Regionalism and Ethnic Nationalism in France: a Case Study of Corsica By
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European University Institute Florence Regionalism and Ethnic Nationalism in France: A Case Study of Corsica by John P. Lo ug hlin Thesis approved and awarded the Degree of Doctor of Political and Social Sciences of the European University Institute, Florence, Italy on 11 June 1987 Members of the Jury: Prof. Vincent Wright, Nuffield College, Oxford Prof. Yves Meny, University of Paris II Prof. Michel Denis, University of Rennes Prof. Frank Delmartino, University of Leuven Prof. Jean Blondel, European University Institute m è m m ¿Í^Síil&ssifefe *;>*:''■••• '-.-v^í!^^. '^;,;-j,;--'. ;;víV!-^!; ’.'i> í‘'í5^'*"i"1 ,:' fX:'' *:-^3^ ■• •; -^:j; .t<:.:;!- -r; ^•v'-H,'f'v^‘;;:^;‘^-\.i ' ‘ ^>1. ^ c^'-' ^ íii Ï f ï j h ï '■ I-,y .à:'[/;■• :■:■ ';•• ;i.y ¿-' ; ’ï l f ï ï ÿ ü ] ' . 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No part of this work may be reproduced in any form without permission of the author. © John P. Loughlin Printed in Italy in February 1989 European University Institute Badia Fiesolana - 50016 San Domenico (FI) - Italy CONTENTS Page PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 2 INTRODUCTION 7 SECTION CINE: EMPIRICAL AND THEORETICAL FRAMEWORKS Chapter One: Regionalism and Ethnic Nationalism in France 31 Chapter Two: Theoretical Issues 55 SECTION TWO: "LES AMBIGUITES DE LA CORSE FRANÇAISE" Chapter Three: French Institutional Development in Corsica 95 Chapter Four: Corsica in the French Economy 120 Chapter Five: French Politico-symbolic "Initiatives" to Corsica 153 SECTION THREE: "LE PROBLEME CORSE" Chapter Six: The Socio-economic BacKground 181 Chapter Seven: The Rise and Decline of Moderate Regionalism 208 Chapter Eight: The Radical Regionalists at the Centre of theStage 236 EPILOGUE: THE SOCIALIST REFORMS Chapter Nine: The Socialist Reforms of 1981 283 CONCLUSION 327 NOTES AND REFERENCES 356 BIBLIOGRAPHY OF WORKS CONSULTED 392 APPENDICES Appendix One: Chronology 410 Appendix Two: Abbreviations of Corsican Groups 415 Appendix Three: A Sample of Electoral Activity in Corsica 417 Appendix Four: Miscellaneous Figures and Documents 446 ií PREFACE AMP ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I t might seem odd thAt An IrishmAn, studying in A EuropeAn University situAted in ItAly, should study A smAll French islAnd in the MediterrAneAn. The reAson is thAt this study of CorsicA begAn when I wAs completing A BA degree in French Studies And Politics At the University of Ulster. The yeAr 1980-81 wAs to be spent in a French-speAking country with a view to perfecting the French lAnguAge And prepAring A finAl yeAr project. I chose CorsicA, not simply becAuse of its position in the MediterrAneAn, but becAuse I wAs vAguely AwAre thAt CorsicAn nAtionAlist movements using Armed struggle existed there. As, At the time, I wAs living in BelfAst where An Armed conflict wAs rAging, I wAs interested in looking At other situAtions of violent conflict. Although my first period in CorsicA wAs spent principAlly As An English AssistAnt in the lycée technique At BAstiA And not doing full-time reseArch, I wAs Able to mAke mAny contActs Among the locAl Autonomists And nAtionAlists As well As with people of other politicAl tendencies. The fAct thAt I wAs Irish, And not French, Assisted my Access to the nAtionAlist groups And for severAl months I Attended meetings of the BAstiA section of the ConsultA dei CumitAti NAziunAlisti (CCN) which wAs my first period of pArticipAnt observAtion. This wAs especiAlly importAnt As this wAs the period ApproAching the PresidentiAl elections of MAy 1981. These elections provoked A serious debAte within the CorsicAn regionAlist movements, A debAte - 2 - which I could observe At first hAnd. In 1982, I enrolled As A doctorAl cAndidAte At the EuropeAn University Institute, Florence, with CorsicAn regionAlism As my reseArch topic. This entAiled A second long period on the islAnd in 1983-4 when I returned to cArry out my field reseArch. There Are severAl difficulties which confront A reseArcher studying CorsicAn regionAlism. First, there is the problem