devolution

n.

1. A passing down or descent through successive stages of time or a process.
2. Transference, as of rights or qualities, to a successor.
3. Delegation of authority or duties to a subordinate or substitute.
4. A transfer of powers from a central government to local units.
5. Biology. Degeneration.

[Late Latin dēvolūtiō, dēvolūtiōn-, from Latin dēvolūtus, past participle of dēvolvere, to roll down, fall to. See devolve.]

devolutionary dev'o·lu'tion·ar'y (-shə-nĕr'ē) adj.
devolutionist dev'o·lu'tion·ist n.

m

Definition: decentralization
Antonyms: centralization

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The transfer of powers from central government to regional and local governments. UK devolution has been based on the principle that decision-making powers be devolved to the appropriate level of governance, creating new assemblies in Wales and Scotland for the purpose. With the rise of nationalism, devolution may be seen as one way to avoid ethnic unrest; power has been devolved to the Basques in Spain, for example, partly as a response to local discord.

Devolution discourses draw on nationalist identities to create new systems of governance, aimed to be more responsive, relevant, transparent, and accountable, and to be a bridge across the divide between the state and civil society.

The grant of power by an upper level of government to a lower one. In contrast to federalism, where each tier has protected areas of power, a devolved government remains constitutionally subordinate to the government which gave it its power and which could in principle revoke it.

There have been several experiments with devolution to subnational governments in the United Kingdom. The three Home Rule Bills (1886, 1893, and 1912) were all attempts to set up a devolved government in Ireland while retaining sovereignty at Westminster. They all failed, for a number of reasons. Most relevant of them today is what is now known as the ‘West Lothian Question’ (because it was constantly being put in the 1970s by Tam Dalyell, then MP (Lab) for West Lothian; like Mr Gladstone's Irish Question, it never received a satisfactory answer). In a generalized form, the West Lothian Question asks what are to be the numbers, powers, and duties of upper-tier (Westminster) MPs for a devolved territory. If their numbers are left untouched (as in the Scotland and Wales Acts 1978), the devolved territory is privileged vis-à-vis the rest of the country. If they are abolished (1886) the devolved territory suffers taxation without representation. If they are allowed to vote at Westminster on non-devolved matters but not on devolved ones (considered in 1886) the majority of votes on devolved matters might be for a different party to the majority of votes on non-devolved matters. The most coherent solution to the West Lothian Question is probably to reduce the numbers of such Westminster MPs and to ring-fence devolved matters in the devolved territory. This was adopted for Northern Ireland in the Government of Ireland Act 1920 but broke down 1972 because Westminster could no longer refrain from intervening in the devolved affairs of Northern Ireland.

The difficulty of solving the West Lothian Question drove various parties (the Liberals 1912 and the Labour Party in 1991-2) to propose schemes for ‘Home Rule All Round’, in which the whole country is given lower-tier assemblies. In the United Kingdom this produces further problems: either the whole of England is given one assembly (the 1912 proposal), in which case it becomes overwhelmingly stronger than the Scottish, Welsh, and Northern Irish assemblies and there is rather little left for Westminster to do; or each region of England is given an assembly (the 1991 proposal), a solution which has nothing in its favour except logic.

Devolution to Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland was implemented 1998 and 1999. In each case, it was legitimized by a referendum approving it—by a very narrow margin in Wales, but by comfortable margins in Scotland and Northern Ireland., A simultaneous referendum in the Republic of Ireland agreed overwhelmingly to abandon the Republic's territorial claim over Northern Ireland. This legitimation makes UK devolution much more stable than the failed attempts of 1886, 1893, 1912, and 1978. However, the problem of representation (the West Lothian Question) and the problem of finance (summarized as the ‘Barnett Formula’; more accurately, the incorrect objectives of the formula coupled with its failure to achieve them) leave tensions in the devolution settlement.

Dansk (Danish)
n. - decentralisering, uddelegering, devolution, degenerering, arvefald

Nederlands (Dutch)
decentralisatie, overdracht, devolutie (juridisch/ kerkelijk)

Français (French)
n. - délégation, (Jur) transmission, dévolution, décentralisation, (Biol) dégénérescence

Deutsch (German)
n. - Dezentralisierung, Übertragung, Erbfolge, Degeneration

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - μεταβίβαση ή εκχώρηση (εξουσίας, δικαιώματος, τίτλου κ.λπ.), (βιολ.), καταβολισμός, εκφυλισμός

Italiano (Italian)
decentramento, delegazione, devoluzione

Português (Portuguese)
n. - devolução (f)

Русский (Russian)
передача, делегирование, дегенерация

Español (Spanish)
n. - delegación de poderes, transmisión, degeneración

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - övergående till en efterträdare, överlåtande, decentralisering, degeneration

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
相传, 委付, 转移

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 相傳, 委付, 轉移

한국어 (Korean)
n. - (권리의) 이전, 퇴화, 상속

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 相伝, 移転, 退化

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) انتقال سلطه أو قوة من المركز الى مكان أصغر وبخاصه من حكومه مركزيه الى سلطات محليه‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮הסמכה, ייפוי כוח‬

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