Why Regions Matter: Small Worlds in Comparative Perspective

<p>Bringing together experts on regionalism and federalism this collection explores the impact of legislative regions on parties and voters. It reflects on the 1980 publication of <em>Small Worlds</em> by David Elkins and Richard Simeon which outlined how and why voters and policies differ across Canadian provinces. Using recent data the essays in this collection provide a comparative re-examination of the impact of regions.</p><p>The book explores attitude divergence in Canada and in the US the role and impact of regional parties in Quebec Scotland and Bavaria the impact of multi-level governance on how citizens understand and discharge their duties and the capacity of sub-state political systems to influence general political attitudes. The result is an empirical and analytical contribution to regionalism and federalism studies that demonstrates how and why regions matter.</p><p>This book was published as a special issue of <em>Regional and Federal Studies</em>.</p>