1st Edition

Regionalist Parties in Western Europe Dimensions of Success

Edited By OSCAR MAZZOLENI, Sean Mueller Copyright 2017
    208 Pages
    by Routledge

    208 Pages
    by Routledge

    Regionalist parties matter. Over the past 40 years, they have played an ever-larger role in West European democracies. Because of their relevance and temporal persistence, their achievements have increasingly become visible not only in electoral arena, but also as regards holding office and policy-making. Enhancing our understanding of these different dimensions of success, this book analyses various types of regionalist party success. Beyond conventional perspectives, the focus of this book is also on how the dimensions of success are related to each other, and in particular to what extent electoral and office success – jointly or alternatively – contribute to policy success. Adopting a common theoretical framework and combining the in-depth knowledge of country experts, each chapter explores the evolution and impact of regionalist parties in regional or federal states, that is the UK, Germany, Italy, Spain, Belgium, and Switzerland. This allows for a comprehensive and comparative analysis of one of the main political challenges within West-European democracies.

    Table of Contents

    Introduction: Explaining the policy success of regionalist parties in Western Europe

    Oscar Mazzoleni & Sean Mueller

    Chapter 2: The Scottish National Party: Nationalism for the Many

    Lynn Bennie

    Chapter 3: The Christlich-Soziale Union: More Than Only One Double Role

    Claudius Wagemann

    Chapter 4: Moderate Regionalist Parties in Spain: Convergència i Unió and Partido Nacionalista Vasco

    Oscar Barberà & Astrid Barrio

    Chapter 5: Regionalist Parties in Belgium (N-VA, FDF): A Renewed Success?

    Emilie van Haute

    Chapter 6: The Südtiroler Volkspartei: Success through conflict, failure through consensus

    Günther Pallaver

    Chapter 7: The Northern League

    Roberto Biorcio

    Chapter 8: A Regionalist League in Southern Switzerland

    Oscar Mazzoleni

    Chapter 9: Conclusion

    Oscar Mazzoleni, Sean Mueller and Emilie van Haute

    Biography

    Dr. Oscar Mazzoleni is professor at the University of Lausanne, Switzerland, and Director of the Research Observatory for Regional Politics.





    Dr. Sean Mueller is Lecturer at the University of Berne, Switzerland, and editorial assistant of the Swiss Political Science Review.