ANNALES t f)/'97
original scientific paper	UDC 327.01(4)
323.15(4)
EUROPEAN REGIONALiSM AND THE SEARCH FOR NEW REPRESENTATIONAL SPACES
Colin H. WILLIAMS
University of Wales, College of Cardiff, Department of Welsh, GB-Cardiff CF1 3XW. PO Box 910
ABSTRACT
In this article the author debates questions of European regionalism in the light of the search for new representational spaces as well as in the context of the processes of the continent's integration and of a general social globalization. Regionalism thus appears as an antagonistic social and cultural tendency veering towards the preservation of the clear diversity in European cultural spaces. The specificity of this movement lies in the fact that it links the elements of the evaluation of cultural traditions of ethnic groups and regional communities with social and economic development perspectives, which together contribute towards the growth of the peripheral and usually less developed parts of the continent. Although the so-called idea of "Europe of regions" has not been put into effect, the feeling for a regional specificity is more and more evident in the regional politics of the EU member states and their common programme bodies.
Key words: Europe, regionalism, ethnic groups, regional politics
Contemporary European politics is struggling with the grand idea of how best to represent the myriad interests of local, regional, state and supra-state authorities within one system which is both effective and commands mutual respect, Experts doubt that there will soon be a federal Europe resembling present-day federal states or a Europe of the Regions where nation-states will have disappeared, but are certain that there will be a regionalized Europe where decentralised and regionalised states will be at an advantage (Loughlin, 1996). In analysing the nature of those trends which conduce ?o a regionalised Europe we need to differentiate between regionafisation, identified as the regional application of state policy and regionalism, defined as the attempt to optimise the interests of a region's population through the manipulation of the political process. In this essay the inter-relationship of globalisation and localism, holistic and ecological ideas, and reformed conceptions of space occasioned by telematic revolutions will figure strongly as we seek to advance out understanding of the role of the region in European politics.
Specialists in Geography and International Relations take as their starting point the relationship between terri-
tory and identity at ail levels in the spatial hierarchy. But the disciplines tend to differ in terms of the emphasis they place on the role of the region as a fixed context for dynamic change. Realist and neo-realist conceptions of the international order regard the territorial state and its concomitant of 'national citizenship' as fixed entities. However, this privileging of the territorial state in the literature on international political economy has been much criticised by geographers, most effectively in John Agnew and Stuart Corbridge's work Mastering Space (1995). They argue that "a changing global economic geography is exploding the fixity of the territorial state and is thereby creating a trap for those who want to build timeless models upon rapidly shifting foundations." (Agnew and Corbridge, 1995, 221). They also wish to confound the market ideologues who assert that transnational liberalism, has re-defined "the market as the a rib i te r of the j ust and the true" (ibid., 221).
It is debatable as to whether or not truly open and competitive markets allow real people equal access to, and "just" rewards from the market place. What Is not in doubt as a principle of political praxis is that if the inexorable trend is toward a global market then we need
265
ANNALES t f)/'97
Cofín H. WILLIAMS: EUROPEAN KSGKtNMXM Al? (HE SEARCH fOR NEW REPRESENTATÍÜNAÍ. SPACES.. MS-iM
counter-veiling institutions to regulate the operation of multinational corporations, to guarantee the rights of "global citizens' and to give meaning to the localised effects of global processes. Agnew and Corbridge have called for a discussion of the "new representational spaces that are resistant to some aspects of the emerging world order" (ibid... 227). Í conceive regionalism as forming part of this representational space and wish to advance the geographical discourse by relating changes at the European level to specific aspects of the 'regional question', particularly those which have to do with identity and political regionalism.
The defence of regional and/or national space figures both as a context for socio-political processes and a repository for a threatened group identity. Hence the critical concern of those engaged in regionalist politics with an accurate definition of the region and its territory so as to realise a new basis for political legitimacy, usually in the call for some form of autonomy.
