Claremont-UC Undergraduate Research Conference on the European Union Volume 2014 2014 Article 13 2014 Explaining the Perseverance of "Independence in Europe": Strategic Reinforcements of Minority Nationalist Pro-Europeanism Judith Sijstermans University of California, Berkeley Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarship.claremont.edu/urceu Part of the International and Area Studies Commons, and the International Relations Commons Recommended Citation Sijstermans, Judith (2015) "Explaining the Perseverance of "Independence in Europe": Strategic Reinforcements of Minority Nationalist Pro-Europeanism," Claremont-UC Undergraduate Research Conference on the European Union: Vol. 2014, Article 13. DOI: 10.5642/urceu.201401.13 Available at: http://scholarship.claremont.edu/urceu/vol2014/iss1/13 This Chapter is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at Claremont at Scholarship @ Claremont. It has been accepted for inclusion in Claremont-UC Undergraduate Research Conference on the European Union by an authorized administrator of Scholarship @ Claremont. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. Claremont–UC Undergraduate Research Conference on the European Union 159 11 Explaining the Perseverance of "Independence in Europe": Strategic Reinforcements of Minority Nationalist Pro-Europeanism Judith Sijstermans University of California, Berkeley Abstract In the 1980’s minority nationalist parties adopted a policy of “independence in Eu- rope.” Paradoxically, the policy simultaneously advocated conceding powers to a supra- national body and taking back powers from the state. EU regional development programs initially spurred these pro-European policies, but these programs have since failed. Given the EU incentives, why do minority nationalist parties remain pro-European? I test a bot- tom-up, party political theory and use the British case studies of the Scottish National Party and the Welsh nationalist party, Plaid Cymru.