Search

This article introduces our themed section on The Left(s) and Nationalism(s), which provides a comparative analysis of the relationship between nationalism and different left-wing parties in Western Europe. It highlights the innovative comparative perspectives offered by this themed section, which not only concerns a series of different geographical cases studies but also involves the ideological plurality of the Left. The larger research question that our contributors address is how different left-wing parties have dealt with the inherent ideological tension between the universality claimed by the Left and the particularism inherent in nationalism, as a doctrine and a principle of political legitimacy. The article stresses three main contributions of our themed section: (1) Western European left-wing parties do engage with the themes of nationalism and nationhood, but they often rely on convenient silence to solve some of the contradictions with their progressive ideology. (2) None of these parties have formulated thick versions of the respective national identities. (3) State-wide left-wing parties have used instrumental conceptions of nationhood to address the challenge of separatist parties, but only with mixed results., Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF), European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme, Depto. de Historia, Teorías y Geografías Políticas, Fac. de Ciencias Políticas y Sociología, TRUE, pub

This Special Issue contributes to the growing literature on parties abroad. Expansive citizenship has transformed and reinforced the civic and political links between emigrants and their home country. Political parties face the dilemma of engaging or not in this new arena for electoral politics and must consider how. However, until recently the literature on transnationalism and on party politics has surprisingly largely overlooked this issue. This introduction identifies the existing gaps in the literature, and stresses two main questions that remains largely unanswered, namely (1) why and how parties decide to campaign abroad, and (2) how voters abroad are receptive to these campaigns and operate their party choice in this specific context. The five articles offer a mix of case studies and comparative perspective, and quantitative and qualitative analyses. This case selection allows to explore the diversity of strategies adopted by political parties abroad in different settings, with different tools. The results illustrate the impact of local party branches and entrepreneurs’ outreach and local campaigns on mobilisation, turnout, and the result of elections, but also show that emigrants’ vote choice is influenced both by the context of their country of origin and of their country of residence., info:eu-repo/semantics/published

This article introduces our themed section on The Left(s) and Nationalism(s), which provides a comparative analysis of the relationship between nationalism and different left-wing parties in Western Europe. It highlights the innovative comparative perspectives offered by this themed section, which not only concerns a series of different geographical cases studies but also involves the ideological plurality of the Left. The larger research question that our contributors address is how different left-wing parties have dealt with the inherent ideological tension between the universality claimed by the Left and the particularism inherent in nationalism, as a doctrine and a principle of political legitimacy. The article stresses three main contributions of our themed section: (1) Western European left-wing parties do engage with the themes of nationalism and nationhood, but they often rely on convenient silence to solve some of the contradictions with their progressive ideology. (2) None of these parties have formulated thick versions of the respective national identities. (3) State-wide left-wing parties have used instrumental conceptions of nationhood to address the challenge of separatist parties, but only with mixed results.

Despite their distrust of big and centralised political units, their stance in favour of minorities and diversity, Greens do not skip the national issue but reimagine it with a bottom‐up and plural perspective under the form of regionalism. This article first study how ecologist theoreticians have defined different regionalist approaches, notably bioregionalism, ecoregionalism and econationalism, which became the basis of the Green approach on the national issue in Western Europe as early as the 1970s. Then, the paper comparatively focusses on Europe Ecology – The Greens Brittany and on the Scottish Green Party, assessing their analysis on their territory: whereas the first defend the project of an autonomous Brittany, the second is actively involved in favour of the independence of Scotland. In analysing the regionalism of the Greens, the article demonstrates that the green stance on the nation is not “identitarian” or “patriotic” but “cognitive”: it is devoid of nostalgia but on the contrary a tool for a multicultural and democratic Europe.

In 2014, French voters living abroad participated for the first time in consular elections and could choose to vote in the consular venues or via the Internet. 43.21% of them decided to use the dedicated online platform to fill in their ballots. With the help of an analysis of the election outcomes for all the lists competing in these elections, this short paper aims at exploring whether ballot box and Internet voters display different voting behavior. It concludes that both types of voters tend to vote for the same lists and candidates, even if right-wing lists receive slightly more votes among Internet voters.

The paper defines a cognitive approach of regionalism and outlines a research agenda, proceeding from the assumption that the region is not a thing in the world, but a perspective on the world. Regionalism is a way of being in the world to which we are all subject. Therefore, instead of defining and describing a region and its identity, I suggest we should wonder how, when and why regionalist social actors interpret their social experience in regional terms. To do this, three cognitive levels are highlighted. Each region, first of all, is characterized by an ideological opportunities structure, which is a cognitive system with both constraints and leeway, defined by a more or less hegemonic ideology and more or less legitimate heterodox ideologies. The regionalist ideology then is characterized by the use of the region as a cognitive tool, notably in order to understand social problems on a regional territorial basis. Finally, the regionalist discourse in interaction during a social movement can take the form of a master frame of regional injustice.

Internet voting has been available for French citizens living abroad since 2006, and 43.21% of them filled out their ballots online for the first election of their consular delegates in 2014. Using a multivariate analysis of turnout figures at the district and country levels, this research note explores if ballot box and Internet voters differ in their electoral participation patterns. It concludes that turnout must be understood based on the voting modality that French voters choose. While the characteristics of the electoral district (community size, geographical, and historical proximity with France, and party competition) impact ballot box voter turnout, Internet voter turnout is most influenced by the host country’s economic and infrastructure development.

