Europeanising the nation : minority nationalist party responses to European integration in Wales, Galicia and Corsica

Abstract

It is often argued that European integration is striking at the heart of the centre-periphery cleavage, and is creating a new supranational political arena beyond the state where new solutions can be envisaged for solving the “nationalities” question. Minority nationalist parties have not been oblivious to these new opportunities emerging within the European polity. Survey data and case study accounts alike have increasingly noted the pro-Europeanness of this party family. However, these accounts cannot explain the diversity of positions that these parties have adopted on the issue of Europe. Beyond the general observation that this party family is supportive of European integration, individual parties have come to very different conclusions about what Europe can offer the minority nation, and what the place of the nation is within this emergent European polity. This thesis aims to explore the nature and reasons for this diversity in the Europeanisation of minority nationalist parties. Its point of departure are the following research questions: i) How Europeanised are minority nationalist parties? ii) What are the factors that influence the Europeanisation of these parties? The study draws on the theoretical and empirical insights of a literature which is interested in the Europeanisation of political parties more generally as a starting point for exploring how and why minority nationalist parties have Europeanised in three different ‘national’ contexts: Wales, Galicia and Corsica. The findings suggest that while party programmes have indeed become more proEuropean over time, this trend belies a highly disparate set of perceptions about the linkage between self-determination and European integration. Moreover, there is no evidence that the Europeanisation of party programmes will spill over into organisational adaptation in response to Europe. While basic party ideology defines the fundamental parameters of party orientation towards Europe, the shorter-term effects of party competition exert the strongest influence on the Europeanisation of minority nationalist parties. Experiences of representation and co-operation on the supranational level are also a strong influence on party Europeanisation. In the final analysis, however, this study argues that for all its symbolic potential, European integration does not offer a definitive solution to the nationalities question. The portrayal of minority nationalist parties as Europeanists par excellence belies the reality of actors who continue to try to make sense of the place of the nation in a changing political reality defined by traditional state-based actors and logics.