Regional Politics

After the attacks of September 11, 2001, but especially with the decision to expand NATO in 2002, the Black Sea became an intersection of Euro-Atlantic geopolitical and geo-economic borders. At the same time, the accession of Romania and Bulgaria to NATO (2004) and to the EU (2007) brought the two organizations into a region that has been under the influence of the Russian Federation. The aims of this article are to determinate the way that these geostrategic movements have influenced the importance of the Black Sea, not only for NATO and the EU, but also for Russia. The objectives are to identify the main reasons for witch this region is so important, to describe and present the military strengthening from the Black Sea Region, and to establish the role and significance of Crimea for Russia. From the perspective of this research, geopolitics is used to analyze the foreign policy of Russia towards the Black Sea, by seeking to understand, explain and anticipate the international political behavior of the states from the wider Black Sea region as well as of the global actors. The main conclusion of this article is that the Black Sea plays a very important role for the Russian Federation and the placement of the Black Sea region in the focus of the strategic concerns is a requirement of the current global interest, but also an essential condition for the good evolution of relations in this region, as well as for the regional and global stability and security.

В книге собраны публицистические материалы информационно-аналитического содержания, документы региональных органов власти, в которых рассматриваются состояние окружающей среды в Ивановской области, меры государственной региональной политике в сфере экологии и те изменения, которые произошли с приходом нового губернатора Ст.Воскресенского. Опубликованы также статьи и документы, отражающие деятельность молодого, но уверенно заявившего о себе Движения граждан «За чистый город».
Книга представляет интерес для всех, кому небезразличны вопросы экологии, государственной политики в сфере охраны окружающей среды в регионах России.

Вступительная, заключительная статьи - И.Фокин, Е.Сигунов.

Throughout the recorded history, the Middle East has been playing a vital role in the global geopolitics. The significant geographic characteristics supplemented by an enormous oil reserve has turned the region as one the most highlighted geopolitical areas of the present-day international relations. The Middle East also contains some of the world's key oil choke points and straits by which petroleum has been supplied throughout the world, especially to the European, American and East Asian countries. Traditionally, the geopolitical structure of the region has been branded by military dictatorships and monarchies, largely backed by the western powers. However, the outset of the Arab Spring in December 2010 had paved the way to notice that the popular democratic uprising in these traditional authoritarian countries is about to bring a significant structural shift in the geopolitics of the entire region. Some scholars supported this observation based on the historical illustration of the outsets of 1989 Central and Eastern European movements for democracy. But, after more than three years, it is quite visible that the feeble application of Arab Spring for freedom and democracy could not bring about overnight shifts to the regional geopolitical calculations.

This paper analyzes changes in regional electoral behavior and attitudes towards separatism and foreign policy orientation in Ukraine after the “Orange Revolution” and the “Euromaidan,” which turned into a violent internal conflict and one of the biggest international conflicts involving Western countries and Russia. The research question is whether the regional divisions concerning domestic politics, separatism and foreign orientation have changed significantly in Ukraine since the “Orange Revolution” in 2004 and the “Euromaidan” in 2014. This paper employs comparative and statistical analyses of voting results of the 2012, 2007, 2006, and 2002 parliamentary elections, and the 2014, 2010, and 2004 presidential elections, to examine effects of historical legacies, ethnicity, language, age, and economic factors on regional support for pro-nationalist/pro-Western and pro-Russian/pro-communist political parties and presidential candidates. The study also analyses support for separatism in Crimea and Donbas after the “Orange Revolution” and the “Euromaidan.” It uses a brief survey, conducted for this study by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) in April and May 2014, to examine determinants of pro-separatist attitudes. The paper also employs Razumkov Center and KIIS surveys to analyze changes in 2002-2014 in regional preferences for joining the European Union (EU), NATO, and a union with Russia. The analysis shows that Ukraine after the “Orange Revolution” remained divided along regional lines in terms of support for political parties and presidential candidates and attitudes towards joining the EU, NATO, and a Russia-led union. After the “Euromaidan,” such divisions in foreign policy orientation and, to a lesser extent, support for presidential candidates and political parties remained. A significant rise in separatist sentiments helped to fuel separatist takeovers of power in Crimea and Donbas and Russian military intervention in these regions.