The power of regionalism and nationalism lies in the ability to mobilise people on the basis of their historical occupation of a cherished environment and of the placing of that environment within a larger world order. Despite nationalism's continued potential for destruction it can also provide a beguilingiy complete socio-cultural framework for political and economic action. Anthony Smith has phrased its allure thus:- "nations derive their profound hold over the feel ings and imaginations of the people because they are historically embedded. They are rooted in older and more long-fasting ethnic ties, myths and sentiments from which these modern nations draw much of their emotional and cultural sustenance and much of what makes them distinctive, even unique. If nationalism is the normalisation of the unique, then we should not be baffled by its global power. It satisfies the dual craving to preserve what is feit to be a collective self and all its special cultural values, while inserting that self as a political community into the community of nations by endowing it with the standard attributes of the nation." (Smith, 1993, 11).
The most virulent form of political regionalism in Europe today is ethnic separatism, as manifested among elements (usually a fraction of the élite) of the Basques, Bretons, Catalans, Corsicans, Flemish, Scots, and Welsh. These enduring nationalist movements act as a counter to the general thrust of globalization and integration so redolent of the so-called 'post-modernist, New World Order' (Williams, 1993a}. But they also signify an awareness that European regional political pressure is essential if their nations are to benefit fully from the new opportunities that are emerging within the new European order. Theories of separatism generally describe the separatist claim as a search for collective equality It involves a complex set of grievances which are packaged under convenient headings such as territorial defence, language recognition, economic development.
and social justice In multi-ethnic polities ethnic separatism often derives from an acute concern over the erosion of a group's identity and resource base. Separatists assert that ethnic discrimination can only be halted through the transformation of their territory to form a sovereign state co-equal with all other states. Regional-ists assert that one need not go so far as fo break up the state but insist that its internal affairs should reflect its plural character. In fandem, both regionaiists and separatists pose fresh challenges to the territorially fixed nature of monopolistic sovereign space.
This is best illustrated by the Basque case, though it has purchase in explaining the Corsican, Flemish and various Celtic cases. The Basques enjoyed long periods of relative autonomy prior to their incorporation into the Spanish state; elements of their institutional distinctiveness, the fueros, survived untii fairly recently and were used as evidence of a prior claim to legitimate statehood. After defeat in the Spanish Civil War the creation of Euskadi ta Askalasuna, ETA (Basque Homeland and Liberty) in 1957 reinvigorated Basque nationalism whose development was characterised by a particular combination of the defence of traditional cultural values, rapid industrialisation and opposition to Spanish internal colonialism and nurtured violence as a movement strategy (Clark, 1979, 1984). The three issues which mobilise autonomist sentiments in Euskadi are common to most contemporary regionaiisms, whether separatist or not. They are l). a concern for the survival and promotion of a unique culture, its language and attendant social institutions, 2). a concern to influence the direction and speed of economic change, 3). a concern with political representation which maximises democratic accountability. However, as the Basque case illustrates, it is extremely difficult to overturn the deep structures of long-established nation-states. Some decentralist accommodation is more probable than outright separation and the formation of new states, for the territorial nation-state, though fiercely criticised, is a near-permanent political feature, and in consequence structures the degree of regional autonomy available to sub-state nationalities. Separatist pressures in Spain, as elsewhere, were curbed by the ability of central states to respond to regionally-based demands for tariff protection. Keating (1992, p. 54) identifies an important shift in that "peripheral nationalists have moved from demanding protectionism to support for free hade " In consequence of this and other changes Spain has experienced a startling transition from Francoism to representative democracy. It is neither a regions I ised unitary state nor a federal state but a hybrid form incorporating features of both. Significantly the development of the European Union has provided a new context for relations between Madrid and the historic nations and regions. If separatism is contained through political accommodation, we are still left with the significance of the ethno-linguisfic issue in Euskadi
266
ANNALES t f)/'97
Colin M. WILLIAMS; HUROPfAN RfCIONAllSM AD THF SFARCH FOfi NEW REPRïS€N'TATIONAl SPACC5, 205-274
and Catalonia; for the post-Franco reforms designed to introduce Eusquerra and Catalan to new domains e.g. education, commerce, the media and the law have been less effective than anticipated in assimilating both Spaniards and North Africans into the new 'nationalist' social order. Despite the growth of national assemblies many of the key issues which animated Basque and Catalan disatisfaction with their incorporation into the Spanish state remain as stumbling blocks.! However, one should not underestimate Hie impact which European level activity and organisation have had on substate nationalities. The wider geographical conext has served to liberate the minds of many struggling peoples and offered them a new vision of inter-regional European networking and partnership.
