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Towards a regional citizenship?: the French case

Towards a regional citizenship?: the French case. CANS meeting Brussels 12-13 November Romain Pasquier CNRS/Sciences-Po Rennes. Introduction. 1. Territorial politics in France: key elements 2. Research design: towards a new citizenship Independent variables Identity Regional institutions

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Towards a regional citizenship?: the French case

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  1. Towards a regional citizenship?: the French case CANS meeting Brussels 12-13 November Romain Pasquier CNRS/Sciences-Po Rennes

  2. Introduction • 1. Territorial politics in France: key elements • 2. Research design: towards a new citizenship • Independent variables • Identity • Regional institutions • Wealth • Dependent variables • Participation • Solidarity • 3. Preliminary lessons for the French case

  3. Territorial politics in France • Two main representations of the region have emerged and competed since the WWII in France: • the region defined as an economic and planning space (functional regionalisation) • and the region defined as a political representation level (political regionalisation) • The decentralization reform led by Gaston Deferre in 1982-83 appeared as a compromise between these two ideas

  4. Territorial politics in France • The 22 metropolitan Regions obtained competences • No hierarchy between the levels in the system • New trends of decentralisation in the FPS • 2003-04: “Acte II de la décentralisation” • 2009-10: negociations for a new reform

  5. Research design • After 30 years of decentralisation, can we observe a reshaping of identity, participation and solidarity scales? • Weakening of nation-state • Empowerment of regions as new spaces of citizenship • Three empirical cases • Alsace (done in April) • Brittany (done in March) • Ile de France (done in June)

  6. Research design • Towards a new citizenship • Independent variables • Identity (Q1, Q2, Q5) • Regional institutions (Q 25, Q 13, Q on policy variation) • Wealth (Q 16) • Dependent variables • Participation (Q7) • Solidarity (Q18) • We are late concerning the statistical analysis • Descriptive and qualitative analysis of the different variables

  7. Independent variables

  8. %very attached Commune Département Region State Alsace 48 46 60 60 Brittany 36 41 65 49 Ile de France 36 24 26 53 Identity: attachment to region

  9. %very proud Region State Alsace 40.5 31.6 Brittany 51.8 32 Ile de France 19.5 32.5 Identity: regional pride

  10. Just Region R>S Equal S>R Just State Alsace 1.1 16.9 41.9 19.7 15.2 Brittany 1.5 22.5 50 15.4 9.3 Ile de France 0.6 7 30.4 42.1 11.7 Identity: Moreno scale

  11. Identity and French territorial politics • Strenght of regional identities in France • Differenciation of regional spaces • Alsace and Brittany are spaces of cultural et political mobilizations since the 19th et XXth centuries • Ile de France has emerged from the regional planning of the 1960s • In terme of identity, decentralisation increases this differenciation

  12. Identity and French territorial politics • However, in France these regional identities are not exclusive contrary to other cases • 1.5% of the Band 1% of the A feel just B or A • This notably explains why the regionalist parties have many difficulties to obtain a significant electoral influence in these two last regions

  13. No regional government Fewer powers Statu quo More powers Independence Alsace 1.4 1.7 41.7 41 5.8 Brittany 1.4 1.6 31.1 51.9 4.6 Ile de France 3.3 6.7 34.5 38.2. 0.1 Regional institutions

  14. Which level of govt should be responsible for the environment? Region State EU Alsace 31.1 17.3 29.4 Brittany 43 14.6 43.4 Ile de France 28.9 20.8 40 Regional institutions: environnement

  15. Which level of govt should be responsible for fighting unemployment? Region State EU Alsace 17.6 58.7 17 Brittany 16 65.1 11.4 Ile de France 13.1 61.4 17.2 Regional institutions: fighting unemployment

  16. Which level of govt should be responsible for economic development and innovation? Region State EU Alsace 29.8 39.8 20.8 Brittany 40.5 33.9 17.3 Ile de France 21.8 41 25.9 Regional institutions: economic development

  17. Which level of govt should be responsible for education? Region State EU Alsace 23.9 60.6 9.3 Brittany 23.5 66 5.9 Ile de France 18.1 67.1 5.7 Regional institutions: education

  18. Which level of govt should be responsible for public health? Region State EU Alsace 16 65.6 13.1 Brittany 12.9 75.3 7.5 Ile de France 11.4 71.3 9.9 Regional institutions: health care

  19. Regional institutions and FTP • A majority of people is in favour of more decentralisation • But if we consider the different policies , they plebiscite the statu quo in education or health care in term of power distribution

  20. Wealth

  21. Wealth and FPT • People perceive clear economic disparities between French regions • In particular in Alsace and Ile de France, where people feel they are in a better economic situation than in the rest of France

  22. Dependent variables

  23. % very important Elections municipales Elections cantonales Elections régionales Elections législatives Elections présidentielles Alsace 56.9 40.5 42.9 43.4 74.8 Brittany 59.3 40.1 43.6 47.9 67 Ile de France 62 40.4 50.9 52.6 73.4 Participation: elections

  24. Participation and French territorial Politics • If we consider political participation first as an electoral act, no major change in FPT • Local (communal) and presidential elections are the key electoral moments of participation • Our three cases confirm this analysis

  25. How close to people in region/state as a whole? % very Commune % very Region % very State Alsace 40.4 36.8 29.4 Brittany 39.9 32.8 24.9 Ile de France 48.2 37.9 34.3 Solidarity Community

  26. Central govt to intervene to even out regional economic disparities? %agree %disagree Alsace 76.8 16.2 Brittany 86.6 7.9 Ile de France 79.8 11.3 Fiscal Solidarity

  27. Rich regions transfer to poor to ensure uniformity % agree % disagree Alsace 70.1 23.3 Brittany 84.2 8.2 Ile de France 77.2 11.4 Fiscal solidarity

  28. Solidarity and French territorial politics • We do not perceive a regionalisation of solidarity • In France, the first scale of solidarity is the commune and not the region • People trust in the French state to ensure interregional solidarity and reduce economic disparities • The French state is perceived as the main provider of solidarity

  29. Preliminary lessons for the French case • We can confirm the strenght of regional identities • Decentralisation has increased identitary differenciation between regions • In term of intensity and strenght, regional identities in Alsace or Brittany are similar to other famous European regions • However, these identities are essentially dual and not exclusive

  30. Preliminary lessons for the French case • The decentralisation paradox • A majority of people is in favour of more decentralisation • But excepted in the environnement field , they plebiscite the statu quo in education or health care in term of power distribution

  31. Preliminary lessons for the French case • We also observe stability on the participation dimension • In term of electoral participation, the regional elections are not the key scale for people • The local and national levels remain the structuring scales

  32. Preliminary lessons for the French case • Finally, we observe a clear inertia concerning solidarity and its mechanisms in France • The three cases converge on this dimension • State is perceived as the relevant level to ensure solidarity between regions and reduce the economic disparities

  33. Preliminary lessons for the French case • Despite strong regional feelings of belonging, no regionalisation of citizenship in France • We observe elements of political territorialisation (identity and power distribution) but not a regionalisation of the citizenship which would suppose the positive convergence of identitary, political and social mechanisms

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