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When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given. 1 Political Party Learning in the European Free Alliance: Inspiration and Information in the (Trans)Nationalist Family Judith Sijstermans PhD in Politics University of Edinburgh 2019 2 Declaration I declare that this thesis was composed by myself, Judith Sijstermans, and that the work contained herein is my own except where explicitly stated otherwise in the text. I declare that this work has not been submitted for any other degree or professional qualification. Judith Sijstermans 26 February 2019 Edinburgh, Scotland 3 Table of Contents Acknowledgements……………………………………………………………….6 Abstract…………………………………………………………………………......7 Lay Summary……………………………………………………………………….9 Introduction……………………………………………………………………….11 Chapter One: Building a Political Party Learning Framework………..….21 1.1 Conceptualizing the Domestic Political Party………………………22 1.2 Conceptualizing the Transnational Political Party…………………24 1.3 Conceptualizing Learning in the TNP Network…………………….38 1.4 A Political Party Learning Framework………………………………45 Chapter Two: Research Design…………………………………...………..…59 2.1 Qualitative Comparative Research and Case Selection ……..…..60 2.2 Data Collection and Analysis……………………...…………………67 2.3 Conclusion……………………………………….…………………….83 Chapter Three: The Role of the European Free Alliance in Member Party Learning……………………………………………………………………………85 3.1 What is the European Free Alliance?..............…………..….……..86 3.2 Member Parties in EFA ………………………………...…………..108 3.3 Individual Party Members in the EFA Context……………………123 3.4 Conclusion……………………………………………………………126 Chapter Four: The Frisian National Party………………………………….129 4.1 Introducing the Frisian National Party …………………………….130 4.2 Contextual Factors and the Frisian National Party………………132 4.3 Transnational Interactions…………………………..……..……….139 4.4 Learning in the Frisian National Party……………………………..145 4.5 Conclusion……………………………………………………………159 Chapter Five: l’Union Démocratique Bretonne ……………………….….163 5.1 Introducing the Union Démocratique Bretonne ………………….164 5.2 Contextual Factors and the Union Démocratique Bretonne ……167 4 5.3 Transnational Interactions…………………………..……..……….174 5.4 Learning in l’Union Démocratique Bretonne …...…………….…..181 5.5 Conclusion……………………………………………………………196 Chapter Six: Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya …………………..…..201 6.1 Introducing Catalan Autonomist Parties………......………………202 6.2 Contextual Factors and Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya….205 6.3 Transnational Interactions…………………………..……..……….211 6.4 Learning in Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya…………….….220 6.5 The Role of TNP Membership in Transnational Relationships…230 6.6 Catalan Institutional Diplomacy and Learning …………………...237 6.7 Conclusion……………………………………………………………242 Chapter Seven: The Scottish National Party…………...……………..…..245 7.1 Introducing the Scottish National Party……………………………246 7.2 Contextual Factors and the Scottish National Party………….….248 7.3 Transnational Interactions…………………………..……..……….259 7.4 Learning in the Scottish National Party………….…………….….275 7.5 Scottish Institutional Diplomacy and Learning……………………287 7.6 Conclusion……………………………………………………………293 Chapter Eight: Discussion…………………………....…………………..…..295 8.1 Key Findings……………………………………….…………………296 8.2 Reflecting on Contextual Factors and Extent of Learning...…….313 8.3 Beyond and at the Boundaries of Learning………..……..………327 Chapter Nine: Conclusion…………………………… …………………..…..337 9.1 Summary of Findings………………………………………………..336 9.2 Limitations of Research……………………..………………………341 9.3 Avenues for Further Research………………………………….….345 9.4 Conclusion……………………………………………………………349 Appendix One: List of Interview Respondents……………………………353 Appendix Two: List of EFA Member Parties……………………………….357 Bibliography……………………………………………………………………..361 5 List of Tables and Figures Table 1.1 Party Learning in the Transnational Party Network…………………49 Table 2.1 Contextual Factors Across Cases……………………………………65 Table 3.1 Growth in EFA Member Parties Over Time………………...………..86 Figure 3.1 EFA Structure………………………………..…………...…………...87 Figure 3.2 Map of European Free Alliance Member Regions………………...88 Table 3.2 The European Free Alliance and EP Groups Over Time.………….92 Table 3.3 Members of the European Parliament in the EFA EP Group.……..94 Table 3.4 Members of the EFA Secretariat………………..