Anglo-american System Of Local Autonomy Is A Comparative Study

When democracy developed to a certain level, people renewed their viewpoints about political structures and systems, and then established new sophisticated forms of democracy construction, namely regional autonomy and decentralization. With a long history of evolution, the relationship between the new forms and those traditional ones of political democracy presents vital information for us to study regional autonomy, which tells us both its original point and the developing laws. Within a framework of evolution, the thesis presents two aspects of analysis. On the one hand, the author intends to figure out a comprehensive picture of the development of regional autonomy with the case-studying of U.S. and Britain, which are two countries deeply rooted in the tradition of regional autonomy. On the other hand, the author further deliberates on an assumption that we should not focus only on studying a certain period of a country, but need to broaden our envision throughout its whole history of development. Only after a fulfilled research like this, we could conduct objective analysis and work out a reasonable interpretation about regional autonomy.The reason why the author uses the cases of U.S. and Britain as the studying models is that the thesis is based on a division in terms of historical institutionalism. In this thesis, the development of regional autonomy in the two countries is viewed as a top-down process and then the similarities and differences of the same systems in the two countries could provide profound conception on regional autonomy. Furthermore, the cases of U.S. and Britain are of highly representative models for us to study regional autonomy because of the advanced political culture and strong political systems of the two countries. As we know, regional autonomy is not only a realistic choice to execute the ideas of traditional autonomy, but also a vital method through which countries implement democracy. Therefore, an analysis on the experiment and experiences learned from the endeavor to establish and develop it would generate demonstrative effects and useful significance for developing countries to carry out regional autonomy.To definite the complex picture of regional autonomy from various aspects, angels and focuses in countries with different national conditions and historical traditions is a task, though proved objective and reasonable, difficult to accomplish. For example, the difficulty of definition may come from the complexity of two methods used in the thesis. One method used is to definite regional autonomy under the guidance of the ideas of central & local government and individuals, or within the framework of studying the relationship between political ideas and laws; the other method, from a rather practical angel, means to definite autonomy from the changes of the forms to implementing power by local governments, the interactive effect among local network members and that between the objective and implementation of regional autonomy as well. Additionally, with the combination of the researches on static and dynamic characteristic of political systems, the thesis is designed to explain contents of regional autonomy from a relatively comprehensive viewpoint. Generally, regional autonomy comprises a series of systems, laws and principles of the self-governance in regions, actions taken by local governments, and various interactive models between related subjects.The author intends to explain the legitimacy of regional autonomy as a form of political power from some famous theories such as the academic schools of advocating the inherent power in regional autonomy, recognition for its power, system guarantees and people's sovereignty in implementing autonomy. The great significance can be induced from its role as an effective political measure to realize human rights and a necessary requirement to realize the values of democracy. At the same time, it also embodies the highest target of decentralization and manifests the significance of federalism.Instead of retelling the history of regional autonomy in U.S. and Britain, the author chooses several representative stages to analyze the factors driving the establishment of various systems, with the focus on the characteristics and trends of the very type of regional autonomy. In Britain, the long history of regional autonomy is characteristic of the parallel development of law-ruling and parliamentary sovereignty. In terms of the relationship between central and local powers, its evolution can be cut into three periods, namely that of formation of traditional local autonomic systems, returning of power to the central government in the 1980s and transferring power to local governments under the rule of Labor Party during the constitutional reform in the late 20th century. While contrasting the situation of power exercising in different periods, the author also researches the nature of regional autonomy by horizontal comparison of some indexes, such as interests, concepts and systems, of historical institutionalism. Which one became the top characteristic of regional autonomy in a certain period and what caused the situation would also be researched in the thesis. On the whole, the author analyzes the historical sedimentation of regional autonomy in Britain through both horizontal and vertical comparisons. After a series of reforms, the regional autonomy in Britain has showed a new characteristic. The characteristic lies in the fact that people change to consider ethnic problems in terms of those in regional autonomy, thus solve them on framework of the construction of the later. At the same time, the author also illustrates decentralization endeavors conducted by the central government and reforms made by local ones to realize regional autonomy.When it comes to the case of U.S., we could find out that the life style implementing regional autonomy formed in most areas of the country before U.S. was formally established. Taking the form of autonomy in both villages and towns voluntarily, regional autonomy is conducted as top-to-down national laws and performs as a principle of public politics. In the evolution of the relationship between central and local governments, no clear divisions could be found and the power exercising is ever-adjusting after the tradition of regional autonomy was established. Therefore, the author tries to explore the establishment and adjustment of regional autonomy and the causes behind them, based on horizontal and vertical comparison of some indexes of historical institutionalism. Nowadays, regional autonomy in U.S. has assumed a new characteristic which lies in the fact that it are the troubles faced by metropolitan governments that determine how regional autonomy will develop in the future. Besides, neo-federalism is not only implemented at federal level but also provides guidance on how local and state governments should interact with each other.Overall, we could find great similarity in the development of regional autonomy in U.S. and Britain, which comes mainly from the facts that autonomy models of the two countries developed down similar historical traces and were based on common political culture and systems. Besides, the return of power to central governments in modern times and putting emphasis again on grass-root organizations or governments together made situation in the two countries almost the same. The last aspect of similarity may be induces from the balanced development between central and local power-exercising in the two countries. Nevertheless, there still exists great difference in the situation of the two countries, which is demonstrated such aspects as the law origins of local autonomy, the organizations endowed with regional autonomy, the influence exerted by political parties in local election and the supervision imposed on local governments.Based on above-mentioned researches, the author will further sum up and ponder over various troubles face by regional autonomy, thus posing great challenges for traditional political ideas and elements. The thesis concludes that we should re-set our thinking on political models and ideas that are more suitable for the social development in the future. We should rethink following issues. Firstly, people should rethink about problems of civil rights, namely its exercise springs from collective recognition or individualism after the practice of regional autonomy? Are civil rights realized through participation in politics or national elections? These issues are posed again and the countermeasures to solve them are figured out by exercising regional autonomy. One of these measures is improvement of it at local level, which means integrating individualism into collective recognition. Compared with political participation, national elections could play a larger role in realization of civil rights. At the same time, other forms of political participation could make pioneering contribution for regional autonomy, solving the contradiction as two aspects of an issue.Secondly, two problems may be generated from the role transformation of local governments triggered by the development of regional autonomy, that is, the value may be depreciated while emphasizing on effects and vice versa. The disparity between design and practice is not necessarily negative and may contribute to regional autonomy sometimes. Thirdly, regional autonomy could improve social governance. At the same time, the multi-centralized authority of governing subjects may bring about challenges on the traditional political elements and power structure, which are evident in the changes of traditional national formation and subjects of political participation.In a word, the thesis intends to analyze the similarity and difference between U.S. and Britain through reviewing the development of regional autonomy and those causes behind it. In this way, the author tries to explain clearly the characteristics of regional autonomy and its trends, and rethink various political ideas. The thesis not only combs the history of regional autonomy, but also forecast its future possibilities. With these efforts, the author hopes not only to provide an in-depth analysis on regional autonomy and its status-quo, but also to bring enlightenment for its exercise in other countries.