Territorial Cleavages Research Articles

The determinants of transnational solidarity in the EU

This article studies transnational solidarity in the EU from a perspective that has not yet been applied in the literature. It asks to what extent transnational solidarity depends on territorial cleavages (solidarity based on territorial, i.e. on national communities) or on functional cleavages (solidarity based on social groups cutting across nation-states). It studies this question based on the 2018–2023 waves of a YouGov survey covering up to 17 countries per wave, with a particularly detailed analysis of the 2023 wave. The survey includes data on transnational solidarity in various crises. A longitudinal analysis of the influence of territorial and functional characteristics on transnational solidarity is combined with a cross-sectional analysis of their joint influence. The results indicate that functional criteria are more prominent for transnational solidarity than territorial criteria, with the proviso that the functional criteria also include a territorial component.

Beyond Linguistic Peripheral Elites: The Provincial Imbalance of Cabinet Ministers in Belgium

AbstractDespite the creation of regions and communities in the second half of the 20th century for resolving ethnic tensions between the French- and Flemish-speaking communities, provinces are still relevant to understand contemporary Belgian politics. Observing provincial political dynamics is essential to understand multi-level political elite dynamics and territorial cleavages in contemporary Belgium. For instance, political parties are internally structured in provincial federations, and federal elections rely on provincial electoral districts. Combined with constitutional factors such as language and region, this article investigates the provincial origins of ministerial elites in all Belgian federal cabinets between 1980 and 2020. It observes that provinces are far from being perfectly present in a balanced manner in the federal government: some provinces are overrepresented while others – in particular large provinces – are underrepresented. This provincial imbalance is stable over time and independent on the types of cabinet but can be explained by party strategies and vote-seeking considerations.

Moving beyond the second-order election model?

ABSTRACT In this introduction to the sixth annual review of regional elections we identify three generations of regional election studies that have applied the second-order election (SOE) model. First-generation literature finds that regional authority, territorial cleavages, and election (non-)simultaneity explain territorial heterogeneity in SOE-effects because they affect ‘what is at stake’ in a regional election. A ‘stake-based’ approach also underlies a second-generation literature that finds that voters with strong regional identities and who find regional government important are more likely to make distinct party choices in the regional electoral arena. Third-generation research adopts a multilevel electoral system perspective and considers the impact of political-institutional variables on the extent of horizontal and vertical top-down and bottom-up spill-over between regional and national electoral arenas. Four election articles and four election reports make important contributions to the three generations of literature and thereby reveal that these generations of regional election scholarship remain highly relevant.

Illusions of Empire: The Civil War and Reconstruction in the US-Mexico Borderlands

Illusions of Empire: The Civil War and Reconstruction in the US-Mexico Borderlands

Using free-listing technique to develop measures of group consensus: the case of language choice in Ukraine

Free-listing is a useful qualitative technique suitable for exploring how groups of individuals think about a cultural domain and define its focal features. This tool is also well-adapted for identifying shared collective priorities which makes free-listing a helpful tool for ethnographers and students of culture who are often lacking this important information at the beginning of the project or have no fast way of acquiring it by other ethnographic means. One of its advantages includes its ability to elicit emic categories in the data at the early stages of fieldwork, thus securing the data quality in addition to its richness. The present study (N = 1253) conducted in January 2021 is part of a larger project merging cultural characteristics and electoral behavior. The data fragment presented in the paper showcases the utility of a free-listing technique for studying consensual beliefs relevant to language-based cultural identity in a sample of Ukrainian- and Russian-speaking Ukrainians. The study this data was collected for explores whether the territorial cleavage in electoral behavior and language divide as a part of it (Russian vs. Ukrainian) in Ukraine signal consistent differences in underlying shared collective beliefs about success and prestige. The preliminary analysis of free-listed items and emerging categories suggests that there are no substantial differences between the language-based groups regarding the beliefs about success and prestige that lie outside the territorial cleavage whereas substantial differences were identified within cleavage-related categories.

Horizontal and vertical spill-over in multilevel electoral systems

ABSTRACT A multilevel electoral system perspective reveals several ways in which electoral spill-over may occur. Vertical spill-over may be top-down from the national to the regional level or can be bottom-up from the regional to the national electoral arena. Horizontal spill-over happens when developments in one regional electoral arena impact electoral outcomes in another regional electoral arena. The literature on regional elections has mainly focused on vertical top-down spill-over. In this introduction, we discuss two main insights in relation to spill-over between electoral arenas that surface when considering the collection of articles and reports presented in this fourth annual review of regional elections. First, we discuss how horizontal spill-over can be identified and differentiated from diffusion of electoral developments driven by territorial cleavages. Second, we discuss several institutions that impact vertical spill-over. We conclude by considering a wider research agenda for the study of spill-over in multilevel electoral systems.

