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. Wood et al. (2005) Pol. Geog. 24, 3 find that UK businesses have been reconfigured to match these new institutions more closely. ‘Devolution of state responsibility only occurs with localization if the state is not also decentralized’ (Hayes-Conroy (2008) Pol. Geog. 27, 1). In response to nationalism, devolution may be seen as one way to avoid ethnic unrest, but neither the devolution of powers to the Basque Autonomous Community in Spain nor more than a decade of power-sharing within this region has led to a peaceful settlement of the Basque conflict (Mansvelt-Beck (2008) Nations & Nationalism 14, 1). Devolution discourses draw on nationalist identities to create new systems of governance: see Raco (2003) TIBG 28.