André Lecours

THE POLITICS OF TERRITORIAL SOLIDARITY Nationalism and Social Policy Reform in Canada, the United Kingdom, and Belgium

Despite the recent proliferation of literature on nationalism and on social policy, little has been written to explore the possible interaction between the two. This article explores two essential aspects of the relationship between substate nationalism and welfare-state development in Canada (Québec), the United Kingdom (Scotland), and Belgium (Flanders). First, the article shows how the processes of identity formation/consolidation and territorial mobilization inherent to substate nationalism often involve a social policy dimension. Second, it analyzes the ways in which substate nationalism has affected welfare-state development in recent decades. Substate nationalism can impact social policy making in at least two ways: by reshaping the policy agenda at both the state and the substate levels and by reinforcing regional policy autonomy, which is depicted as an alternative to centralist schemes. To explain significant variations between the three empirical cases, the article underlines specific institutional, ideological, and socioeconomic factors.

Paradiplomacy: Reflections on the Foreign Policy and International Relations of Regions

The study of paradiplomacy, concerning the international activity of regional governments, opens the door to a new set of actors and issues for international negotiations. A theoretical framework based in historical institutionalism is established and several examples of paradiplomatic activity are described. The article reflects on these new international actors, external-internal linkages, and expanding the boundaries of the field of international relations and negotiation.

Theorizing Cultural Identities: Historical Institutionalism as a Challenge to the Culturalists

The interest of philosophers in the politics of cultural identity was one of the most interesting developments in this field in the 1990s. Their involvement in an area dominated by historians, sociologists, political scientists and anthropologists2 has been particularly evident in Canada where scholars such as Will Kymlicka and Charles Taylor have shaped the way many academics understand cultural identity politics. These theorists have favoured a cultural approach to the phenomenon. They have established frameworks for understanding and managing multiethnic states that stress the inherent strength and meaning of culture.

Nationalism, development, and social policy: The politics of nation-building in sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract This article examines the relationship between nation-building and social policy in post-independence sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). It argues that post-independence nationalist leaders used health, housing, and education programmes to foster a sense of national unity that would transcend the existing ethnic divisions created by the arbitrary drawing of state boundaries during colonization. Yet, in SSA, the neo-liberal turn of the 1980s favoured the decline of state-level integration and solidarity, which helped trigger territorial mobilization and fragmentation. As a consequence, the politics of welfare retrenchment in SSA does more than simply reduce benefits and increase inequalities; it also potentially weakens national unity.

Regionalism, Cultural Diversity and the State in Spain.

Spain is a crucial case study in assessing the relationship between cultural distinctiveness and regional identities. The Spanish case suggests that the state is a key variable in shaping regional-cultural identification in Catalonia, the Basque Country, Galicia and other areas, more so than the cultural markers themselves. This article uses historical institutionalism, a general approach to politics that gives theoretical importance to political institutions, to explain Spains contemporary regional-cultural identities. It shows how these identities were moulded by the various historical forms of the Spanish state. It discusses four such forms in light of their impact on the countrys identity landscape: the early Spanish state, whose loose structure generated a tradition of territorial autonomy which rendered difficult subsequent attempts at national integration; the centralising state of the late 19th century that threatened the power of regional elites and led them to formally articulate distinct identities; the authoritarian state whose cultural repression had the unintended consequence of bolstering and spreading them to the masses; and the democratic state whose framework of Autonomous Communities triggered a multiplication of regional-cultural identities.

Nationalism, Public Policy, and Institutional Development: Social Security in Belgium

The relationship between nationalism and public policy remains largely unexplored. Focusing on the link between sub-state nationalism and social policy, this article formulates three main arguments. The first is that social policy is likely to factor into processes of identity- and nation-building spearheaded by sub-state nationalism, and that nationalist movements typically trigger pressures for the decentralization of social policy. The second is that recognizing the importance of this connection should not lead to hasty conclusions about the impact of societal and institutional pressures on public policy. Nationalism is not only a societal force; it is also a political construction that reflects broad institutional legacies. The third is that the historical sequence of nationalism and policy development may create institutional forces preventing the congruence between policies and ethno-linguistic boundaries, in spite of pressures emanating from nationalist movements. The analysis of Social Security politics in contemporary Belgium provides ground to these claims.

Ethnonationalism in the west: A theoretical exploration

This article suggests that explaining the specifics of ethnonationalism (its timing, claims, institutionalization in the political system) and addressing its contingencies, cross‐national differences and historical irregularities requires illuminating three processes: identity construction and transformation; interest definition; and identity politicization and mobilization. It argues that approaches to ethnonationalism in the West have tended to stress culture or socio‐economic conditions, and have produced theories lacking in explanatory power. It suggests focusing on political institutions and elites to shed light on the processes of ethnonationalism in Western societies using historical institutionalism and élite analysis.

Political Institutions, Elites, and Territorial Identity Formation in Belgium

Territorial identities in Belgium require a political rather than a cultural or structural explanation. The forces behind the development of identities in Flanders, Wallonia, Brussels and the German-speaking area are similar to the ones that produced the Belgian identity they are challenging. Political institutions and elites are at the heart of the process of territorial identity formation in Belgium. The emergence of Walloon and Flemish identities in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries was the by-product of a struggle between the dominant French-speaking bourgeoisie and the traditional Flemish lower bourgeoisie within the institutional context of the early Belgian state. Transformations in the party system and reforms to political-territorial institutions in the last 40 years have strengthened these identities and created entirely new ones.

Ethnic and Civic Nationalism: Towards a New Dimension

The distinction between ethnic and civic nationalism is firmly rooted in a conception of development that rests on the dichotomy between traditional and modern societies. The traditional understanding of the relationship between socio-economic structures and types of nationalism is that the transition from ethnic to civic nationalism is a necessary consequence of development. This paper argues that socio-economic conditions are not the only determinant of the character of nationalist movements but that their goals are also important. It argues that secessionist movements need to emphasise cultural markers in their definition of the nation more than autonomist movements. The case of Québécois nationalism illustrates this point. The autonomist Parti Libéral du Québec has been better able than the secessionist Parti Québécois to articulate consistently a civic nationalism. This contrast suggests that there is a dimension to the ethnic-civic dichotomy that is not captured by an approach resting solely on development.

Federalism, Nationalism and Social Policy Decentralization in Canada and Belgium

Abstract This article looks at the relationship between federalism, sub-state nationalism and social policy in Canada and Belgium up to the early 2000s. It argues that nationalism represents a powerful force for the decentralization of social policy since it seeks to make the national community congruent with the community of redistribution. Nationalist mobilization over social policy is occurring in both Québec and Flanders, although there are ideological and programmatic differences between the two nationalist movements. The article also shows how the consequences of these patterns of mobilization are conditioned by the institutional context. In Canada, the competitive nature of federal/provincial relations and the statist nature of social programmes (i.e. absence of ‘social partners’ other than the state involved in their management) explain why there has been decentralization of social policy towards Québec whereas consensual decision making and Bismarckian social insurance arrangements have created strong institutional obstacles to comprehensive social policy decentralization in Belgium.