Many regions have created an alternative agenda with a renewed sense of purpose and economic direction which has much to do with promoting the regional identity as the basic building block of European history, A 'Europe of the Regions' vision is still a long way removed from regional economic reality but it is stiil one of the most powerful visions of a refashioned Europe.
THE ETH NO-REGIONAL TRANSFORMATION OF THE NATION-STATE
The nation-state is being challenged by a number of forces both from above and below. Two trends influence the capacity of ethno-lirsguistic minorities to re-negotiate their role in the European division of labour. The first is the weakening of national economic sovereignty and the transfer of economic powers from state legislatures to the European Commission. Despite current difficulties with the E.R.M. and post-Maastricht negotiations, the EU has developed an integrated management of its constituent economies with new policies on competition, trade, monetary exchange rate, science and technological research, and to a lesser extent, its foreign policy. At the regional level agreements such as the Four Motors programme linking Baden-Wuittemberg, Rhones Alpes, Lornbardy, Catalonia together with Wales and Ontario, help to sustain an element of additional political-regional dynamism.
For lesser-used language speakers in Catalonia and Wales more economic autarky can slow down out-migration and language shift, thereby easing one of the key determinants of ethnic antagonism. Such moves represent a broader structural pattern seeking to by-pass aspects of central state authority and build-up regionallevel power. We may not need to establish a de jure Federal Europe if regions increasingly operate as members of a de facto Federal Europe. This is as true in cul tural and identity matters as it is in the more conven-
! See Mar-Molinero and Smith, 1996. for detailed examples.
tional macro-economic and fiscal deliberations. The past decade lias witnessed an improvement in the formal position of many lesser used languages. The most significant development was the establishment of the European Bureau for Lesser Used Languages in 198-1. Located in Dublin and Brussels, this small but effective organisation has sought to co-ordinate and nurture inter-linguistic experience and transfer good practice from one group to another (O'Riagain.1989; Williams, 1993b). Other initiatives involve the Conference on Local and Regional Authorities of Europe with its Charter on European Regional and Minority Languages (Council of Europe, ¡992). Politically the most important reinvigorated actor is the Council for Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) which has increased its involvement in minority group rights since 1989. Although still evolving as the re-constituted Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) it lias detailed the rights and obligations of both minorities and host governments throughout Europe and has put into practice several of the key ideas advanced by specialist and minority rights agencies alike (Minority Rights Group, 1991; Williams, 1993a).
Because conventional political authority is increasingly shared among a number of units within the political system the absolute nature of the territorial nationstate can no longer be sustained as if it were a closed system. Pooled sovereignty, permeable borders. Community-wide socio-economic and environmental policy making, freedom of movement and to a lesser extent shared foreign policy through inter-related agencies such as the Western European Union, NATO, and the OSCE, all characterise the contemporary state system and render it more inter-dependent, both with respects to member states and to subordinate constituent regions However, increased integration and mutual dependence is not without its own structural strains which pose new challenges which we shall examine.
