‘With respect for the core business’: on regionalist parties and their minister portfolios in government

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article investigates the relationship between regionalist parties and the minister portfolios they control in government. A novel dataset was constructed which inventories a comprehensive collection of their minister posts (N = 1779). These stem from 77 different regionalist parties across 10 Western multilevel democracies throughout the post-Second World War period (1945–2020). An in-depth analysis shows that governing regionalist parties adhere closely to their ideological core business: territorial, cultural and institutional affairs form a major part of their ministerial responsibilities. The kind of ministries that regionalist parties hold differs between the regional and national levels of government. They obtain more key leadership positions regionally than nationally. Regionalist parties own a disproportionately high number of minister posts at the national level when compared with their actual seat share in parliament. The results from this study improve our understanding of the portfolio preferences and party strategies that regionalist parties employ when they participate in government.