, 2025 Devolution processes, while aiming to transfer power to sub-state entities, contribute to creating new political, administrative, and economic centres. Conseque...

8/8 Project supported by @britishacademy.bsky.social and also linked to the earlier article "Capital cities in multi-level settings: Assessing Scottish and Welsh residents’ perceptions of London, Edinburgh and Cardiff", published in @bjpir.bsky.social

Open access: doi.org/10.1177/1369...

Uneven benefits? Territorial divides in perceptions of devolution in Scotland and Wales Considerable attention has been given to resource distribution across regions in decentralised countries. However, less is known about how devolved institutions address territorial inequalities wit...

7/8

📄 Open access link:
doi.org/10.1080/2162...

6/8 The takeaway:
If devolution is to retain legitimacy, its local reach matters as much as its national narrative.

Strengthening devolution requires ensuring that benefits are felt beyond capitals and urban cores.

5/8 By contrast, those who believe devolution helps “only the capital” (or “not at all”) are far less supportive of both devolved leaders and constitutional reform (i.e. strengthening devolved institutions).

4/8 These perceptions also matter politically.

Seeing devolution as delivering local benefits is strongly associated with:
✔️ in Scotland, greater support for devolved incumbents
✔️ in Scotland & Wales, stronger backing for further devolved powers
✔️ in Scotland, higher support for independence

3/8 This suggests that devolved institutions may have reduced state-wide inequalities, but have not necessarily addressed internal imbalances within Scotland and Wales.

Many communities feel “doubly peripheral”: distant from Westminster and from Edinburgh/Cardiff or urban areas.

2/8 The findings show clear intra-regional patterns in perceptions of who gains from devolution:

In Scotland: an urban–rural divide 🌆🌾
Residents in rural areas are much less likely to feel local benefits.

In Wales: a centre–periphery gap 🏙️↔️🏞️
Perceptions of benefit are concentrated around Cardiff.

1/8 Debates on devolution often focus on Scotland vs Westminster, or Wales vs Westminster.
But where, within devolved nations, are the benefits of devolved power actually felt?

This article uses new survey data to explore these internal territorial divides.

📘 New article!

“Uneven benefits? Territorial divides in perceptions of devolution in Scotland and Wales" in @rsa-tpg.bsky.social

➡️ Where within devolved nations are the benefits of devolved power actually felt? With what political implications?

📄 Open access 🔗:
doi.org/10.1080/2162...

thread 🧵👇

​​⏪𝗟𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗹𝘆 𝗶𝗻 𝗥𝗙𝗦…
🇧🇪Dieter Stiers & @marchooghe.bsky.social discuss whether it is (still) right to label regional elections as 𝘀𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗱-𝗼𝗿𝗱𝗲𝗿 in 𝗕𝗲𝗹𝗴𝗶𝘂𝗺.
🗳️Are regional elections second-order or not for Belgian voters?
Read the article here👉 doi.org/10.1080/1359...
#elections #Belgium #voting #regions

Today was our @safety-nets.bsky.social Scottish round table where we gave an overview of stage 1 of the project to lots of important research & policy folk in Scotland. Thanks to @ccc-research.bsky.social for supporting the event & also to Mark & Ciara for travelling & presenting.

The rural-urban divide in risk preferences: evidence of a risk drain in Norway Risk-taking is an important driver for regional development. If rural populations are more risk-averse than their urban counterparts, this may present a challenge for achieving balanced regional gr...

🚨 𝗡𝗲𝘄 𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗻 𝗮𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗹𝗲 𝗼𝗻𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲! 🚨
🇳🇴 The 𝗿𝘂𝗿𝗮𝗹-𝘂𝗿𝗯𝗮𝗻 𝗱𝗶𝘃𝗶𝗱𝗲 in risk preferences: evidence of a 𝗿𝗶𝘀𝗸 drain in Norway
🔓Read the new #openaccess article by Philip Toney here 👉 doi.org/10.1080/1359...
#Norway #risk #rural #urban

🆓 📣 𝗙𝗿𝗲𝗲 𝗮𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗼𝗻𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲!
Two articles in free access 𝘂𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗹 𝟯𝟭 𝗗𝗲𝗰𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿.

🟢 by Nigussie Afesha & Hazel Rose Barrett on statehood in Ethiopia 👉 doi.org/10.1080/1359...

🟢 by Paul Carmichael & Colin Knox on devolution and local government in Northern Ireland 👉 doi.org/10.1080/1359...

Why Scots are losing their British identity With only a quarter of respondents to the Scottish Social Attitudes survey identifying with Britishness, Scotland faces a generational political split

Analysis in @thetimes.com by @leaskyd.bsky.social & Anna Dowell of the sharp decline in British identity uncovered by the Scottish Social Attitudes survey.

With comment from Sir John Curtice on the polarising of Scottish politics and from myself on the decoupling of Scottish and British identities:

💡The study by @davidevampa.bsky.social introduces a Core Electoral Strength (CES) index to assess parties’ vote share advantage in core areas over provincial areas in #Spain and #Italy 💡

🔓Read #OpenAccess here 👇
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

​​⏪ 𝗟𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗹𝘆 𝗶𝗻 𝗥𝗙𝗦…
🇪🇺🇩🇪 @romyha.bsky.social investigated the 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝗳 𝗰𝗼𝗵𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗳𝘂𝗻𝗱𝘀 in the German Baden-Württemberg.
What are the reasons behind organisations’ 𝗻𝗼𝗻-𝗱𝗲𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗘𝗨 𝗳𝘂𝗻𝗱𝘀?

🔓Read the #openaccess article here 👉 doi.org/10.1080/1359...

#EU #cohesion #policy