Ethnic and Regionalist Parties in Western Europe: A Party Family?

Abstract

Parties that defend the interest of one or a few ethnic groups and/or regions are, despite their differences, recurrently grouped together into a single party family. This article systematically applies the multidimensional framework offered by Mair and Mudde in order to provide an up‐to‐date inventory of the universe of ethnic and regionalist parties in Western Europe and assess whether they form a family. The evidence indicates that although the ethnic and regionalist family appears to be somewhat less coherent than more established families, there are clear similarities between the proposed (core) member parties. More specifically, the common denominators that distinguish the members of the ethnic and regionalist party family are their rather similar origins, sociologies, and policy orientations.

Politics out of place

“…Party origins are typically a struggle for self-determination and recognition, which initiated parties to represent the interests of peripheries against a dominant centre with a nation-building attitude (Fagerholm, 2016). Yet several international comparative and longitudinal studies demonstrate that regionalist parties in Europe have differentiated ideologies, from left to right on the political spectrum and from protectionist to separatist standpoints (e.g.…”

“…Yet several international comparative and longitudinal studies demonstrate that regionalist parties in Europe have differentiated ideologies, from left to right on the political spectrum and from protectionist to separatist standpoints (e.g. Fagerholm, 2016;. In search of attention from the centre regionalist parties can radicalise and mainstreaming their demands by pulling other parties along (Basile, 2015;Mueller and Mazzoleni, 2016).…”