The Vertical Division of Powers in the European Union

Regions are now back into the political picture! Most of them have a history behind, identity and thus tradition. Due to the special relationship between the (nation)-states and their sub-state regions, negotiation is carried out in terms of power. I have briefly analyzed it to point how power shapes the allocation of property rights, namely, how state power still manages the amount of power to be transferred or not to the sub-state level of governance. Against this background, the vertical distribution of power is scrutinized on two layers, namely on why power must be shared and how this process is supposed to unfold. Both of them are seen from three different perspectives: the (multi-)governance one, the social cultural diversity and the legal-institutional. Whilst under the why umbrella questions and demands are raised, in the how part, answers are given in reversed order, in terms of mixed administration, alternative direct democracy, political (mis-)representation. The study ends with a brief survey of the conceptual cluster of subsidiarity seeking to find the most appropriate formula supposed to handle the increasing complexity of the present policy making process.