SECESSIONISM IN ITALY A comparative case study on regional nationalist movements seeking independence in Veneto and Sardegna Margherita Cantele Anja Van Heelsum Mike Medeiros June 2018 Political Sciences: International Relations University of Amsterdam Table of Contents ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................................................... 3 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................ 4 CHAPTER 2: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ............................................................................. 8 2.1 NATIONALISM .............................................................................................................................. 8 2.2 PERIPHERAL OR REGIONAL NATIONALISM............................................................................. 10 CHAPTER 3: METHODS ................................................................................................................. 16 3.1 DESIGN ....................................................................................................................................... 16 3.2 OPERATIONALISATION AND QUESTIONS ................................................................................. 19 3.3 RESPONDENTS ............................................................................................................................ 20 3.4 ETHICS ........................................................................................................................................ 21 CHAPTER 4: VENETO ..................................................................................................................... 23 4.1 CULTURE VS ECONOMICS ......................................................................................................... 23 4.2 ETHNIC VS CIVIC NATIONALISM .............................................................................................. 26 4.3 AUTONOMY VS INDEPENDENCE ................................................................................................ 27 4.4 INFLUENCE OF EUROPE ............................................................................................................. 28 CHAPTER 5: SARDEGNA ............................................................................................................... 31 5.1: CULTURE VS ECONOMICS ........................................................................................................ 31 5.2: ETHNIC VS CIVIC NATIONALISM ............................................................................................. 36 5.3: AUTONOMY VS INDEPENDENCE............................................................................................... 37 5.4: INFLUENCE OF EUROPE ........................................................................................................... 38 CHAPTER 6: CONCLUSIONS ........................................................................................................ 40 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................................ 45 BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................................................... 46 2 Abstract Regional nationalist movements seeking independence from the central state are a fairly new phenomenon in Europe and have been rapidly increasing over the last decades. In particular, in Italy as many as 7 regions are currently advancing independence claims. With this in mind, the relevance of learning more about these movements in Europe and understanding how they work in modern age is ever clearer. This research aims to explore the dynamics behind the process of regional nationalist movements developing independent tendencies. The focus of this thesis is on the movements of two Italian regions: the independence movement of Veneto, a rich region of the North, and the independence movement of Sardegna, a poorer region of the South. A comparative case study was carried out, using semi-structured interviews to collect data. It appears that a combination of cultural elements and economic interests operate as the driving force of these movements. This driving force, which was present to different degrees in both movements, is worsened by the centralist character of the Italian state together with its bad administration. Additionally, both movements revealed a regional identity formation far from Ethnic Nationalism and closer to Civic Nationalism; leading to believe that the ladder is more likely to result in a peaceful quest for independence. Moreover, both elements expressed a strong preference towards independence rather than autonomy, which is considered insufficient as the state would still have a say in important matters. Finally, a shared element between the movements was the desire to be part of the European Union, seen as an over-state entity and making belonging to the Italian state unnecessary. Keywords: Independence, Regions, Nationalism, Culture, Economics 3 Chapter 1: Introduction Over the last decades, a number of regional movements seeking independence have sprouted in different European states and have been increasing in dimension and gaining more traction. Some examples are Catalonia and Basque Country in Spain, Northern Ireland and Scotland in the United Kingdom, and Flanders and Wallonia in Belgium (The Guardian 2017). Although there is an agreement among scholars on the fact that some features are shared among these movements, each movement manifests some peculiar characteristics. It is, therefore, ever more important to study in detail these movements and understand their dynamics in order to grasp how they work and how to deal with them. This research will focus on regional nationalism and independentism in Italy. Unified Italy has a recent history, only coming together as the country it is today after the First World War. In fact, in 1815, after the Restoration of the Congress of Vienna, Italy was still divided in seven main reigns. The Kingdom of Sardegna included modern day Piemonte, Liguria, Valle D’Aosta, Sardegna, and was under the house of Savoia, an Italian dynasty (Meriggi 2011). The Kingdom of Lombardo-Veneto included modern day Lombardia and Veneto, and was under Austrian domination (Meriggi 2011). The smaller Ducats of Modena and Parma, together with the Gran Ducat of Toscana occupied the central area (Meriggi 2011). The Papal States included part of Lazio, namely Rome, Umbria and Emilia Romagna, and were under the Pope’s ruling (Meriggi 2011). Finally, The Kingdom of Due Sicilie, the largest one, included Abruzzo, Molise, Puglia, Basilicata, Campania, part of Lazio and was under the house of Borboni, a Spanish dynasty (Meriggi 2011). Revolutionary waves aiming to unify the peninsula took place in 1820-21 in Napoli, Sicilia and Sardegna, and 1830-31 in Modena, Parma and the Papal States, but were unsuccessful (Meriggi 2011). The First Independence War occurred from 1848 to 1849 and saw the Kingdom of Lombardo-Veneto losing to the Austrian Empire (Meriggi 2011). The Second Independence war, in 1959, saw the opposite outcome, with the Austrians defeated by the Kingdom of Sardegna, thanks to the help of France (Meriggi 2011). With this war, modern day Lombardia, Emilia-Romagna and Toscana were freed of foreign domination and annexed to the Kingdom of Sardegna (Meriggi 2011). The Expedition of the Thousand in Sicilia, led by Garibaldi on behalf of the Kingdom of Sardegna in the summer of 1860, freed the South from foreign domination and annexed the Kingdom of Sicilia to the enlarged Kingdom of Sardegna, which then changed its name in Kingdom of Italy (Meriggi 2011). In 1866, with the Third Independence war, Lombardo-Veneto freed itself from foreign domination and 4 became part of the Kingdom of Italy (Meriggi 2011). In 1870, what was left of the Papal States was also conquered and annexed to the Kingdom of Italy and Rome became the capital (Treccani). This is why 1871 is officially known as the year of the unification of Italy. However, Trentino Alto Adige was still missing and was only acquired after World War One (Meriggi 2011). It appears clear how Italian history influences its current situation, with seven out of twenty regions showing regionalist tendencies and bringing forward claims of independence from the central government, namely Sud Tirol, Lombardia, Veneto, Valle D’Aosta and Friuli in the North, and Sicilia and Sardegna in the South. For this research, I will focus on two independence movements, one of a region in the North, the independence movement of Veneto, and one of a region in the South, the independence movement of Sardegna. In both regions, there are two different trends, one demanding more autonomy from the central government, even if Sardegna already has a certain degree of autonomy, and one seeking to be completely independent from Italy and create a new state. For the scope of this paper I will focus only on the pro-independence trends. This is a map of Italy, to give the idea of where the two regions are located and their respective dimensions: Figure one: Map of Italy (Source: Regionimist) 5 In Veneto, the champion of autonomy is the political party Liga Veneta and the champion of independence is the movement Independenza Veneta, seeking to create the Republica Veneta. However, there are many other movements, big and small, that claim independence.