Depuis une vingtaine d’années, le fait régional et l’action régionale semblent s’être fortement développés en Europe. La promotion de l’Europe des régions a été sur le devant de la scène dans la conclusion de nouveaux traités jalonnant la construction européenne depuis quinze ans. Et, de manière emblématique, a été établi un Comité des régions. Celui-ci reste à ce jour doté d’une influence formelle modeste mais son établissement atteste d’un intérêt renouvelé pour l’échelon régional, quand bien même celui-ci recouvre des réalités différentes dans les Etats membres de l’Union européenne.    En parallèle à cette affirmation du fait régional, des mouvements et des partis de revendication régionaliste ont marqué les esprits par leur percée dans certains Etats. En Grande-Bretagne, en France, en Espagne ou en Italie, pour ne citer que quelques exemples, des partis régionalistes ont fait la une par leurs performances électorales et politiques, ou par leur propos : songeons au parti nationaliste basque, au Sinn Fein, à la Ligue du Nord, au Vlaams Belang, ou au parti national écossais.    L’objet du livre est d’analyser l’essence de ces partis régionalistes, d’examiner leurs rôles et leurs performances dans les sociétés européennes, de questionner la nouveauté du phénomène et d’étudier dans quelle mesure ils appartiennent à une même famille. Ce travail est réalisé avec la contribution de plusieurs des meilleurs spécialistes de ces problématiques en Europe.

This chapter entitled 'About Independence (with independence)' will be included in a book edition called 'The Right to Decide, Power & Sovereignty'. The chapter aims to address ten strategic drivers to understand and update the quest for self-determination in particular in the Basque democracy and in general in any European regional context.

To cite this chapter/kapitulu hau zitatzeko:
Calzada, I. (2017), Independentziaz (independentziarekin),
Chapter in the Book Uranga, M. (Ed.)
Erabakitzeko eskubidea, botere eragilea, burujabetasuna.
Bilbao: Sorzain argitaletxea.
DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.24508.54404. ISBN: 978-84-946721-8.

Effective institutionalization of the participation by sub-national governments in regional and global decision making on sustainable development strategies and policies is a complex process. Declaring these decision processes “open” to such participation is but the first and easiest step although it may be the result of a long and contentious struggle among the various actors involved. The process of institutionalization  involves, first of all, designing appropriate (and potentially effective) institutional arrangements to channel the participation, i.e. spelling out the extent to which and the conditions under which sub-national governmental actors are to given access to these decisions, and defining the procedures and organizational mechanisms through which such involvement is to be structured. These institutional arrangements will have to be developed at both the regional and global levels (according to  the norms and institutional logic characteristic of the decision process “targeted” for participation) as well as (in the case of “indirect” participation through the incorporation and representation of sub-national interests in national policy positions) at the national level.
A second, but related, set of considerations affecting this institutionalization process is the fact that any attempt to design the institutional arrangements for multi-level decision systems always takes place within the context of existing institutional dynamics and power relations characteristic of the intergovernmental relations being modified, as well as the pre-existing division of labor within the national level of decision making to which the sub-national governments are to be given access. Often, as in the case of participation in EU decision making, the  political context of the supra-national level is influenced not only by the formal institutional relations that specify the conditions for sub-national participation at that level, but also by attempts of national governments to protect their pre-existing dominant position vis-à-vis the new, competing domestic players threatening the traditional institutional and political balance at both the regional and global as well as the national levels.