Through the analysis of French parties campaigning abroad during the 2017 French parliamentary elections, the paper offers a better understanding of the conduct of electoral campaigns abroad, with an emphasis on their local dimension. With its comparative focus on three very different constituencies abroad – Northern America, North-West Africa and Switzerland –, it shows how differentiated campaign strategies, rather than mere duplication of national or centralised strategies, attuned to local political dynamics and the diverse sociology of French electorates abroad are critical for electoral success.

Against a long trend decline in the membership of political parties in Western democracies, there has been an unexpected surge in the UK since 2015. Interestingly, this phenomenon has also been observed amongst British expatriates, despite their historically very low levels of engagement. Our paper explores this development using a multi-methods approach to investigate its impact across the three main parties, comparing the relative importance of supply-side and demand-side factors in each case. We show that the creation and development of British parties abroad are the result of two contrasting dynamics: a top-down one, which gives legitimacy and structure and in some cases, resources, and a bottom-up one, which gives purpose but also networks. Our survey of British expatriate party members reveals a diversity of triggers and motivations for membership, making an original contribution to the wider literature on party membership and on the political engagement of emigrants.

This paper argues that parties abroad are the actors of a new arena for citizenship and party politics. The proliferation of overseas voting and the development of representative institutions for emigrants has transformed and reinforced the civic and political links between sending-states and their diaspora. This has also created new opportunities for political entrepreneurs and political parties tasked with reaching out to citizens living abroad. Yet research on political parties and on transnationalism has almost never crossed paths. This has created a gap in our knowledge on political parties abroad, demonstrating the timeliness of a special issue on political parties abroad. This paper introduces this special issue and presents an overview of the main theoretical questions and debates addressed in the articles. We emphasize existing gaps in the literature and stress the importance of a better understanding of the growing phenomenon of political parties abroad. We also explain why a comparative approach is necessary to tackle the issue of political parties abroad, offering a theoretically-minded framework. Our summaries of the papers in this special issue highlight how they relate to the more general questions discussed in our introduction.

Following globalization and transnationalization trends, emigrants have increasingly obtained voting rights, but also specific representative institutions and direct representation in the national parliament in their country of origin. These reforms have important political and electoral consequences and constitute opportunities and challenges for political parties who face the choice of engaging or not in this new arena. Combining the literature on transnational politics and classic theories of party organizations, this Special Issue investigates (1) what parties abroad are, (2) when and why do they emerge and develop, (3) how they organize, and (4) what role they play. The Special Issue intends to propose a framework for analysis of political parties abroad. All papers use original data to address the questions of the organization and functions of parties abroad. In doing so, they contribute to a better understanding of transnationalism, long-distance democracy, and party politics. Link: https://comparativemigrationstudies.springeropen.com/partiesandtransnationalpolitics

Si les préoccupations environnementales sont relativement anciennes en Bretagne, la fin des années 1960 et le début des années 1970 se caractérisent par une prise de conscience nouvelle des problèmes liés à la croissance et de ses conséquences (pollution, surexploitation des ressources naturelles, etc.). Les luttes sociales autour de problématiques environnementalistes se multiplient, suscitant l'émergence de l'écologie politique dans la région. De 1974 à 1984, celle-ci investit progressivement l'arène électorale, jusqu'à la création des Verts.

Le projet d’aéroport de Notre-Dame-des-Landes, au nord-ouest de Nantes (France), a focalisé l’attention ces dernières années. Symbole des "grands projets inutiles", il est devenu un enjeu de lutte et de revendications pour les écologistes et altermondialistes de France voire d’Europe. Derrière la radicalité des arguments et de certaines méthodes de lutte se cache un conflit né à la fin des années 1960 et porté longtemps essentiellement par des agriculteurs et les riverains ; derrière un discours écologiste voire anarchiste se cache une problématique relevant avant tout de l’aménagement du territoire. Le chapitre vise dès lors à ancrer le conflit de Notre-Dame-des-Landes dans le temps long d’un projet né au cœur des Trente glorieuses en l’analysant comme un conflit de territoire de dimension bretonne.

Les Français résidant à l’étranger ont élu en 2014 pour la première fois leurs conseillers consulaires, correspondant aux représentants locaux des émigrés. À l’aide d’une analyse des résultats des élections consulaires au niveau des circonscriptions et des listes, cet article vise pour la première fois à interroger les formes et modalités de cette élection. Nous nous focalisons tout d’abord sur l’offre et la demande électorale d’une élection qui se révèle plus politique qu’affichée, et déterminons les variables structurelles de la participation électorale. Puis nous comparons plus spécifiquement les différences entre vote à l’urne et vote par Internet. Cet article enrichit donc notre connaissance de la vie politique des Français de l’étranger, mais aussi de l’influence d’Internet dans un scrutin local déterritorialisé et plus largement les caractéristiques des votes extraterritoriaux.

info:eu-repo/semantics/published

info:eu-repo/semantics/inPress

info:eu-repo/semantics/inPress