The major ethnic question facing Western Europe at present is the effect of the collapse of the bipolar system on the new world order. There are at least two contradictory processes at work. The first is the opening up of Europe to democratic ideals and representative politics, which follows the advance of social democratic capitalism eastward and its creation of new markets, resources and social organisations. New inter-regional trade and activity has accelerated since the demise of centrally planned economies in Central and Eastern Europe, especially in terms of trans-border co-operation. Previously suspect or fragile strategic regions have been transformed into pivotal nodes in an expanded European network of communication and trade. Such change emphasises how geography and place are periodically rein-
267
ANNALES 10/'97
Colin H, WILLIAMS: EUROPEAN REGIONALISM AO IHE StAPCH FOR NEW REPRESENTATIONAL SPACES, 265-27.1
terpreted and transformed. Vulnerable, strategic minorities, such as the German-speakers in the Alto Adige / South Tyrol, are now in a stronger position to re-build then relationship with geographically contiguous majorities to the north. Once again they can serve as a bridge between the Romance and Germanic culture areas and trade regions. Similarly the Friulian-Slovene corridor now offers a strategic gateway to Central Europe as it did in the days of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Whether economic development will invigorate the Friuliari language in that borderland region, or whether more powerful neighbouring languages will reestablish themselves is an open question.
The second trend is a conservative reaction which seeks to close, limit and protect the 'national' character of states. The resulting tension which hinders the full and free movement of people, ideas and goods is a major source of ethnic tension (Miles, 1992} which is reflected in the manner in which ethnicity and race are being used in different ways to categorise groups and to structure policies which 'defend' the integrity of Europeans. Within sections of the media and political scene, 'ethnicity' is increasingly used to construct a positive, quasi-biological identity which links a particular group to a specific place. Race is used as a classificatory category to reflect primarily, if not exclusively, negative tendencies of dissociation and exclusion at state and EU levels. Race has come to "signify a set of imaginary properties of inheritance which fix and legitimate real positions of social domination or subordination in terms of cultural differences between native and foreigner in the European Community." (MacLaughlin, 1993). in times of economic difficulty, race can once again be used as an exclusionary category in any of the European 'shatterbelts' and there has been a growing incidence of racial victimisation and a resurgence of neo-national-ism, fascism and crypto-communism (Williams, 1993a/.
in an "open" society which values social justice, accommodation and mutual tolerance there is a problem if the gains of autochthonous cthno-linguistic minorities are won at the expense of other minorities, rather than in tandem with them.
Allied to such fears of identity dilution there is a perception of having been exploited by state agencies and ethnic neighbours, best seen in terms of regional dependency which is characterised by the exploitation of natural resources (whether water and oil, or a wild and rugged landscape), or human resources, when a well-educated but relatively poorly paid labour force, is exploited in the service sector with its seasonal and tourist-dependent characteristics, such as in Brittany and Wales. This perception can stimulate violence as in Euskadi, Northern Ireland and Corsica. Conventionally the state responds by seeking to develop the dependent region so as to reduce inter-regional economic disparities and manage potential conflict through a judicious
mix of directed capital investment and social equalisation The Welsh and Irish experience suggest that state interventionist economic transformation often spawns counter-movements dedicated to identity and cultural maintenance, but that in time sue1! movements come to recognise the significance of capturing ownership of the local economic development processes (Williams. 1990).
Historically regional development policy has paid scant regard to the multi-ethnic basis of planning and it is only recently that we have a fledgling literature on planning for minorities and lesser-used language speakers. I inguistic oi cultural considerations are deemed to be far less relevant than economic and political con-< erns in the development process, which serves primarily state-wide either than indigenous interests. In addition the minority cultural group is often portrayed as being reactionary, whilst reformist state attempts are predicated upon the assumption that development will lead to .-i reduction in the gap between the regional minority and the state majority, that is between tradition and modernity. In a trenchant criticism of these assumptions Glyn Williams (1980) has demonstrated the pejorative nature of such traditional-modernisation typologies and related discourses. Regional economic poli« y has become one of the prime instruments of this development transformation process. Regional policy framers are accused of representing too strongly the interests of the central state in their formulation of the regional question and too often interpret cultural features as irrelevant or marginal to planning and policy outcomes.
