АШПИ 
Данные об авторе. Тони Рокки (Tony Rocchi), библиотекарь Справочной библиотеки Торонто (Toronto Reference Library) в городе Торонто (Канада). Магистр исторических наук и магистр библиотековедения. Научные интересы: политический терроризм в Российской империи; история национализма в Европе.
Аннотация. В докладе приведен анализ основных изменений и черт преемственности в главных течениях сепаратистских, автономных и региональных политических партий и движений современной Европы.
Abstract: This paper will examine the main elements of continuity and change in separatist, autonomist, and regionalist political parties and movements in contemporary Europe.
Сепаратистские, автономные и региональные политические партии и движения в Европе: преемственность и изменения
Separatist, Autonomist, and Regionalist Political Parties and Movements in Europe: Continuity and Change
Separatist, autonomist, and regionalist political parties first emerged in Europe in the late 19th century. There are now dozens of such parties and movements in Europe, including overseas territories of European states, Turkey, and the successor states of the former Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia [1].
Ethnic minority parties are nationalist parties seeking independence or autonomy to ensure a minority’s free development in its own nation-state. Ethnic identities and nationalism are the creations of the changes in Europe since the French Revolution. Regionalist parties seek autonomy or independence to preserve a region’s distinct identity. Regional identities developed before ethnic identities in Europe. Nationalities continually emerge as people’s consciousness of ethnic identity evolves and as people make a decision to form a nationality by which they identify themselves. Hans Kohn noted that “nationalities are products of the living forces of history, and therefore always fluctuating, never rigid. Nationalities are groups of very recent origin and therefore are of the utmost complexity” [2, p. 13–14].
A fairly rare phenomenon is the presence of separatist and autonomist parties among ethnic majorities in nation-states. Spain has Castilian movements. The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic declared its own sovereignty in 1990 within the Soviet Union, one of the last union republics to do so.
Beginning in the late 19th century, separatist and autonomist parties predominated in multi-ethnic empires in Eastern Europe such as Austria-Hungary and Russia. Between 1882 and 1925, there were nearly 300 political parties in the Russian Empire; they included 60 nation-wide parties (oбщероссийские партии) such as Constitutional Democrats, Socialists-Revolutionaries, Bolsheviks, Mensheviks, and about 230 ethnic minority parties (национальные партии). Few parties had programs, organized networks, and newspapers. They tended to be intelligentsia circles [3, 9] and spanned the political spectrum from right to left [4].
A geographic shift from Eastern Europe to Western Europe is one major change in the history of separatist, autonomist, and regionalist parties. The Internet site Parties and Elections in Europe, compiled by German constitutional lawyer Wolfram Nordsieck, lists parties in parliaments of European countries and regions. Parties with descriptions of “separatism”, “minority interests”, and “regionalism” are mostly found in Western European countries such as Spain, France, Italy, and the United Kingdom [5].
There are several reasons for this geographic shift. Article 280.1 of the Russian Criminal Code bans separatist activities aimed at violating the territorial wholeness of the Russian Federation [6]. In Western Europe, separatist, autonomist, and regionalist parties oppose centralizing policies in their own states and they often regard the European Union as a super-state that not only violates sovereignty of member-states, but also keeps centralizing states in power. Euroscepticism—hostility to the European Union—spans the political spectrum in Europe. One can argue that Eurosceptic parties of all tendencies are nationalist and separatist parties that want independence from the European Union.
A major change since the late 19th century is that separatist, autonomist, and regionalist parties in Europe now form part of a complex political party structure. There are four major types of parties in Europe. They include: (1) separatist and autonomist parties within states; (2) regionalist parties in states. Both types of parties function both at national and local levels; (3) national parties of individual states; (4) European Political Parties also called Euro-Parties or Pan-European Political Parties. Euro-Parties are European federations of national and regional political parties based upon ideology. Members include parties in European Union member states and from other countries. These parties field candidates for the European Parliament elections held every five years. Voters throughout the European Union vote for candidates from Euro-parties. Members of the European Parliament from different Euro-Parties then form Political Groups based upon ideology.
