A University of Sussex DPhil thesis Available online via Sussex Research Online: http://eprints.sussex.ac.uk/ This thesis is protected by copyright which belongs to the author. This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the Author The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the Author When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given Please visit Sussex Research Online for more information and further details Political Strategy and Ideological Adaptation in Regionalist Parties in Western Europe: A Comparative Study of the Northern League, Plaid Cymru, the South Tyrolese People‟s Party and the Scottish National Party Emanuele Massetti DPhil in Politics and Contemporary European Studies University of Sussex October 2009 i Statement I hereby declare that this thesis has not been and will not be, submitted in whole or in part to any other University for the award of any other degree Signature................................................................... ii University of Sussex Emanuele Massetti DPhil in Politics and Contemporary European Studies Title Political Strategy and Ideological Adaptation in Regionalist Parties in Western Europe: A Comparative Study of the Northern League, Plaid Cymru, the South Tyrol People‟s Party and the Scottish National Party. Summary of the thesis The aim of the thesis is contribute to the growing comparative literature on regionalist parties in Western Europe, focusing on strategy and ideology. The research questions correspond to the three ideological dimensions/domains which are taken into consideration (centre-periphery, left- right and European integration), as well as to the links amongst such dimensions/domains: why are some regionalist parties more moderate (i.e. autonomists) while other are more radical (i.e. secessionists)? why do some regionalist parties position themselves to the left, while others position themselves to the right? why are some regionalist parties pro-integration, while others are against? are there relationships between regionalist parties‟ positions across the diverse ideological dimensions? The analytical framework brings together sociological theories of political alignments with theories of party competition and theories of party change. The empirical section is made up of a comparison of four case studies (LN, PC, SVP and SNP), which are analysed in depth, plus a final chapter that includes the most important regionalist parties in Western Europe. Data are gathered through interviews with prominent party members, party documents (primarily manifestos), election studies and secondary sources. In brief, in the conclusions it is argued that: regions that have been independent states in the past and regions with concentrated ethno-linguistic minorities tend to produce more radical parties on the centre-periphery dimension. Competition between regionalist parties acting in the same region also increases radicalism. „working class‟ regions tend to produce leftist regionalist parties, while „bourgeois‟ regions tend to produce rightist regionalist parties. positioning on European integration depends mainly on the compatibility of the self- government project with the process of European integration and on parties‟ satisfaction with the policy output of the state vis a vis that of the EU. only weak relationships can be discerned between centre-periphery and left-right positioning, and between centre-periphery and European integration. A stronger relationship is apparent between left-right and European integration positioning. iii CONTENTS Acknowledgements List of Figures and Tables Introduction 1 Chapter 1: Studying Regionalist Parties’ Strategy and Ideology 4 1.1. Regionalist parties in Western Europe: terminology and definition 4 1.2. Studying regionalist parties: State of the art and research questions 8 1.3. Theoretical and analytical frameworks 18 1.4. Research design, methodology, case-selection and data 22 Chapter 2: Plaid Cymru – The Party of Wales 28 2.1. Party Profile: Origins and Political Achievements 28 2.2. Party Ideology and Policy: The Centre-Periphery Dimension 42 2.3. Party Ideology and Policy: The Left-Right Dimension 57 2.4 Party Ideology and Policy: The European Integration Dimension 72 Conclusion 81 Chapter 3: The Scottish National Party 84 3.1. Party Profile: Origins and Political Achievements 84 3.2. Party Ideology and Policy: The Centre-Periphery Dimension 99 3.3. Party Ideology and Policy: The Left-Right Dimension 115 3.4 Party Ideology and Policy: The European Integration Dimension 131 Conclusion 138 iv Chapter 4: The South Tyrolese People’s Party (Südtiroler Volkspartei) 140 4.1. Party