KONINKLIJKE VLAAMSE ACADEMIE VAN BELGIE VOOR WETENSCHAPPEN EN KUNSTEN CONTEMPORARY CENTRIFUGAL REGIONALISM: COMPARING FLANDERS AND NORTHERN ITALY 19-20 JUNE 2009 Michel Huysseune CONTACTFORUM KONINKLIJKE VLAAMSE ACADEMIE VAN BELGIE VOOR WETENSCHAPPEN EN KUNSTEN CONTEMPORARY CENTRIFUGAL REGIONALISM: COMPARING FLANDERS AND NORTHERN ITALY 19-20 June 2009 Michel Huysseune CONTACTFORUM Handelingen van het contactforum "Contemporary Centrifugal Regionalism: Comparing Flanders and Northern Italy" (19-20 juni 2009, hoofdaanvrager: Michel Huysseune, Vesalius College, Vrije Universiteit Brussel) gesteund door de Koninklijke Vlaamse Academie van België voor Wetenschappen en Kunsten. Afgezien van het afstemmen van het lettertype en de alinea’s op de richtlijnen voor de publicatie van de handelingen heeft de Academie geen andere wijzigingen in de tekst aangebracht. 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D/2011/0455/09 ISSN 978 90 6569 084 5 Printed by Universa Press, 9230 Wetteren, Belgium KONINKLIJKE VLAAMSE ACADEMIE VAN BELGIE VOOR WETENSCHAPPEN EN KUNSTEN Contactforum CONTEMPORARY CENTRIFUGAL REGIONALISM: COMPARING FLANDERS AND NORTHERN ITALY TABLE OF CONTENTS Contemporary Centrifugal Regionalism: Comparing Flanders and Northern Italy ………1 Michel Huysseune Tragically Modern. Centrifugal Sub-Nationalisms in Belgium, 1830-2009 …………... 17 Marnix Beyen The Territorial-Identitary Side of a Democracy: National Belonging and the Regional Issue in Contemporary Italy ..……………………………………………. 29 Gaspare Nevola The Belgian Federal System: an Unstoppable Centrifugal Dynamic? ……………….… 53 Patrick Stouthuysen and Theo Jans Is the Federal Process in Italy Going to Construct a System, a Polity or Nothing? ….....63 Giuseppe Gangemi The Political Economy of State Restructuring and the Regional Uneven Transition to After-Fordism in Belgium ..……………………………………………… 83 Stijn Oosterlynck Forced to Respond to Globalization. The Disembeddednes of Italian Industrial Districts and its Discontents .…………………………………………………95 Anna Cento Bull Comparing and Contextualizing Interpretations of Regional Difference: Italy vs. Belgium ……………………………………………………………………….109 Michel Huysseune How to Understand the Peculiar Public Discourse on Immigration and Integration in Flanders? ...………………………………………………………… 127 Patrick Loobuyck and Dirk Jacobs Xenophobia or Democratic Differentiation? A New Path of Separation and Discipline for Migrant Workers in Italy .………………………………………………141 Devi Sacchetto Value Patterns and Local Identity in Flanders: In Search of a Regional Identity ……...157 Marc Hooghe Culture, Values and the Social Basis of Northern Italian Centrifugal Regionalism. A Contextual Political Analysis of the Lega Nord ..…………………….171 Roberto Biorcio and Tommaso Vitale The Embedding of Radical Right Parties in Local Networks: an Ethnographic Study at the Neighbourhood Level in Antwerp (Flanders) …………………………….201 Lien Warmenbol The Northern League (Italy). A Party of Activists in the Midst of a Partisan Militancy Crisis ………………………………………………………………………...219 Martina Avanza Centrifugal Regionalism and Political Mobilization in Belgium ……………………...235 Jeroen Van Laer Beyond the Territory: Local Mobilizations in Northern Italy Against the HSRL in Val di Susa and the US Base in Vicenza ..………………………………...…253 Gianni Piazza Centrifugal Regionalism in Flanders and Northern Italy? Elements for a Comparison ……………………………………………………………………… 269 Michel Huysseune De Koninklijke Vlaamse Academie van België voor Wetenschappen en Kunsten coördineert jaarlijks tot 25 wetenschappelijke bijeenkomsten, ook contactfora genoemd, in de domeinen van de natuurwetenschappen (inclusief de biomedische wetenschappen), menswetenschappen en kunsten. De contactfora hebben tot doel Vlaamse wetenschappers of kunstenaars te verenigen rond specifieke thema’s. De handelingen van deze contactfora vormen een aparte publicatiereeks van de Academie. Contactforum “Contemporary Centrifugal Regionalism: Comparing Flanders and Northern Italy” (19-20 juni 2009, hoofdaanvr.: M. Huysseune, Vesalius College, VUB) The recent political crisis in Belgium has drawn attention to the centrifugal dynamics of its federal system. This crisis characteristically involves both interest and identity, economic arguments reflecting the unwillingness within the richer community (Flanders) for continuing support of the poorer one, and non-economic arguments related to the travailed relations between the country’s communities. Such centrifugal forms of regionalism