European parties also belong to political internationals—international federations of parties grouped by ideology. There are also many associations of ethnic minorities throughout Europe that are not classified as political parties. These associations often represent minorities’ interests in dealing with governments. Ethnic minority associations take on a role as quasi-political parties or movements. A major minority organization is the Federal Union of European Nationalities. Special organizations exist for Roma, Sinti, and Travellers (nomadic peoples) and for indigenous peoples [7].
Another change in the history of minority and regionalist parties has been the emergence of the Internet as a major form of communication. Sites for parties contain large amounts of current full-text material including programs and position papers. However, the Internet has certain disadvantages particularly the tendency of sites to come and go. Parties can exist on the Internet even if they represent a few followers or only an individual. An Internet presence is not an automatic indicator of a party’s numerical strength or electoral success or abilities to shape politics in a country.
There are at least two news sites covering separatist, autonomist, and regionalist parties and movements. They include Nationalia, sponsored by the Generalitat (regional government) of Catalonia, Spain [8] and Springtime of Nations by American ethnographer Chris Roth. Both sites strongly suggest that a new «springtime of the peoples» is on the horizon, a phenomenon not seen in Europe since the revolutions of 1848-1849 [9].
Just as in the 19th century, separatist, autonomist, and regionalist parties in Europe span the spectrum from right to left. This phenomenon is a warning against associating nationalism exclusively with the far right, fascism and national socialism. The biggest Euro-Party representing minority and regionalist parties is the European Free Alliance (EFA). The EFA emphasizes that it is «an umbrella organization that gathers 40 progressive nationalist, regionalist and autonomist parties throughout the European Union (EU), representing stateless nations, regions, and traditional minorities in Europe» [10]. Other minority and regionalist parties belong to the European People’s Party (Christian Democrats); European Green Party; the centrist Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe. Belgium’s Vlaams Belang (Flemish Interest) and Italy’s Lega Nord (a northern Italian separatist party) belong to the far right Movement for a Europe of Nations and Liberty. There are separatist Communist parties in the breakaway republics of Transnistria, Abkhazia, and South Ossetia [11].
Attempts by separatist parties to form political internationals of their own have proven unsuccessful. Conflicting nationalism of the parties is undoubtedly one major factor. The oldest separatist international is the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO), formed in 1991. The UNPO has few European members while others have dropped out of the organization after obtaining independence [12]. The Anti-Globalization Movement of Russia made a virtually farcical attempt to form a separatist international in late 2015 [13].
Separatist, autonomist, and regionalist parties have been part of the European political scene since the late 19th century. They still span the spectrum from right to left, but they have undergone many changes. These parties are an integral part of a multi-tiered European political party structure and they have international connections. Many of them are Eurosceptic which means that they oppose policies both of their nation-states and the European Union. The rise of the Internet has allowed them to share their views with larger audiences. The numerous ethnic minority and regional organizations, now functioning as quasi-political parties can always evolve into full-fledged parties.
The biggest change has been the geographic shift of these parties from Eastern Europe to Western Europe. Eastern Europe has traditionally been an area of ethnic nationalism where nationality is often identified with ethnic origin. Civic nationalism has generally prevailed in Western Europe where nationality is identified with citizenship in a nation-state. Separatist, autonomist, and regionalist parties are expressions of how people identify themselves—with an ethnic group or a region instead of to a nation-state. As Hans Kohn noted, nationalities are products of the living forces of history, and therefore always fluctuating, never rigid.
If one looks at the long list of separatist, autonomist, and regionalist parties and movements in Europe in the second decade of the 21st century, one might conclude that Europe is disintegrating along ethnic and regionalist lines. This would be the impression looking at the lists of parties compiled by Wikipedia, the free Internet encyclopedia [7]. Something different appears to be happening. The presence of these parties can indicate that many Europeans are rethinking how they identify themselves. And this is accompanied by continual debates about defining Europeans and the European identity. What is badly needed is a common European historical narrative of separatist, autonomist, and regionalist parties and movements beginning with the French Revolution and continuing to the present. And even such a narrative may show considerable changes and continuity in coming years.
References
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