Politics: The Basics, 4th Edition

also ensures that they are expected to co-ordinate relations with other
states. Control of the major organisations capable of physical coercion
(not only the armed forces but probably also some sort of internal riot
squad) clearly strengthens central governments. A major factor in
most systems is that the higher levels of government usually control
the more effective taxing mechanisms – particularly income tax.
Clearly, too, in many areas of government, as of business, ‘economies
of scale’ mean that large, often computerised, operations can be more
efficient than smaller ones.
Opposed to these centralising tendencies are not only democratic
considerations but also the need to deliver policy effectively to
citizens where they live. As circumstances will vary from local district
to local district, a ‘top down’ central solution to a centrally conceived
problem may well translate into an inappropriate response to local
problems (see Chapter 8). In Europe, the EU has supported the
development of regional institutions and makes grants available to
them for economic development and other purposes.
The idea of ‘subsidiarity’ can be applied to decide which level of
government to allocate powers to. The principle was incorporated in
the Maastricht Treaty (1991) on the future of the EU (Box 6.5).

BOX 6.5 THE PRINCIPLE OF SUBSIDIARITY

The advantages of better democratic control and the greater flexibility
of response to local circumstances create a presumption in favour of
the lower level. In contemporary Britain, however, governments
have interpreted this principle somewhat selectively. There has not
been the same emphasis on leaving to local government the maxi-
mum decision-making power as the central UK government has
asserted in its relations with Europe (see Duff, 1993).
The principle of subsidiarity has been strongly endorsed in
twentieth-century papal encyclicals. Thus Leo XIII in Quadragesimo
Anno(1941) proclaimed:

STATES 157

Advocates that political decisions should always be made at the lowest

possible level of government.