We begin with a brief overview of the most salient features of the Spanish system of intergovernmental arrangements and a brief look at the place of sustainable development on the domestic political agenda. We then examine the channels that have been developed by the ACs to gain direct access to the EU level of decision making, This is followed by a more extensive description of the procedures and institutions that have been developed to provide channels of indirect involvement of these governments via their participation in the formulation and representation of national positions on issues up for decision by the Council of Ministers. A subsequent section of the chapter looks at two examples, i.e. the international network nw4sd and the Climate Group, of sub-national participation at the global level of decision making on sustainable development. The chapter concludes with some brief comments on the Spanish experience with institutionalizing sub-national participation in regional and global decision making. Here we return, briefly, to some of the points mentioned in the introduction.

Research towards regionalism in Southeast Asia and Indonesian role within the regionalism process is concluded in this paper. Regional integration process in Southeast Asia within during the decolonization and ASEAN phases are assessed in this paper and moreover, foreign policies and contribution of Indonesia towards the regional integration process is found important, considering its significant relative power among the other Southeast Asian nations. Research is conducted using the qualitative research method through the assessment of literatures, commentaries from the experts, and the agreements and protocols relevant to the research topics. The research concludes four important results; the dynamics of the regionalism in Southeast Asia, the theoretical construction of Southeast Asian Identity, theoretical assessments of regionalism in Southeast Asia and Indonesian foreign policy towards regionalism in Southeast Asia.

This paper addresses Chinese cyber-nationalism, a concept meant to encapsulate feelings of patriotism, nationalism, and fervour over government action in China through the perspective of cyberspace. The importance of acknowledging cyber-nationalism in political discourse rose in the turn of the 21st century, as governments came to have their sovereignty under threat with the advent of new technological norms and new ways to subvert government policy through the internet. Cyber-nationalism is incredibly significant when addressing China in particular, given China's massive internet user base, its overt censorship, and its wide-ranging diasporas which are influenced by this set of beliefs. With this in mind, I observe the effect of cyber-nationalism with respect to political communication and political decisions within topics such as foreign policy;

Ethnic politics is a serious domestic challenge in Iran. Non-Persian communities are mobilizing to claim their rights and to demand representation in a system that activists claim is biased against minorities and the peripheral regions. Yet the inner workings of contemporary Iranian ethnic politics are largely understudied. This article explores recent evolutions in the role that ethnicity, regionalism and tribalism plays in Iranian domestic politics. It focuses on how these interconnected factors figured in the 2013 presidential and local council elections in Iran in a particular province that has a history of ethnic tensions. Incidentally, these elections brought Hassan Rouhani, a moderate cleric, to power as president. Among his electoral promises was to end the securitization of the minority issue. This article illustrates some of the barriers to a transformative ethnic politics – barriers that political leaders will have to overcome to enact real change.

This paper examines the utility of the hegemonic stability theory in understanding regional power dynamics within Africa. The study operationalizes the concept of regional hegemony by drawing insights from a comparative foreign policy analysis of African regional powers, with emphasis on Nigeria. Using a largely qualitative methodology supplemented with primary data, the paper examines the underlying assertions of Nigeria's perceived 'hegemonic' influence. Through the use of the hegemonic stability theory as a theoretical lens, this paper argues that Nigeria's foreign policy shows few signs of a continental hegemonic disposition. In applying this theory at a regional level of analysis, the study finds very little empirical evidence that it fits the African regional context. In short, hegemonic claims in Africa are mere (un)official rhetoric and lack substance.

This article concerns Regional and minority languages in Ukrainian legislation. I try to investigate different languages at the territory of Ukraine. Why do some of them have protectio but other - not. Moreover, I pay attention to the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages usage in Ukraine.

This article underlines the significance of context-sensitive research in understanding the historical transformations of state space that have occurred as part of wider geopolitical conditions. We trace such transformations by theorising the role of political rationalities in governance, and then by looking at how certain rationalities have surfaced in the spatial-political practices in Finland. We will scrutinise how the connection between space and population manifests in these rationalities. The paper traces at first the rise of the political rationality upon which the Finnish ‘welfare state’ was predicated, using the process as a touchstone to examine the recent political rationality which displays a will to transform the state and its spatiality. Our analysis reveals that an increasingly economistic and transnationally oriented geopolitical calculation of space is taking place in the ongoing governmental interventions aimed at modifying both the spatial structures and the qualities of populations in the name of national competitiveness.