La derecha española dividida: posiciones ideológicas y clivaje territorial

Entre los diferentes cambios que han tenido lugar en el sistema de partidos español el presente artículo se centra en el cese de la hegemonía de un único partido en el ámbito de la derecha. Se necesita de un análisis detenido de la aparición de un nuevo bloque de derecha tripartito que conforman un partido histórico (PP) y dos nuevos partidos (Ciudadanos y Vox) siendo este último de derecha radical.
 Mediante diversas fuentes de evidencia empírica que incluyen datos de opinión pública, de expertos y análisis de programas electorales se aborda la orientación, perfil ideológico y posiciones en materia territorial de los tres partidos de derecha que cuentan con proyección en toda España.
 El trabajo pone de manifiesto la existencia de espacios de proximidad entre los tres partidos que los contraponen con las orientaciones de partidos de otros bloques. A la vez, el análisis pone de relieve los matices en las posiciones entre PP, VOX y Ciudadanos que permiten la existencia de competición en el interior del bloque de derecha por conquistar espacios y conseguir electores.

The «Italia di Mezzo» between Territorial and Traditional Cleavages. Crisis, continuity and political change in the former red zone

The «Italia di Mezzo» between Territorial and Traditional Cleavages. Crisis, continuity and political change in the former red zone

Penser l'extrême droite en milieu rural

Spätestens seit der zweiten Runde der Präsidentschaftswahl von 2017 ist die Vorstellung eines tief zerrissenen Landes zum dominanten makrosoziologischen Deutungsrahmen geworden, um gesellschaftspolitische Entwicklungen im heutigen Frankreich einzuordnen. Das Duell zwischen dem wirtschafts- und sozialliberalen Emmanuel Macron und der rechtsextremen Marine Le Pen sei Ausdruck einer Konfliktlinie zwischen einer vorwiegend urbanen, gut ausgebildeten, digital vernetzten und mobilen Bevölkerung und sozial deklassierten Wählerschichten im ländlichen Frankreich, die sich als Verliererinnen von Europäisierungs- und Globalisierungsprozessen sehen. Auf der Grundlage von ethnographischen Arbeiten in einem kleinen Dorf in den Vogesen, in dem der Front National seit 2002 seine Wahlergebnisse mehr als vervierfacht hat, soll diese binäre Sichtweise mit alternativen Hypothesen zum Erfolg von Marine Le Pens Partei im ländlichen Frankreich nuanciert werden.

Governments, decentralisation, and the risk of electoral defeat

In the last three decades several countries around the world have transferred authority from their national to their regional governments. However, not all their regions have been empowered to the same degree and important differences can be observed between and within countries. Why do some regions obtain more power than others? Current literature argues that variation in the redistribution of power and resources between regions is introduced by demand. Yet these explanations are conditional on the presence of strong regionalist parties or territorial cleavages. This article proposes instead a theory that links the government’s risk of future electoral defeat with heterogeneous decentralisation, and tests its effects using data from 15 European countries and 141 regions. The results provide evidence that parties in government protect themselves against the risk of electoral defeat by selectively targeting decentralisation towards regions in which they are politically strong. The findings challenge previous research that overestimates the importance of regionalist parties while overlooking differences between regions.

The Processes of Constitutional Transition in the Face of Territorial Cleavages

This paper examines the relevance of territorial cleavages to the process of constitutional transitions. It does so by reference to a wide range of case studies, including Bolivia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Cyprus, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Kenya, Nepal, Nigeria, the Philippines, Scotland, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, and the Ukraine. The paper begins by examining contextual factors that will have a bearing on the process for any constitutional transition, including the nature of the transition, the nature of the territorial cleavage, the challenges confronting statehood in the transitioning state, and the extent and nature of international involvement. Secondly, the paper examines the impact of territorial cleavages at each phase of a process of constitutional transition: during “agenda setting”, deliberation, ratification, and finally, in the implementation of new constitutional arrangements. It argues that it is desirable that at the outset, the territorial cleavage and relevant stakeholders are identified and acknowledged; that during deliberation and ratification, an acceptable balance between majoritarian voting and territorial representation is achieved; and that conditions of territorial cleavage should inform procedures for public participation and proposals to transplant institutions and practices, even if they have successfully been used elsewhere. Finally, the paper suggests that techniques of postponement, such as deferring contested constitutional questions to later legislation, should be used strategically, and with an awareness of the possibility that postponement may secure constitutional agreement at the cost of leaving unresolved issues of constitutional importance.