of gAining Access to primAry sources. Reports on the movements by groups such As the police judiciAire Are covered by the thirty yeAr rule. Furthermore, the Archives of the militAnts were often destroyed becAuse the lArge number of Arrests And seArches of domiciles by the police meAnt there wAs A risk of discovery. This might leAd to imprisonment for possession of seditious literAture or, At the very leAst, would give the police informAtion concerning the movements. As A result there remAin three principAl methods for collecting the dAtA: (i) ArchivAl reseArch; (ii) pArticipAnt observAtion; (iii) interviews with key informAnts. All three methods hAve been used in this thesis, Although stress wAs lAid on (i) And (ii) . The Author spent severAl weeks in 1982 in three ArchivAl resources in PAris: the Bibliothèque NAtionAle, the VersAilles Annexe of the B.N. And the librAry of the Institut d'Etudes Politiques, rue St-GuillAume, PAris. This period wAs used principAlly to prepAre ChApters One And Two. The ArchivAl - 3 - reseArch for the CorsicAn cAse-study wAs cArried out in PAris And on CorsicA itself. The Archives DépArtementAles in both AjAccio (Corse-du-Sud) And BAstiA (HAute-Corse), the SAlle de DocumentAtion of the Préfecture in AjAccio And of the Assemblée RégionAle, Also in AjAccio; the Bibliothèque MunicipAle of AjAccio, As well As some privAte collections were used. The principAl types of source exAmined were severAl newspAper collections (AjAccio And VersAilles) And dossiers de presse (Rue St-GuillAume; privAte collections); Government reports (B.N. And AjAccio). A full list of these sources mAy be found in the BibliogrAphy. The most importAnt period of pArticipAnt observAtion was, As mentioned Above, in 1981-82 when the Author wAs privileged to be Accepted into A group of CorsicAn nAtionAlists in BAstiA: the CCN. This Allowed him to observe the functioning of a CorsicAn nAtionAlist group from the inside: to become AwAre of the different tendencies And tensions, the type of membership, And the degree of populAr support. From October 1983 until June 1984, the Author spent a further period of residence on the islAnd. Although he kept in touch with members of the movements, he did not Attempt to join the movement but insteAd observed At close hAnd but from the outside. In this wAy, A more detAched observAtion could tAke plAce. During these two periods, the Author conducted informAl interviews with AcAdemics, journAlists And militAnts. - 4 - Much of this reseArch hAs been AlreAdy published. My undergrAduAte dissertAtion which looked At the problem from the stAndpoint of the theory of internAl coloniAlism wAs published (with PAul HAinsworth) As "Le Problème corse", in the AmericAn review ContemporAry French CivilizAtion (for detAils, see BibliogrAphy). However, As my doctorAl reseArch progressed And I tried to plAce CorsicA within a wider compArAtive context, I AbAndoned this model. This chAnge mAy be found in my chApter "RegionAlist And ethnic nAtionAlist movements in contemporAry FrAnce" which AppeAred in Yves Mény And Vincent Wright, Centre-peripherv RelAtions in Western Europe in 1985. MAteriAl from this chApter mAy be found in A reworked form in ChApters One And Two of the thesis. Some mAteriAl of A historicAl nAture AppeAred in An ItAliAn lAw review RivistA itAliAnA di iurisprudenzA co-Authored with Yves Mény. The section of the thesis deAling with the StAtut PArticulier wAs first published As A EuropeAn University Institute Working PAper. Some of the first section of this working pAper hAs been incorporAted in ChApter Six of the thesis. FinAlly, I would like to thAnk All those who Assisted me in the writing of this thesis. My supervisor, Dr Vincent Wright of Nuffield College, Oxford, And my first reAder, Professor Yves Mény of the University of PAris, guided me through the complicAted world of French regionAl politics And provided me with An excellent bAckground of the wider problem - 5 - of the regions in Europe. Both commented on my written work At vArious stAges in A most constructive And helpful mAnner. SusAn BAker, formerly of the EuropeAn University Institute And now At the University of Ulster,