There is barely any agreement in the literature on the way one should compare the political parties defending the interest of a specific community on a particular territorythe ethno-regionalist parties -and classify them. Based on the analysis of the ideological positions of ethno-regionalist parties in Western Europe, this article suggests a identification of these parties, partially relying on previous attempts of building typologies.

Despite the United Nations’ support of a referendum on self-determination for the Sahrawi people, the Western Sahara has been under de facto Moroccan occupation since a cease-fire with the Polisario Front was signed in 1991.

Today, with thousands of Sahrawis still living either in refugee camps or in exile, the status quo is very much in Morocco’s favor, as the country continues to profit from its exclusive access to the region’s natural resources. An examination of two historically related cases, those of East Timor and Iraqi Kurdistan, shows why a return to guerilla tactics in the pursuit of independence is now an unviable option for the Polisario Front, which should instead consider negotiating a degree of regional autonomy that would have real effects for the people it represents.

This chapter examines how a new political regionalism pattern characterised by devolution and self-determination claims expressed and embodied via geo-democratic practices such as the ‘right to decide’ is emerging in three small, stateless and city-regional nations in Europe: Scotland, Catalonia and the Basque Country. Three main arguments are presented as the source of such diverse and pervasive city-regional ‘metropolitanisation’ processes: geo-economics, geo-politics and geo-democratics. This chapter posits that from the political regionalism perspective, geo-economic arguments claiming devolving powers are important, but in the event of being allowed the ability to hold a referendum by nation-states, however likely or unlikely, geo-political and geo-democratic manifestations count even more. Ultimately, is the ‘right to decide’ a potential ‘democratic’ extension of the ‘right to the city’? Insofar as these three small stateless nations are advocating a ‘civic nationalism’ appealing to ‘European’ values, the chapter concludes by exploring how devolution claims could increasingly ‘Europeanize’ the political regional agenda, in an ongoing push and pull of having ‘more say’ in the EU, fuelled by an increasing metropolitan drive and a bottom-up democratic experimentation towards the ‘right to decide’.

This article compares three small, stateless, city-regional nation cases of Scotland, Catalonia, and the Basque Country after September 2014. Since the referendum on Scottish independence, depending on its unique context, each case has engaged differently in democratic and deliberative experimentation on the «right to decide» its future beyond its referential (pluri)nation(al)-states in the UK and Spain. Most recently, the Brexit referendum has triggered a deeper debate on how regional and political demands by these cases could re-scale the fixed (pluri)nation(al)-states’ structures while even directly advocating for some sort of «Europeanization». Based on a broader research programme on comparing city-regional cases titled «Benchmarking City-Regions», this paper argues that the differences in each of these three cases are noteworthy. Yet, even more substantial are their diverse means of accommodating smart devolutionary strategic pathways of self-determination through political innovation processes among pervasive metropolitanisation responses to a growing «post-national urbanity» pattern in the European Union. Thus, the paper examines: To what extent are the starting points of the levels of «smart devolution» for each case similar? What are the potential political scenarios for these cases as a result of the de- or recentralisation strategies of their referential (pluri)nation(al)-states? What are the most relevant distinct strategic political innovation processes in each case? Ultimately, this paper aims to benchmark how Scotland, Catalonia, and the Basque Country are strategically moving forward beyond their referential (pluri)nation(al)-states in such a new European geopolitical pattern we can call «post-national urbanity» by formulating devolution, and even independence, in unique metropolitan terms.

