CANSAN INITIAL OVERVIEW

CHARLIE JEFFERYUniversity of Edinburgh

Regionalisation of Politics

• How far do citizens understand/practice a regionalised politics?– Instead of nationalisation?

– As well as (interdependent with; autonomous of nationalised politics)?

• Standard questionnaire → data on 3 regions Austria, France, Germany, Spain, 2 regions UK– Regions chosen for variation on identity, powers,

economy– Robustness of indicators across regional/national

contexts?

Variables

• Dependent– How far is political participation

understood/practiced at regional scales?– How far is social solidarity

understood/practiced at regional scales?

• Independent– Territorial identity (within CANS)– Powers of regional govt (Marks et al?)– Regional economic disparities (?)

Identity: Attachment to Region% ‘very’ attached to region/state

a) % region b) % state a) – b)

Scotland 80 43 37

Wales 69 49 20

Catalonia 55 25 30

Brittany 65 49 16

Thuringia 57 42 15

Galicia 58 44 14

Bavaria 53 42 9

Alsace 60 60 0

Vienna 52 61 -9

Salzburg 52 64 -12

Upper Austria 51 62 -11

Lower Saxony 36 51 -15

Castilla la Mancha 33 52 -19

Ile de France 26 53 -27

Identity: Moreno ScaleJust ‘Region’ R > S Equal S > R Just State

Scotland 19 41 26 4 7

Catalonia 16 29 37 6 6

Wales 11 29 33 10 15

Upper Austria 10 16 38 11 22

Bavaria 9 19 36 11 19

Thuringia 9 18 44 9 17

Salzburg 9 17 50 9 10

Vienna 7 14 38 15 19

Galicia 6 25 57 6 4

Lower Saxony 6 11 34 15 27

Brittany 2 23 50 15 9

Castilla la Mancha 2 4 52 18 20

Alsace 1 17 42 20 15

Ile de France 1 7 30 42 12

Participation: Measures

• Relative importance of regional vs. statewide electoral process– Voting; decisions of regional vs. state

parliaments

• Standard political efficacy measures• (UK) which does/which should have most

influence?• (Germany) which more in touch with

everyday concerns?

Participation: Voting• How important to vote in regional/state elections

a) % ‘very’ regional b) % ‘very’ state a) – b)

Scotland 65 62 3

Catalonia 52 49 3

Galicia 55 55 0

Alsace 43 43 0

Ile de France 51 53 -2

Salzburg 58 62 -4

Brittany 44 48 -4

Thuringia 32 36 -4

Bavaria 44 49 -5

Upper Austria 44 53 -9

Wales 50 60 -10

Castilla la Mancha 42 52 -10

Lower Saxony 40 51 -11

Vienna 46 60 -14

Participation: Efficacy% agree/agree strongly ‘regional/state govt doesn’t care about what people like me think’

a) Regional b) State a) – b)

Scotland 35 49 -14

Wales 39 52 -13

Alsace 57 69 -12

Brittany 58 68 -10

Salzburg 44 52 -8

Upper Austria 44 50 -6

Catalonia 64 69 -5

Bavaria 59 63 -4

Thuringia 54 58 -4

Ile de France 61 64 -3

Lower Saxony 53 56 -3

Galicia 66 67 -1

Castilla la Mancha 58 59 -1

Vienna 47 48 -1

Participation: Does/ShouldWhich level of govt does/which should have most influence? Here: % regional govt should/does

a) Should b) Does a) – b)

Scotland 73 38 35

Wales 70 40 30

Catalonia 79 58 21

Brittany 76 58 18

Salzburg 89 73 16

Upper Austria 82 67 15

Vienna 79 65 14

Alsace 75 61 14

Thuringia 76 63 13

Lower Saxony 73 60 13

Galicia 65 54 11

Ile de France 66 53 9

Bavaria 75 67 8

Castilla la Mancha 55 58 -3

Participation: ‘Concerned’• % think regional/state govt is more concerned about ‘worries and needs’ of the people

a) Regional b) State a) – b)

Brittany 86 7 79

Alsace 86 7 79

Catalonia 82 5 77

Castilla la Mancha 78 8 70

Wales 82 13 69

Salzburg 82 13 69

Ile de France 77 9 68

Scotland 81 14 67

Upper Austria 79 13 66

Galicia 72 9 63

Bavaria 68 14 54

Vienna 65 22 43

Lower Saxony 64 16 48

Thuringia 58 18 40

Participation: ConstitutionNo regional goverment

Fewer powers Status quo More powers Independence

Salzburg 3 7 45 42 2

Upp. Austria 3 5 47 41 2

Vienna 5 12 51 27 2

Alsace 1 2 42 41 6

Brittany 1 2 31 52 5

Ile de France 3 3 35 38 0

Bavaria 3 8 41 29 15

Lower Sax 6 13 40 30 4

Thuringia 9 13 28 39 5

Castilla la Mancha 7 10 37 40 1

Catalonia 2 7 15 51 21

Galicia 5 8 26 51 3

Scotland 7 4 28 39 20

Wales 9 6 28 42 14

Participation: In Sum

• Clearly a multi-level political citizenship, both-and• Voting at state level generally more important (except