However, they, along with many other policy-fram-ers have to deal with the unpredictable effects of the two great forces which impinge on all regional planning and social change, namely globalisation and European integration.
GLOBALIZATION AND EUROPEAN INTEGRATION
Globalization is an imperfect and developing process, an ideology and programme which challenges the current order. Together with European integration it changes the context within which civil society is mediated, posing a threat to the conventional territorial relationships and simultaneously opening up new forms of inter-regional interaction such as cable television and global multi-service networks. Ethno-linguistic minorities have 'ea< led to these twin impulses by searching for European-wide economies of scale in broadcasting, information networking, education and public administration. They have also established their own EU institutions and bureaus a/id entered new alliances to influence EU decision-making bodies. They believe that by appealing to the superstructural organisations for legitimacy and equality of group :ights, they will force the state to recognise their claims for vaiying degrees of
268
ANNALES t f)/'97
Colin H. VVIU iAMS: ÊUROI'SAN Rtf.lONAi.ISM AD THE SEARCH fOR NEW REPRESENTATION AL SPACES. 265-274
political/social autonomy within clearly identifiable territorial/social domains.
Logically, if globalization and interdependence can enhance the productive capacity of majority, 'nationstate* interests, they can also be harnessed to develop S he interests of lesser-used language groups. The LU has harmonised state and community policies so as to strengthen its majority language regimes. But the wider question of the relative standing of official languages makes political representatives wary of further complicating administrative politics by addressing the needs of roughly fifty million citizens who have a mother tongue which is not the main official language of the state which they inhabit. Recent expansion of the EU has increased the difficulties in translating multi-cultural communication and guaranteeing access to information and hence power for all groups. The real geolinguistic challenge is to safeguard the interests of all the non-state language groups, especially those most threatened with imminent extinction. A critical aspect of constructing these safeguards is access to knowledge, thus we need to ask and act upon the answers to questions such as who controls access to information within the mother tongue and the working languages of European minorities? Are such languages destined to occupy a more dependant role because o! superstructura! changes favouring dominant groups or will they achieve relative socio-cultural autonomy by adopting aspects of mass technology to suit their particular needs?
Additional issues concern the adaptation of lesser used language speakers to the opportunities afforded by changes in global-local networks, the growth of specialised economic segments or services and of information networks which are accessed by language-related skills. Accessibility to or denial of these opportunities is the virtual expression of real power in society which must be taken on board in any discussion of the politics of regional cultural representation. The general pattern is expressed thus by M. Castells {1997} in his monumental three-volume study "The Rise of the Network Society": "Cultural expressions are abstracted from history and geography, and become predominantly mediated by-electronic communication networks that interact with an audience and by the audience in a diversity of codes and values, ultimately subsumed in a digitised, audiovisual hypertext. Because information and communication circulate primarily through the diversified, yet comprehensive media system, politics becomes increasingly played out in the space of the media... The fact that politics has to be framed in the language of electronically based media has profound consequences on the characteristics, organisation and goals of political processes, political actors, and political institutions. Ultimately, the powers that are in the media networks take second place to the power of flows embodied in the structure and language of these networks" (476).
"At a deeper level, the material foundations of society, space and time are being transformed, organised around the spaces of flows and timeless time. Beyond the metaphorical value of these expressions ... a major hypotheses is put forward : dominant functions are organised in networks pertaining to a space of flows that links them up around the world, while fragmenting subordinate functions, and people, in the multiple space of places, made of locales increasingly segregated and disconnected from each other... The social construction of new dominant forms of space and time develops a metanetwork that switches off nonessential functions subordinate social groups, and devalued territories. By so doing, infinite social distance is created between this meta-network and most individuals activities and localities around the world. The new social order, the network society, increasingly appears to most people as meta-social disorder. Namely, as an automated, random sequence of events derived form the uncontrollable logic of markets, technology, geopolitical order or biological determinations" (Castells, 1997, 477).
