Regionalism in Western Europe – the case of South Tyrol

When?

Monday 27 October 2008, 17:00 to 18:30

Where?

Room 04AD00 AD Building University of Surrey

Open to:

Public, Staff, Students

Speaker:

Dr Georg Grote

Dr Georg Grote, University College Dublin

“The nation’s dead, long live the region!” Ever since the end of World War II the nation seems to have lost its currency as the prime organising structure for collective identities. The EU (and its predecessors) emphasized regional development for economic, social and political reasons in the 1940s and 50s. The ever-strengthening process of economic and cultural integration, however, triggered off grassroots movements in the 1970s and 80s expressing fears that the distinct cultural, traditional, and linguistic characteristics of its members may get lost. Concurring with the federalization of Europe, regions have been given more political power as expressed in documents such as the Madrid Convention of 1980. Today the region has become a modern replacement of many aspects only the historic nation provided before.

South Tyrol is regarded as one of the exemplary regions in Western Europe where conflict and separatism were pacified through the means of a regionalist approach. Tucked in between the old homeland of Austria in the north and the unloved Italy in the south, the Provincia Bolzano has managed to utilize the opportunities provided by the EU to distance itself from the Italian state to such a degree that its existence resembles a regional state more than just an autonomous region within a federal state. Its drive for autonomy has in the recent past threatened the integrity of both Italy and Austria. The somewhat curious situation arose that both countries – once rivals over influence in the alpine region - rallied together to stave off the dynamics of South Tyrol’s regionalist strength. Employing South Tyrol as an example I will attempt to outline why today’s regions in Western Europa may indeed fulfil the role of the historic nations.

Presentation (pdf)