英国权力下放制度的运行困境——基于新冠疫情应对的视角

The Operational Dilemma of Devolution in the United Kingdom:A Perspective Based on the Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic

新冠疫情危机暴发以来,英国实施了二十余年的权力下放制度之弊端再次显现。由于权力下放制度具有"权力分散"的特点,英国政府无法在全国范围内推行统一的防疫政策,公共卫生危机进一步加剧。同时,分权政府将防疫问题政治化,甚至借疫情推动分离主义,致使英国出现严重的宪政危机。无论从防疫成效还是政治稳定的视角看,英国的权力下放制度都已陷入严重的困境。英国政府认识到问题的严重性,尝试对权力下放制度进行改革,但却遭遇多重阻力。究其原因,主要在于这一制度与生俱来的缺陷、与之关联的政党制度以及英国脱欧等外部环境因素。总体来看,权力下放制度并不是一种成熟有效的应对民族分离问题的解决方案。

Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic crisis,the deficiencies of devolution,which has been in place in the UK for more than 20 years,have once again emerged.Due to the“decentralized”nature of the devolved system,the UK government was unable to implement a UK-wide unified pandemic prevention policy,thus further exacerbating the public health crisis.At the same time,the devolved governments politicized the issue of pandemic prevention and even took the advantage of this occasion to promote separatism,resulting in a serious constitutional crisis.From the perspectives of both the effectiveness of pandemic prevention and political stability,the British devolved system has fallen into a serious dilemma.Recognizing the seriousness of the problem,the UK government has tried to reform the devolution settlements,but it has encountered multiple obstacles.The principal reasons for this situation lie in the inherent flaws of the system,the party system associated with it,and the external environmental factors such as Brexit.Generally speaking,the devolution is not a mature and effective solution to the problem of ethnic separatism.