also appear in, e.g., Scotland, Catalonia and the Basque Country, and northern Italy. The comparison between Belgium and Italy has a particular interest since both countries share many similarities like the North-South tension and a low degree of satisfaction with the political system. Taking into account that the identity-building process in northern Italy is a recent phenomenon and hence does not reflect a “historical” mobilization of an ethnic minority, both cases concern the questioning within the richer region of economic mechanisms of national solidarity. This contact forum proposes to reach, by means of systematic and multidisciplinary comparison between Flanders/Belgium and Northern Italy/Italy, a better understanding of the dynamics that characterize these two particular cases, and in particular which factors stimulate or constrain this centrifugal regionalism: the construction of identity, the issue of institutional reform, the development models of successful regions and its possible relation with ethnocentrism and support for radical right parties. CONTEMPORARY CENTRIFUGAL REGIONALISM: COMPARING FLANDERS AND NORTHERN ITALY Michel Huysseune Vesalius College, Vrije Universiteit Brussel 1. INTRODUCTION The continuous political crisis with which Belgium is confronted has drawn attention to the political fragility of the realm and to the centrifugal dynamics of its federal system. The crisis characteristically involves both interest and identity, economic arguments reflecting the unwillingness within the richer community (Flanders) to continue supporting the poorer one, and non-economic arguments related to the travailed relations between the country’s communities. Such a centrifugal form of regionalism is far from unique in Western Europe. Similar cases, where the affirmation of regionalism is related to a potential secession of the economically privileged, concern Scotland, Catalonia and the Basque Country, northern Italy, with Slovenia offering a successful model. The comparison between Belgium and Italy has an additional interest since, as De Winter, della Porta and Deschouwer have pointed out, both countries share many similarities: besides the North-South tension, particularly relevant for our purpose are a low degree of satisfaction with the political system and high levels of support for neo- populist and radical right parties (De Winter et al., 1996:216).1 Both the strong emphasis on economic arguments and the embedded presence of radical right parties that (have) defend(ed) secession moreover distinguish Flanders and northern Italy from other European cases of centrifugal regionalism . Because of these similarities, studying a particular phenomenon in one country thus indeed contributes to interpret the other one, since “knowledge on Italy can help us to understand Belgium and vice versa” (idem:215). Taking into account one important difference, the fact that the identity-building process in northern Italy is a recent phenomenon (promoted since about twenty years by the Lega Nord, colloquially known as the Lega) and hence does not reflect a “historical” 1 This text resulted itself from the workshop “Partitocracies Between Crises and Reform: The Cases of Italy and Belgium”, presenting a systematic interdisciplinary comparison of the two cases on a number of salient issues. The proceedings were published in Deschouwer, 1996. 1 mobilization of an ethnic minority, 2 both cases concern the questioning within the richer region of economic mechanisms of national solidarity, in a context where moreover the groups concerned (Flemish and Francophones, northern and southern Italians) are, contrary to the other cases, of a relatively comparable size. Within member states of the European Union, the existence of centrifugal forms of regionalism certainly problematizes dominant narratives of European integration. Regionalism and the affirmation of regional identities in the European Union are perceived in an ambivalent and at times schizophrenic way. Literature (e.g. Hooghe and Marks, 2001) has frequently pointed out the advantages the EU multi-level framework of governance offers for pacifying ethno-political and secessionist conflicts. Within the EU, sovereignty and hence competencies in policy areas are shared between the different levels of governance, creating a cooperative environment for the development and affirmation of institutions at the third, sub-state level. This process is presumed to lead to the articulation