The last events demonstrated South Korea’s influence in the Central Asia and its significance for the great actors from the international stage. South Korea is a major player in Asia and its partnerships and collaborations with USA, Japan, even Russia situate it among the most important powers. In the same time, South Korea has a great importance not just for its neighbors (Japan, China, and North Korea), for the region of Central Asia or for the great powers (USA, Russia), but even for Europe. We cannot neglect the country’s aspiring future influence and importance around the world. The economic rising of Asia’s countries will bring attention on Central Asia and Northeast Asia. I guess that Seoul will be included in many economic and political agreements and especially on issues concerning cultural diplomacy. South Korea’s economic performance, the improvement of services trade, foreign investments and its great resources prove the country’s assertive role on global stage.  In some years, as many authors underlined, South Korea will become “the world’s major international business hub” (Allison Hyatt, “The Key to South Korea’s Future Growth”, August 28, 2011, www. archdaily.com.). We cannot neglect South Korea’s “soft power” expressed by its traditions, cultural values, soap operas, music already known in almost entire Europe. I guess that the success of public diplomacy for South Korea depends on its efficacy to promote its soft power. And I think that this is the most important factor of South Korea which could make it visible among regional powers. The paper underline that the soft power component could reassert the social dimension of South Korea, the recognition and acceptance of the country’s regional power by other countries.  "

Maintain autocratic regimes is widely acknowledged to require elite loyalty. However, does this imply that various elite groups equally contribute to the daily performance of an autocratic regime and to winning elections? Based on empirical evidence of recent gubernatorial elections in Russia we explore the effect of multilevel elite disloyalty on gubernatorial electoral results and voter turnout. Having examined the impact of major regional elites, we find that only conflicts between governors and the mayors of regional capitals hav¬¬e significant and robust negative effect on both electoral turnout and the voting for governor. Encouraging the loyalty of these mayors secures smoother political machinery in the most electorally significant areas of the region and thus can determine the outcome of an electoral campaign. This finding provides another confirmation of the paramount role of covert rather than open inter-elite competition for electoral autocracies maintenance.

Revue de sociolinguistique en ligne n° 16 -octobre 2010 Minorités linguistiques et francophonies en perspective Numéro dirigé par François Charbonneau SOMMAIRE François Charbonneau : La question des minorités linguistiques aujourd'hui. L'intérêt de l'approche comparative. Bernard Cerquiglini : La langue française au défi de la diversité, par l'expérience de la minorité : le français, langue régionale de Louisiane. Régis Dandoy, Giulia Sandri et Virginie Van Ingelgom : La représentation politique des minorités linguistiques : Une analyse comparée des communautés francophone d'Italie et germanophone de Belgique. Sylvio Marcus Correa : Langue officielle, langues autochtones et allochtones au Brésil : Repères historiques et sociologiques d'un marché linguistique. Manuel Meune : L'asymétrie linguistique dans les cantons de Fribourg et du Valais. Elatiana Razafimandimbimanana et Céline Peigné : Francophonies plurilingues : vu(e)s de (nouveaux) apprenants du français à Montréal et Durban. Karine Vieux-Fort et Annie Pilote : Représentations et positionnements identitaires chez des jeunes scolarisés en anglais à Québec : explorations méthodologiques. Didier Caraes : Le silence dissonant des brittophones. Ou pourquoi les brittophones ont-ils cessé de parler leur langue maternelle à leurs enfants au sortir de la Seconde Guerre Mondiale ? Compte-rendu Fednel Alexandre : AUZAS Noémie, Chamoiseau ou les voix de Babel. De l'imaginaire des langues, 2009, Paris, Imago, 304 pages, ISBN : 978-2-84952-073-4. GLOTTOPOL -n° 16 -octobre 2010

En 2015 se han cumplido cuarenta años de democracia representativa en España. A lo largo de este período, el desarrollo del Estado de las autonomías ha configurado un heterogéneo poliedro con distintas comunidades, identidades y formas de concebir la vida política en cada territorio. En el caso andaluz, han existido dos dinámicas en torno al imaginario de cómo son vistos y cómo se ven a sí mismos sus habitantes. Primero, una imagen negativa del andaluz promovida por algunos sectores de la opinión pública frente a otra positiva que destaca sus avances económicos, sociales y culturales. Segundo, un conflicto interno (a veces silencioso) entre las distintas identidades territoriales existentes en el interior de la comunidad. Ante esta variedad de opiniones, se presenta un análisis diacrónico de las identidades territoriales (europea, nacional, autonómica y local) y la cultura política andaluces a partir de los principales datos estadísticos del Centro de Estudios Andaluces, CIS e IESA.

