Assessing and Explaining the Diverging Trajectories of Territorial Parties and Politics in Italy and Spain (2008‐2018)

Davide Vampa, Caroline Gray

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Until the mid‐2000s, territorial politics played a considerable role in both Italy and Spain. Two regionalist parties, among others, clearly contributed to this: Democratic Convergence of Catalonia (CDC) and the Northern League. Yet evidence shows that the two parties, while starting from relatively similar positions, have followed diverging trajectories, particularly after the financial (and then economic) crisis that hit their respective countries. CDC pushed its pro‐autonomy stances to the extreme and eventually ended up supporting Catalan independence. On the other hand, the League dropped its regionalist agenda and even became a state‐wide party. By comparing these two cases, this article aims to shed light on the mechanisms that lead to the radicalisation or moderation (and even abandonment) of regionalist parties’ territorial demands. These opposite movements have broader implications, since they have been accompanied by increasing polarisation of territorial politics in Spain and the de‐politicisation of this issue in Italy.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)84-106
Number of pages23
JournalSwiss Political Science Review
Volume27
Issue number1
Early online date29 Oct 2020
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 25 Mar 2021

Bibliographical note

This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Vampa, D. and Gray, C. (2020), Assessing and Explaining the Diverging Trajectories of Territorial Parties and Politics in Italy and Spain (2008‐2018). Swiss Polit Sci Rev., which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1111/spsr.12419.  This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance With Wiley Terms and Conditions for self-archiving.

Keywords

  • Italy
  • Spain
  • independence
  • regionalism
  • territorial politics

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