The Western Mediterranean islands and the many faces of independentism.

CORSICA (France); SARDINIA (Italy); BALEARIC Islands (Spain); FRANCE; ITALY; SPAIN; WESTERN Europe

Since they promote separation from national frameworks, independentist parties are easily labelled as anti-system parties. This contribution shows how a study of party dynamics in three Western Mediterranean island jurisdictions (Sardinia, Balearic Islands, and Corsica) leads to a rather different conceptualisation of their nature and influence. Political parties favouring independence are still likely to influence other political parties and the political system as a whole. They do so mainly by adopting various, often ambiguous, accommodative strategies, which relate to their difficulty in attaining and/or maintaining a significant party status and electoral presence. Above all, the independentist parties' influence is highly variable, especially in relation to their closest rivals, and can only be evaluated by taking into consideration external factors, such as state organisation. Thus, one needs to examine the independentist parties' political interactions and influence on policies, and not just their teleological and ideological positioning. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Copyright of Commonwealth & Comparative Politics is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)