{"title":"Unified voters in a divided society: Ideology and regionalism in Belgium","authors":"Mike Medeiros, Jean Gauvin, Chris Chhim","doi":"10.1080/13597566.2020.1843021","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/13597566.2020.1843021","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT In societies divided along ethnocultural lines, intergroup cooperation can often be a challenging task. This process can be even more complex if political parties and voters are divided along those same social cleavages. This study focuses on the case of Belgium and explores whether divided societies with separate party systems necessarily lead to distinct partisan alignments. Using electoral survey data from the 2014 Belgian federal election, we investigate whether political ideology is stronger than ethnolinguistic group membership in shaping electoral behaviour. The results demonstrate that although Belgian voters are divided along linguistic lines when it comes to preferences about centralization, they remain aligned along party families on social and economic dimensions.","PeriodicalId":46657,"journal":{"name":"Regional and Federal Studies","volume":"32 1","pages":"53 - 71"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2020-11-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/13597566.2020.1843021","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47029881","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The 2019 provincial elections in the Netherlands: the Rise of Forum voor Democratie after a heavily nationalized campaign","authors":"H. Binnema, H. Vollaard","doi":"10.1080/13597566.2020.1840365","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/13597566.2020.1840365","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The 2019 provincial elections marked a spectacular victory for challenger party Forum voor Democratie and a substantial defeat for two government parties. The Liberals, led by prime minister Rutte, which had been the largest party in many recent elections, came second in a fragmenting party-political landscape. The Greens were the other opposition winner, while two opposition parties at the ideological extremes, the Socialist Party and the Freedom Party, suffered considerable losses. Regional or non-statewide parties remained a marginal phenomenon: they attained on average three percent of the votes. Further illustrating the heavily nationalized nature of the provincial elections, the campaign mainly focused on national issues such as climate change and the possible loss of the majority for the coalition parties in the Senate, which is elected by the provincial councils. The latter clearly affected turnout, which rose to over 56%, the highest turnout in provincial elections in thirty years.","PeriodicalId":46657,"journal":{"name":"Regional and Federal Studies","volume":"31 1","pages":"433 - 446"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2020-11-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/13597566.2020.1840365","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46206757","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"State nationalism and territorial accommodation in Spain and India","authors":"Daniel Cetrà, Wilfried Swenden","doi":"10.1080/13597566.2020.1834387","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/13597566.2020.1834387","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This article analyses the significance of polity-wide parties’ understanding of state and nation for their ability and willingness to accommodate territorial diversity. To illustrate this point, we first introduce a typology containing four ‘ideal-types’ of state nationalism: dominant, integrationist, composite, and plurinational. Subsequently, we apply this typology to two plural and multi-level polities, Spain and India, during two critical junctures: their founding constitutional moments and more recent episodes of change associated with ‘the Catalan question’ in Spain and the rise of the BJP in India, respectively. Our analysis underscores how varieties of state nationalism inform the nature and evolution of the territorial constitution, in form and in practice, and the extent to which such shifts are linked to party competition and changes in the party system.","PeriodicalId":46657,"journal":{"name":"Regional and Federal Studies","volume":"31 1","pages":"115 - 137"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2020-10-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/13597566.2020.1834387","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43165601","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Introducing regional self-governments in Central and Eastern Europe: Paths to success and failure","authors":"Tõnis Saarts","doi":"10.1080/13597566.2019.1598383","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/13597566.2019.1598383","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Only over half of the new EU member states in Eastern Europe have introduced regional self-governments. This article explores the factors that have contributed to the success or failure of regionalization. The novel contribution of the article is as follows: first, if previous studies have mainly concentrated on larger countries that have successfully regionalized, the current study explores those factors that have contributed to the failure. Second, earlier studies have been too focused on EU conditionality, whereas the current study, in applying QCA (Qualitative Comparative Analysis), outlines the multiple causal pathways that have lead to successful regionalization (or failure). The results of the analysis reveal that there are two pathways for successful regionalization: (1) EU-induced regionalization, or (2) the semi-regionalist pathway. Pathways leading to failure also comprise two options: (3) ‘small-size-blocked’ pathway, or (4) the ‘lack of external pressure and tradition’ pathway.","PeriodicalId":46657,"journal":{"name":"Regional and Federal Studies","volume":"30 1","pages":"625 - 649"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2020-10-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/13597566.2019.1598383","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47383432","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Reforming autonomy? The fiscal impact of the Swiss federal reform 2008","authors":"Tobias Arnold","doi":"10.1080/13597566.2019.1630612","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/13597566.2019.1630612","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The Swiss federal reform 2008 (NFA) has been a major undertaking in the recent history of the Swiss federation, with the re-allocation of policy tasks being a key component of the reform. So far, research has focused in particular on the decision-making process of the reform. This paper focuses on