Profile: Origins and Political Achievements 140 4.2. Party Ideology and Policy: The Centre-Periphery Dimension 158 4.3. Party Ideology and Policy: The Left-Right Dimension 172 4.4 Party Ideology and Policy: The European Integration Dimension 189 Conclusion 193 Chapter 5: The Northern League (Lega Nord) 195 5.1. Party Profile: Origins and Political Achievements 195 5.2. Party Ideology and Policy: The Centre-Periphery Dimension 210 5.3. Party Ideology and Policy: The Left-Right Dimension 222 5.4 Party Ideology and Policy: The European Integration Dimension 236 Conclusion 244 Chapter 6: Explaining regionalist parties’ positioning in the ideological space 247 6.1. Comparing the four case-studies and generating hypotheses 247 6.2. Classifying the regions and the parties‟ ideological positioning 257 6.3. Testing the hypotheses 263 Conclusion 281 Conclusions 284 References 291 Appendix 322 v Acknowledgements First of all I would like to thank my supervisors, Paul Webb and Tim Bale, who have provided a continuous source of support and direction. Their constant availability and guidance has proved invaluable in the difficult times of this long process. I would also thank the entire staff of Department of Politics and Contemporary European Studies for their support, their suggestions and, in general, for having provided an ideal intellectual (as well as friendly) environment in which to conduct research on political parties. During my fieldwork in Scotland, Wales, South Tyrol and Northern Italy, I received help and direction from a number of people. Particular thanks go to Charlie Jeffery, Roger Scully, Mark Donovan and Michael Keating for providing hospitality respectively at the University of Edinburgh, the University of Wales Aberystwyth, the University of Cardiff, and the European University Institute in Florence. I would like to thank Charlie Jeffery and Eve Hepburn for inviting me to a workshop on regionalist parties at the University of Edinburgh which proved extremely useful for my PhD work. I would also like to thank Rainer Baubock for his inspiring seminars on Theories of Nationalism, which I had the pleasure to attend during my visiting period at the EUI. I am also indebted to Gianfranco Fata, who welcomed me in Bozen, sharing with me his knowledge of South Tyrolese politics and helping me to establish contacts with SVP‟s politicians. In my years at Sussex I made many new friends. There is no space here to mention them all. However, I would like in particular to thank Daniel Keith for his sincere friendship and for his help in the very final stages of the PhD, John Fitzgibbon for sharing with me his knowledge of the Northern Irish case, and Mark Bennister for our rare but pleasant chats at the IDS bar, during which we exchanged our impressions on the progress of our research. Thanks also to Maria Kerr for helping me in the translations from German. Finally, I would like to thank my family and my dear friends Gino and Orietta. Without them, this work would not exist. I am very grateful to my mother-in-law Clementina for her constant support and to my parents, Alessandro and Anna, for having passed on to me their love of knowledge and critical thinking, and for their unconditional help. I am also grateful to my brother Ruggero and my sisters, Velia and Luisa, for their friendship. My deepest gratitude goes to my wife Ester, who has believed in me and has given me the confidence to pursue my ambitions, sharing the ups and downs of this long process. To our son Giulio I owe a stronger motivation for completing this thesis. I also owe him the time I spent away on research. I cannot wait to rejoin them. vi List of Figures Figure 1.1: Research Design 22 Figure 4.1: Current Party System in South Tyrol 188 List of Tables Table 2.1: Party Leaders 1925-2009 33 Table 2.2: UK General Election Results in Wales, 1945-2005 34 Table 2.3: Devolution referendum results in Wales (1979 and 1997) 36 Table 2.4: Welsh Assembly Election Results 36 Table 2.5: Local Election Results, 1973-2008 37 Table 2.6: European Election Results in Wales 37 Table 2.7: Number of party branches and membership 40 Table 2.8: 1979 Referendum results by council areas 47 Table 2.9: 1997 Referendum results by unitary authorities 50 Table 2.10: Public attitudes towards constitutional change in Wales (%) 54 Table 2.11: Constitutional preference and party identification, 2008 (%) 56 Table 2.12: Social Class and Plaid‟s Electorate in Cardiganshire in the 1970s 62 Table 2.13: Voting intentions and ability to speak Welsh 63 Table 2.14: Welsh Speakers and Votes for Plaid in the 1970 general election 63 Table 2.15: Working Class Interests and Party Image (%) 2001