REGIONAL AUTHORITIES AND CULTURAL PLANNING
In response to their traditional inability to control "the logic of the market" in so far as it impacts on local cultural considerations several regional and local authorities are examining the role indigenous culture can play in encouraging sustainable development. For the first time the relationships between culture and business formation, product innovation, risk-taking and enterprise are being systematically analysed. It is assumed that if one can understand the inner-workings of a culture, then strategic intervention can direct under-performing regions to become more concerned with economic success and indigenous development. Minority cultures are described in a dichotomous manner as being either essentially innovative or dependent. For example, given its poor economic performance the Welsh-speaking part of Wales is characterised as a dependency culture and in need of development. It thus bceomes necessary to ask what socialisation processes pre-dispose individuals and cultures to gravitate towards or away from entrepreneurial business skills and acumen?
Wales represents a case where the decline of the traditional productive base of formerly cohesive regions and the acute sense of crisis over its national culture and associated territory produce a broad consensus of the left that greater regional autonomy would serve the twin purposes of economic: regeneration and democratic accountability. As with Brittany, Catalonia, Flanders and Scotland it represents a particular configuration where regional innovation has also led to a renewed sense of confidence in European-level institutions and networks {Moreno, 1995; Mar-Molinero, 1994). In the medium
269
ANNALES t f)/'97
Colin H. WILLIAMS: EUROPEAN «CIONALI5M AD THE SEARCH FOP. NEW REPRESENTATIONAL SPACES, 2M--2/ I
term it is likely that academic fields such as Regional Development Planning and Language Planning will cooperate so as to generate new theories of regional economic change and produce pragmatic guidelines of interest to local community planners (James and Williams, 1 997)
THE IMPACT OF MASS TECHNOLOGY ON GLOBALREGIONAL RELATIONS
European-level institutions are also reacting to trends such as globalisation and ielematic networking. The most significant trend is that radical changes in mass communication technology have reinforced the dominante of English as a prime language of commerce and promoted a Pan-European, Trans-Atlantic melange of culture, values and entertainment which is spreading rapidly to most parts of the world. In comparative terms this has led other major international languages such as French, German and Spanish, to re-negotiate their positions within the educational, legal and commercial domains of an enlarged Europe. English has been strengthened by the admission of Nordic members to the European Union, but there is no agreement as to whether other major languages are necessarily weakened by enlargement, neither do we know what effect the future enlargement of the EU will have on the management of ethno-linguistic and regional issues.
However, an abiding concern is that autochthonous language groups, such as the Basques, Bretons, Irish and Welsh will be further marginalized in an increasingly complex and competitive social order. Their only hope lies in establishing regional bilinguaÍism as the dominant pattern and limited success in introducing bilingual practices in domains such as education, public administration and the law offers encouraging signs of a more equitable future. Yet even in the midst of success some groups are experiencing the ambiguous effects of mass technology and rapid communication for they suffer the erosion of their traditional strength in heartland areas and key cities whilst simultaneously harnessing the potential of mass communication and electronic networking in education, broadcasting and leisure service provision, In Central and Eastern Europe comparable but poorer ethno-linguistic groups face a more difficult future in seeking to reproduce their culture and identity. If territorial loss and relative economic decline continue for these more vulnerable groups straddling the major cultural fault lines of Europe then it is likely thai border tensions will spill over into European Union and neighbouring states, and we have little detailed knowledge of what effect this will have on furthering the process of the grand design of 'opening up the frontiers of Europe1.
2 for examples see Brunn and leinbach, ! 990, and Cas tel Is, 1997.