Wybory regionalne jako wybory drugorzędne a perspektywa rządzenia wielopoziomowego

The article discusses the findings of the multilevel government school (MLG) which has been advancing since the beginning of the 21st century, studying regional elections. The concept defining regional elections as second-order elections has been recognized as critical, although it is reformulated by the MLG school to respond to changes in modern regional politics in Europe. Important recent political developments include the entrenchment of regional governments, the increase in the number of electoral appointments, expanded competencies of voters, the rise of non-state-wide parties and the empowerment of sub-national organizational levels of parties. Current MLG research focuses on identifying and explaining the cases where second-order election predictions do not appear to hold for regional elections, identifying states where it is still the case and, finally, identifying factors that increase or decrease this effect. An interesting theoretical development regarding regional elections as second-order elections is that this concept is supplemented and enriched by the theories of regional authority and territorial cleavages. The final part of the article reviews studies on regional elections and the applicability of the second-order concept to Central and Eastern European countries.

Voting Behaviour in the European Parliament and Economic Governance Reform: Does Nationality Matter?

This paper analyses MEPs’ voting behaviour on all regulations and directives forming the Six-Pack and the Two-Pack together with the key vote required to establish the European Stability Mechanism (ESM). Whereas scholarly work has traditionally showed MEPs voting behaviour to be primarily driven by ideology (more specifically, by the MEP’s party group affiliation), we expect to find MEPs’ national origins to play a counterbalancing role and – at least partially – weaken intra-party position on key economic governance matters, where a conflict of interest might exist between creditor and debtor member countries. Findings confirm that national interests and country-level economic variables can predict MEPs’ votes in a considerable number of cases, opening new avenues for future research on territorial cleavages in the European Parliament.

Claves del rechazo del plebiscito para la paz en Colombia

The article analyses the victory of the NO in the referendum on the peace agreements of October 2016 in Colombia, through the analytical cartography. It shows the existence of a stable territorial cleavage on the armed conflict that was expressed at the polls both in 2014 presidential run-off and the plebiscite, and focuses on explaining the key changes between the two electoral events which were decisive in the victory of the NO. The article concludes that the NO victory is due to the votes of the urban popular sectors, peri-urban populations and intermediary cities, who did not fell represented by the discourse of peace, and feared that they would be forgotten in the context of the post-conflict.

Territory, religion, and vote: nationalization of politics and the Catholic party in Italy

This analysis challenges the consensus that, in post-war Italy the Catholic party [Democrazia Cristiana (Dc)], actively supported by the Catholic Church, fostered a process of vote nationalization. The paper, drawing upon a more fine-grained level of analysis, different statistical measures, and within and across regional models, provides a more nuanced interpretation. According to our analysis, although the Dc effectively acted as a homogenizing agent until the late 1970s, after that decade the processes of modernization and secularization fostered the decline of religious-based politics, and of the Dc itself. Such decline opened the way for the re-emergence of a territorial cleavage and a consequent dis-homogenization of Italian electoral politics. The paper demonstrated that the impact of modernization and secularization on the vote for the Catholic party is more significant considering the five Italy’s geo-political areas rather than the country as a whole. Moreover, the divergent path in the five areas testifies the re-emergence of territory in the Italian electoral behaviour. Territorial heterogeneity, modernization, and secularization were central to the collapse of the Dc.

Towards a ‘New English Regionalism’ in the North? The Case of Yorkshire First

AbstractTraditionally, the debate over English devolution has been framed by mainstream parties, favouring a top‐down approach. However, this scenario has recently started to change, particularly in the areas with stronger regional identities such as the North of England. In 2014, the first regionalist party (Yorkshire First) was created, followed by the North East Party and the Northern Party. Such actors overtly challenge the narratives of regionalisation that have prevailed so far, and endorse bottom‐up regionalism. This article offers the first analysis of these ‘new regional voices’ in the North, and seeks to assess emerging tensions between regionalisation and regionalism in the devolution debate. To achieve this, it concentrates on the case of Yorkshire First, drawing on documentary analysis and the results of a membership survey. It will be argued that, although still limited in its impact, the rise of Yorkshire First signals the presence of a political vacuum in the region which has been left open by mainstream politics, and that regional identity and territorial cleavages do matter in the current debate on devolution in the North of England.

Partidos y democracia en Argentina. El caso de un partido provincial con éxito: el Movimiento Popular Neuquino.