With the return of Executive Elections in Russia, regional electoral contestation becomes an important arena for regime power and opposition activity.  My current research shows that the key to the Kremlin's candidates winning big majorities in gubernatorial & big city mayoral elections (as opposed to simply stuffing the ballot box) is not kicking opposition candidates off the ballot, but somehow getting them to forgo even the attempt to get on the ballot in the first place.  In those few cases where they actually attempt to get on the ballot, they usually succeed and run very close elections, and in a few cases (mayors of Yaroslavl, Yekaterinburg, Novosibirsk), even win.

EN: During the interwar period, economic independence and retreat into national identity became the twin horizons dominating the Swiss answer to economic crisis and social and political uncertainty. The Alpine space constituted the symbolic focus of this vision, crystallizing the fears of a rural world which would end up depopulated and unable to feed the country. In order to allay these fears, and as early as the 1920s, Switzerland took measures regulating agricultural markets. Simultaneously, and on the basis of surveys conducted in mountainous areas, other measures promoted the modernization of the Alpine economy. This two-pronged effort, which found its concrete translation in increased federal funding for agriculture, was nonetheless hampered by the limitations of a modernizing model derived from the plains, both economically and agriculturally, and thus ill-fitted to the specificities and constraints of the mountains, and by the continued subordination of mountain management policies to the goals of the federal agricultural policy, which focused its priorities on the national food supply.

FR: Durant l’entre-deux-guerres, l’indépendance économique et le repliement identitaire deviennent les horizons que la Suisse se donne pour répondre à la crise économique et à l’incertitude politique et sociale. Cœur symbolique de cette vision, le monde alpin condense les craintes de dépeuplement du monde rural et de son incapacité à nourrir le pays. C’est pour répondre à ces inquiétudes que, dès les années 1920, la Suisse adopte des mesures de régulation du marché agricole. En même temps, sur la base d’enquêtes sur les régions de montagne, elle promeut des mesures destinées à moderniser les économies alpines. Cette double approche, qui se concrétise dans le renforcement des subventions fédérales en faveur de l’agriculture, se heurte toutefois aux limites d’un modèle de modernisation propre aux économies (et à l’agriculture) de plaine – peu compatible avec les spécificités (et les contraintes) de la montagne – et à la subordination de la politique de la montagne à la politique agricole fédérale, ainsi qu’à ses priorités liées à l’approvisionnement alimentaire du pays.

The aim of the present study is to analyse the events and results of the elections to bodies of regional self-governments in Slovakia in November 2017. The elections were held under the conditions of the amended legislation after the abolition of the two-tier election system of the presidents of the regions. The study analyses the process of forming pre-election coalitions and the mobilisation of voters. The research is based primarily on official election results as well as political party documents and information published in the media. Although the strongest body of the ruling coalition, Direction – Social Democracy Party, obtained the highest number of seats, there was a marked drop in voter participation. This is a continuation of a trend in evidence in the parliamentary elections in 2016. The regional elections of 2017 signalled, in contrast, the consolidation of the right-wing opposition (SaS, OĽaNO, and KDH), whose agenda contains elements of anti-European and anti-party populism.

La Volksunie a vécu. Depuis novembre 2001, deux formations en sont issues : la Nieuwe Vlaams Alliantie (NVA), guidée par Geert Bourgeois et Spirit, emmené par Anne-Marie Van de Casteele. Comment cette formation, qui a incarné le nationalisme flamand démocratique pendant près de cinquante ans a-t-elle pu en arriver là ? Dans un premier temps, nous présenterons les principales étapes de la Volksunie avant de présenter ses difficultés dans les années quatre-vingt et la spirale de son implosion en 2001.