Scotland, Catalonia)• Scotland and Catalonia keenest on regional-scale participation• CLM, Lower Saxony, Vienna least keen• ALL except CLM think regional govt should have ‘most

influence’, more in touch, more influenceable• Weight of opinion clearly to the ‘more powers’ side of status

quo– Endorsement of more ‘proximate’ govt

• Not much obvious variation by identity, powers, disparities• Often clearly national patterns

Solidarity: Measures

• Definition of ‘solidarity community’ – with whom do we most closely share interests, regional vs statewide community?

• Openness to territorial policy variation – more open, then less concerned about statewide equity?

• Measures of statewide/interregional solidarity

Solidarity Community• How close to people in region/state as a whole?

a) % ‘very’ region b) % ‘very’ state a) – b)

Scotland 50 13 37

Wales 46 14 32

Catalonia 41 20 21

Galicia 35 23 12

Alsace 37 29 8

Brittany 33 25 8

Thuringia 20 16 4

Ile de France 38 34 4

Upper Austria 28 25 3

Salzburg 20 17 3

Bavaria 18 15 3

Castilla la Mancha 20 21 -1

Lower Saxony 14 15 -1

Vienna 18 20 -2

Solidarity: Policy Variation #1Which level of govt should be responsible for the environment?

% regional % state % EU

Brittany 43 15 35

Galicia 41 13 35

Scotland 37 32 26

Wales 36 40 20

Catalonia 35 15 44

Upper Austria 32 31 33

Alsace 31 17 43

Salzburg 31 31 37

Castilla la Mancha 31 28 31

Ile de France 29 21 40

Thuringia 29 30 35

Lower Saxony 23 34 35

Bavaria 23 31 41

Vienna 23 37 36

Solidarity: Policy Variation #1• Which level of govt should be responsible for fighting unemployment?

% regional % state % EU

Scotland 37 55 4

Catalonia 35 42 15

Wales 28 64 3

Upper Austria 25 56 16

Vienna 23 57 17

Salzburg 23 57 19

Galicia 23 48 17

Bavaria 21 66 9

Thuringia 18 70 8

Alsace 18 59 17

Brittany 16 65 11

Lower Saxony 16 70 8

Castilla la Mancha 15 62 15

Ile de France 13 61 17

Solidarity: Policy Variation #1• Which level of govt should be responsible for education?

% regional % state % EU

Scotland 65 30 3

Catalonia 64 21 10

Wales 53 42 1

Galicia 41 40 11

Bavaria 39 49 8

Lower Saxony 37 50 9

Thuringia 30 60 7

Alsace 24 61 9

Brittany 24 66 6

Upper Austria 23 64 10

Vienna 23 62 12

Castilla la Mancha 22 59 13

Salzburg 20 71 7

Ile de France 18 67 6

Solidarity: Policy Variation #2

• Uniformity vs. matter for region to decide – Unemployment benefits, student fees, old age care,

juvenile offenders

• Generally (large) majorities for uniformity– Catalonia the exception – except juvenile offenders

majority for Catalan decision

– Scotland>Wales>Galicia>Bavaria substantial minorities for regional decision

– Austria uniform, very high preference for uniformity (Germany except Bavaria, France not far behind)

Solidarity: Disparities

• Central govt to intervene to even out regional economic disparities?

• All majority agree; here % disagree

Bavaria 36

Upper Austria 27

Salzburg 26

Catalonia 25

Scotland 25

Lower Saxony 20

Vienna 20

Wales 17

Alsace 16

Thuringia 15

Ile de France 11

Galicia 10

Brittany 8

Castilla la Mancha 6

Solidarity: Interregional

• Rich regions transfer to poor to ensure uniformity

• % disagree

Salzburg 52

Bavaria 45

Upper Austria 44

Vienna 29

Catalonia 29

Lower Saxony 24

Alsace 23

Thuringia 22

Scotland 20

Wales 18

Ile de France 11

Galicia 9

Brittany 8

Castilla la Mancha 5

Solidarity: In Sum

• Scotland, Wales, Catalonia, Galicia (Bavaria): outliers on solidarity community, policy variation– But otherwise (and general) preference for state-level

competence and uniform provision

• Rich-poor differentiation on disparities and equalisation– But: general preference for measures to ensure equity

• Social citizenship still, but significantly less multi-levelled

In Sum• General preference for more political participation at

regional scale• General preference for social solidarity at statewide scale

– But with some indications that identity differentiates solidarity community, as does relative economic performance

• Main differentiation by state, national patterns• Some evidence that identity works cross-nationally to

regionalise (public attitudes towards) politics (UK, Spain)• Preferences in contradiction!

– Different scales of political action allow expression of different aspects of citizenship