…………………....98 Table 3.5 Members of the EFA Bureau……………………………….…….....101 Table 3.6 Members of the EFA Youth Bureau………………………………....103 Table 3.7 EFA Party Electoral Results/Governing Responsibility…………...113 Table 3.8 EFA Member Parties’ left-right ranking……………………………..115 Figure 4.1 Map of Friesland in the Netherlands……………………......……..131 Table 4.1 FNP Electoral Results Over Time…………………………………..133 Figure 4.2 FNP Transnational Relationships Visualization…………………..141 Figure 5.1 Map of French administrative regions……………….………….....165 Figure 5.2 Map of Regional Languages in Brittany……………...……………166 Table 5.1 UDB Electoral Results Over Time………………………………......168 Figure 5.3 UDB Transnational Relationships Visualization………….………177 Table 6.1 ERC Electoral Results Over Time……………………..…………...206 Figure 6.1 ERC Transnational Relationships Visualization………………….212 Figure 6.2 ERC/JERC Transnational Relationships Visualization………….213 Figure 6.3 Catalan Transnational Relationships (incl. PDeCAT)…………...235 Table 7.1 SNP Electoral Results Over Time……………………………….…..249 Figure 7.1 SNP Transnational Relationships Visualization…….……………261 Table 8.1 Identified Instances of Learning……………………………………..296 Table 8.2 Cases of Learning and Issue Contestation………………………..307 Table 9.1 Party Learning in the Transnational Party Network………………349 6 Acknowledgements This thesis would not exist without the kindness of my interview respondents, who welcomed me into their lives, workplaces and friendships. Thank you to them for their patience and candor. Thank you to my supervisory team, Professor Nicola McEwen and Dr. Alan Convery. Both have provided invaluable guidance, not only on this PhD but beyond. I am grateful to have them in my corner. Many University of Edinburgh staff have provided support and guidance in my career throughout the years: Dr. Eve Hepburn, Professor Elizabeth Bomberg, Professor John Peterson, Dr. Carmen Gebhard, Dr. Meryl Kenny, and members of the Territorial Politics Research Group. They say it takes a village to raise a child. Thank you for being my village. Thank you to my friends and cohort who indulged me in coffee breaks. To Emily Mann, Cat Wayland, and Elisabeth Cuenod for their radical gentleness and donuts. To two generous and supportive mentors: Charlotte Snelling and Coree Brown Swan. Thank you to those who kept me grounded in life outside of this process. To Andrew Dickie, whose kindness is only outmatched by his humor. To Rachel Heydecker, whose sense of adventure and thoughtfulness make her an amazing friend. And especially to Lauren Reay, who has been the best friend for the last 13 years and the next forever. Finally, I am indebted to my family. For my omas and opas: I hope that their strong sense of community and hard work radiate throughout these pages. To my stepdad Henri, for always making me laugh. To my stepmom Wendy, for her advice. To my mom, who has made me brave and set me free through her unconditional warmth and support. Thank you for raising me right. To my dad, who taught me never to settle and showed me that work can be an immeasurable and lifelong pleasure. Thank you for holding us all up. Finally, and most of all, to my siblings: Marloes, Bill, Miles and Mia. There is nothing better than being with you. You give me a sense of purpose. 7 Abstract Recent years, and high-profile events such as the 2014 Scottish independence referendum and 2017 Catalan referendum, have shown that stateless nationalist and regionalist political parties remain relevant political forces in European politics. Scholars have long studied these political parties comparatively, but autonomist movements have not developed in a vacuum. This thesis explores the interconnectedness of nationalist and regionalist parties. Relationships between these parties can most tangibly be traced through taking the European political party of the European Free Alliance (EFA) as a starting point. Stateless regionalist and nationalist political parties have coalesced under EFA as their transnational political party for more than 35 years. This thesis seeks to understand how relationships between EFA member parties affect them. In particular, I focus on one possible consequence: learning. I ask, do interactions between regionalist and nationalist parties in the European Free Alliance generate member party learning? If so, why and how? If not, why not? In order to explore learning, I first develop a political party