De nombreuses etudes se sont penchees sur les communautes linguistiques doublement minorisees en Europe, c’est-a-dire minorisees a la fois au niveau national et au niveau europeen, comme par exemple les langues ou dialectes basque, catalan, corse, sarde, gallois, luxembourgeois, romanche, etc. A l’inverse, de nombreuses communautes linguistiques sont effectivement minorisees dans le contexte national mais relevent en meme temps d’une langue vehiculaire ou, a tout le moins, parlee dans differents pays europeens. Nous pensons ainsi aux minorites francophones de Belgique et de Suisse, danoises d’Allemagne, suedoises de Finlande, allemandes d’Italie, de Pologne et de Hongrie, russes d’Estonie, slovenes d’Autriche, etc. Parmi ces dernieres, peu nombreuses sont celles qui correspondent aux frontieres administratives d’une entite sub-nationales ou d’une region. C’est ce dernier type de communaute linguistique que nous allons etudier et plus particulierement le cas du francais (ou franco pr...

Nationalization of politics means the process of nationalization of the cleavages, the parties and the party system. In Mechelen, as in the rest of Belgium, this is characterized by several decisive evolutions. First, the lowering of the entry barriers through universal suffrage and proportional representation forced the political parties to break through the level of the region. Second, nationwide issues became dominating and resulted in national political programs. Third, the transformation of the communication wiped out the local weekly newspapers, and national and international programs were spread in daily papers, magazines, radio, television and multimedia.
There are some other important key evolutions through time. Party formation itself and the transformation of the parties and party competition led from local elite-associations to national mass-parties and catch-all parties. The demographic and social-political revolution between 1830 and 1976 transformed the proletarians to critical and independent cosmopolitans. The devaluation of the classic cleavages encouraged the political parties for a catch-all strategy with less importance of the local entity. The social movements transformed from ‘pillared’ local organizations to the delocalized non- or parainstitutional representation of corporate interests or of subcultural segments of society. The formation of the nation-state, the centralization and the Europeanization reduced the territorial diversity. The Flemish movement enforced a new political and social identity within the Community of Flanders.
In this paper we argued that in 1918 the nationalization and the formation of nationalized electorates and party systems were only in its earliest stage. During the interwar period dramatic political evolutions took place and they affected fundamentally the parties and the party systems. A high degree of nationalization was only achieved after 1945. Nationalization is a long and dynamic process that is driven by parties as dynamic structures in an ever changing society. This paper might offer a frame for new analyses of the nationalization of politics on the local level in Western democracies.

The author attempts to show sociopolitical division in the area of Chojnice country during "Solidarity" carnival (1980-1981). In the light of conflict theory the author points out the existing sociopolitical divisions whose evidence can be found in source materials created by Municipal Committee of the Polish United Worker's Party in Chojnice. As a result of conducted analysis and synthesis the hypothesis that was a supposition that there was a bitter political conflict and deep sociopolitical divisions in the area of Chojnice country in 1980-1981 is confirmed. The divisions were clearly visible during the political change of 1980-1981 and showed the country in the times of Polish Peoples Republic as a political reality.

Since the late 1990s, when important decentralisation reforms have been introduced, there has been considerable cross-regional variation in the share of social assistance spending directly allocated by sub-national authorities in Italy. Today it is no longer possible to refer to just one level of administration when studying social assistance policies and spending dynamics. Whereas in some regions the role of the central government is still overwhelmingly predominant, in others it has been almost completely replaced by regional and local institutions. By analysing an original spending dataset covering the period from 1996 to 2012, this paper shows that, in Italy, social assistance is the policy area that has been mostly affected by territorial fragmentation (much more than labour market policies and health care). Cross-regional variation in sub-national spending (as a share of total spending in social assistance) is not only explained by differences in formal institutional autonomy (i.e. ‘ordinary’ versus ‘special status’ regions) but also by economic development, political traditions, female employment and ageing population.