Separatism and Sovereignty in the New Europe Party Politics and the Meanings of Statehood in a Supranational Context

by Laible, Janet

• ISBN13: 9780230608962
• ISBN10: 0230608965
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2008-11-15
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Summary

This book investigates the question of why, despite European integration and its challenges to state sovereignty, separatist nationalism continues to thrive in European Union member states. Janet Laible argues that the EU, as a context, a set of resources, and a participatory arena, is deeply implicated in the arguments and tactics of separatists. Contrary to those who believe that European integration has reduced the incentives for separatist politics, Laible draws on evidence from contemporary Scottish and Flemish nationalism to demonstrate that the EU sustains the importance of statehood and therefore separatism, and creates new forms of political capital that nationalists employ in their struggles for self-government.

Author Biography

Janet Laible is Assistant Professor of Political Science at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, where she teaches courses on nationalism, Western European politics and the European Union. Her previous publications include European Responses to Globalization: Resistance, Adaptation and Alternatives, co-edited with Henri J. Barkey.

Table of Contents

List of Tables	p. viii
Acknowledgments	p. ix
Introduction: Separatism and Statehood in an Integrating Europe	p. 1
Reimagining Separatism: Theoretical and Empirical Foundations
New Contexts and New Meanings for Strategies of Self-Government	p. 21
The Emergence and Development of Political Nationalism in Scotland and Flanders	p. 41
Implicating Europe in Separatist Politics
Nationalists and Europe: Initial Encounters	p. 75
Europeanizing the Nationalist Agenda: The Scottish National Party	p. 97
Europeanizing the Nationalist Agenda: Vlaams Belang	p. 121
Separatism at the Heart of the European Union
The European Parliament: The Nationalist Presence in a European Institution	p. 151
Lobbying for the "National Interest"	p. 185
Conclusion: New Nationalisms in a New Europe?	p. 205
Notes	p. 217
Bibliography	p. 249
Index	p. 263
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