La vertiente política que origina a cada uno de los principales entramados provinciales, su área de desenvolvimiento, las relaciones dentro y fuera de la instancia local y con el estado central permiti- ría explicar el origen y las razones por las cuales estas fuerzas locales se caracterizan por su clivaje territorial. En este trabajo se analiza un caso exi- toso de partido provincial: el Movimiento Popular Neuquino (MPN), enfocando la línea político- ideológica de la que surge, las fases de su desenvol- vimiento y de relaciones con el poder central en las tres décadas democráticas recientes en la política de Argentina.

Citizenship and Resource Competition in Nigeria

ABSTRACTThis article discusses the growing tension between constitutionally defined citizenship and socially accepted practices of “we–they dichotomies” as a turbulent component of the national question discourse in Nigeria. It examines the adoption of dual citizenship across the country as well as how this generates violent ethnic conflict. Importantly, while citizenship refers to one’s full membership of a sovereign political community acquired either by birth, naturalisation or any other process legitimised and recognised by the supreme law of the state, indigeneship, on the other hand, is a discriminatory policy employed by local or provincial governments for protecting the rights of their so–called indigenous populations to employment, political power and other resources of the regions or states against domination by alien populations and outsiders. It is argued that while such distinctions have been made possible inter alia by Nigeria’s multi–ethnic character, the ensuing struggles and tensions have been driven by the normless competition over resource allocation. These have especially been the case in instances where ethno–territorial cleavages have been the primary beneficiaries and targets of such resource allocation. This article discusses land as a major economic resource over which heated ethnic conflicts have taken place in Nigeria. Drawing on the conflicts between Hausa–Fulani pastoralists and Yoruba farmers in South–Western Nigeria, it examines the question of how disputed access to land and water has underlain an almost permanent basis of conflict in Nigeria as well as their implications for the country’s fledgling democracy. How does the struggle over land affect the articulation of the citizenship question in Nigeria? How have scarcity and competition over resources affected the contest over citizenship and the forging of nationhood among natives and settlers in South–Western Nigeria? How have colonial framings of socially accepted practices of indigeneship entrenched an understanding of the state in Nigeria as a representation of permanently defined subnational conceptions of ethnic citizenship? What role can the state in Nigeria play towards transforming the multiplicities of traditional societies into coherent political societies as a basis for (i) eliciting deference and devotion from the individual to the claims of the state, and ultimately for (ii) increasing cultural homogeneity, political integration and value consensus? Drawing on data generated from an ethnographic study carried out in South–Western Nigeria between October 2009 and March 2015, this study interrogates these questions.

Vote (de-)nationalisation and party system change in Italy (1948–2013)

The nationalisation of politics is a major political phenomenon deriving from the historical trend towards the formation of national electorates and party systems brought about by the progressive reduction in the significance of territorial cleavages. During the last 50 years, though the issue of vote nationalisation has been addressed by a large volume of literature, serious analysis of the Italian case has never made much progress, having been limited to the reflections of a few isolated authors. Over the past 20 years, a period marking the passage from the long period of polarised pluralism to the so-called ‘Second Republic’, the Italian party system has undergone profound changes, with the continuing emergence and growth of new political parties and a sharp increase in the levels of party fragmentation and volatility. How has nationalisation of the vote evolved in this changing framework? This article analyses the process of (de)-nationalisation of the vote in Italy and explains its evolution between the first (1948–1992) and the second (1994–2013) phases of the republican era, assessing the impact of various possible determinants. The empirical analysis shows that vote nationalisation in Italy is strongly associated with competition factors and with the level of institutionalisation of the party system.

Territorial cleavage or institutional break-up? Party integration and ideological cohesiveness among Spanish elites

The literature that explores the relationship between decentralisation and the structure of the party system has barely explored an important dimension of party integration, namely the degree of ideological cohesiveness among parliamentary elites. This paper purports to fill the literature gap by analysing heterogeneity in attitudes towards devolution among representatives from Spanish state-wide parties (the People’s Party (PP) and the Socialist Party (PSOE)). Drawing from a sample of 460 parliamentary elites, results show that within-party variation in preferences towards regional self-rule are accounted by the territorial cleavage (historical regions vs ordinary ones) as well as by an institutional cleavage, defined by the type of assembly – regional or national – in which representatives are elected. However, parties’ political and organisational trajectories moderate the impact of those cleavages: territory prevails in accounting for internal variation within the PSOE, whereas the institutional cleavage is more important to explain internal cohesiveness among PP’s party elites.