the fiscal impacts by asking whether the re-allocation of tasks has changed the vertical distribution of fiscal resources and whether these changes have increased fiscal autonomy of subnational governments. The paper shows that subnational government expenditure as well as non-earmarked federal government grants have increased slightly. At the same time, however, revenue has not increased correspondingly. This has imposed strong limitations on subnational fiscal autonomy and has led to a deterioration rather than an improvement of the situation of subnational governments in federal Switzerland. The paper concludes with suggestions for further research on constitutional change in federal states.","PeriodicalId":46657,"journal":{"name":"Regional and Federal Studies","volume":"30 1","pages":"651 - 674"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2020-10-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/13597566.2019.1630612","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46105820","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Handbook of territorial politics","authors":"Coree Brown-Swan","doi":"10.1080/13597566.2019.1570924","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/13597566.2019.1570924","url":null,"abstract":"The Handbook of Territorial Politics edited by Klaus Detterbeck and Eve Hepburn provides a comprehensive discussion of the state of territorial politics in the twenty-first century. This volume ser...","PeriodicalId":46657,"journal":{"name":"Regional and Federal Studies","volume":"30 1","pages":"679 - 680"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2020-10-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/13597566.2019.1570924","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47843854","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The impact of modernization on the levels of electoral and party contestation in Russian regions","authors":"C. Ross, Y. Korgunyuk","doi":"10.1080/13597566.2019.1669567","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/13597566.2019.1669567","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This study examines the impact of modernization on the levels of electoral and party contestation in Russia’s 85 regions. By employing cluster and regression analysis, our study shows that modernization does have a positive impact on the degrees of political pluralism in Russia’s regions. This applies not only to simple tools reflecting the levels of region-wide support for pluralism and a multiparty system, from the general population, but also the levels of support from the regional political elites. The study demonstrates that, the level of entrepreneurial activity is the main factor, which influences the levels of political pluralism.","PeriodicalId":46657,"journal":{"name":"Regional and Federal Studies","volume":"30 1","pages":"601 - 624"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2020-10-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/13597566.2019.1669567","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45623937","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Current discourses and attitudes in favour of the independence of the Basque Country","authors":"Julen Zabalo, Iker Iraola","doi":"10.1080/13597566.2020.1831475","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/13597566.2020.1831475","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT With the aim to win support for its political project, Basque nationalism has traditionally sought to get an increasingly larger number of people to share a national identity. However, in the twenty first century, we can appreciate another discourse, which goes beyond national sentiment, and includes aspects that are more related to social and personal wellbeing. This second discourse has given rise to a new attitude to the independence of the Basque Country, which can now be shared by people who are not necessarily Basque nationalists, but are, on the other hand, interested in a project for a state as it could afford them personal benefits. This study explores how both discourses are spread and whether there has been a perceptible change in the attitude to independence in non-Basque nationalist sectors.","PeriodicalId":46657,"journal":{"name":"Regional and Federal Studies","volume":"32 1","pages":"73 - 93"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2020-10-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/13597566.2020.1831475","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42579573","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Sarah Shair-Rosenfield, A. Schakel, Sara Niedzwiecki, G. Marks, L. Hooghe, Sandra Chapman-Osterkatz
{"title":"Language difference and regional authority","authors":"Sarah Shair-Rosenfield, A. Schakel, Sara Niedzwiecki, G. Marks, L. Hooghe, Sandra Chapman-Osterkatz","doi":"10.1080/13597566.2020.1831476","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/13597566.2020.1831476","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This paper draws on research in geography, linguistics, and political science to explain the incidence of language regions and their effect on regional authority. It conjectures a chain of mechanisms beginning with the physical and political barriers to human interaction and culminating with contemporary patterns of regional authority. Using data on 1767 regions in 95 countries, it finds causal power in the claim that the linguistic distinctiveness of a region reflects the ratio of internal interaction to external interaction. Finally, the effects of a language region for regional authority depend decisively on the openness of the political regime.","PeriodicalId":46657,"journal":{"name":"Regional and Federal Studies","volume":"31 1","pages":"73 - 97"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2020-10-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/13597566.2020.1831476","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46503542","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Territorial Politics and the Party System in Spain. Continuity and Change since the Financial Crisis","authors":"Luis Emaldi Azkue","doi":"10.1080/13597566.2020.1832085","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/13597566.2020.1832085","url":null,"abstract":"In this incisive book, Caroline Gray gives a comprehensive account of the changes in the Spanish party system in the aftermath of the European Great Recession, addressing one of the crucial factors...","PeriodicalId":46657,"journal":{"name":"Regional and Federal Studies","volume":"31 1","pages":"569 - 570"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2020-10-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/13597566.2020.1832085","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41835756","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}