Neither do we really know enough about what role intractable ethnic conflicts will play in triggering major regional clashes and how the security architecture of Europe will react to such conflagrations?
if we shsft attention away from strategic, boderlands and towards more technologically-influenced definitions of space, it becomes evident that an additional source of conflict will be the differential access groups enjoy to information space and powei networks Equally intriguing is to ask what effect globalization will have on the regional-local infra-structure upon which European ethnic minority groups depend?
s he closure of time and space implies thai the traditional solution to many problems in the past, namely relocation, no longer offers a means of coping with an external threat. Linguistic minorities cannot migrate so easily to avoid the penetration of a majority group. In consequence "the higher the level of globalization the narrower the scope (or 'escape alternatives'. In this sense globalization is also a kind of loialitarianization of world space." (Mlinar, 1992, 20). Globalization involves a hitherto unprecedented interdependence at the world level, in which widening circles of domination and dependence are accelerating the effects of uneven development, both internationally ana within long-established states. The transfer of manufacturing from peripheral locations in Western Europe to Eastern European, Asian or Central American states mirrors today similar changes in, for example, the textile industry of Northwest Europe in the mid-nineteenth century. Core-periphery differentials are maintained because surplus regional capital is re-invested elsewhere. Galicia, Wales anil Brittany find it difficult to sustain vibrant ethno-linguistic communities in the face of out migration, relative deprivation, and regional infra-structure decline.
Secondly there is the overcoming of temporal and spatial discontinuities ;n "real time1 communication and economic transactions which are increasingly independent of the limitations of specific locations -
Thirdly there is the penetration of a globalisation piocess which is not merely the sum of its constituent parts, but has a simultaneity of both increased uniformity and increased diversity. New possibilities re-awaken or giv& birth to alternative identities, practices and preferences. Nowhere is this more evident than in the cultural infra-structure of world cities, suffused as they are with multicultural choices and exotic consumption, quite distinct from most of the state's remaining territoiy. In such a milieu, emerging or re-born linguistic identities are nurtured and expressed. So also are their opponent's who wish to impose a pristine cultural order on dissenting ethnic activists, resulting in tension, hostility and i ac i a i/ethnic violence.
270
ANN At ES 10/'9 7
Colin H WS1.LIAMS: EUROPEAN REGIONALISM AD THE SEARCH FOR NEW REPRESENTATIONAL SPACES, liS-274
Fourthly the superficial current of homogenisatiofi throughout the world and the apparent inexorable development of a uniform global culture deserves especial scrutiny. Deeply embedded in the growth of modern technology is the question of language choice so that the spread of English contributes to the jink between globalization and post-modernity. Many European minorities, despite being bi-or tri-lingual, face extreme pressures as a result of super-structural changes.
Fifthly there is the counter-current of increased religious and/or ethnic identification and confrontation, within and across national frontiers and often in violent and emotional forms (Mlinar, 1992; Williams, 1993). Political movements within linguistic minority regions have been persistent in their assertion that it was their forced incorporation into an alien state system which was the cause of so many of their woes, it is significant that so many ethnic leaders co-aitgn themselves with nationalists, regionalists, Geologists and liberals in calling for a re-structured Europe which will promise to give due attention to group rights and to the economic welfare of historically disadvantaged minorities. Thus the role and future of the nation-state constitutes one of the prime questions to be analysed within a globalization perspective.
Globalization also influences cultural patterns and modes of thought because as a constant interactive process it is always seeking to break down the particular, the unique and the traditional so as to reconstruct them as a local response to a general set of systematic stimuli. This is the threat of the deten'itorialisation of society and space. For cultural conservatives and ethnic defence activists such processes are anathema to their existence, for they signal a relative loss of power, of cultural autonomy and ultimately, of course, of absolute decline qua language death.
The collapse of both space and time demand a fresh appreciation of global interdependence- for we have been quick to characterise the advantages which accrue to well placed groups and regions. We have been less careful to scrutinise the impact such transitions might have on minorities and the disadvantaged. These would include the denial of human rights; the attack on religious beliefs in an increasingly secular social order; on the process of deterritorialization and its obligation to redefine spatial relationships; on the old certainties of global strategic relationships; on the nature of the state and its legitimising philosophy of national self-interest enshrined in the sovereignty of the citizen; on the direction of world development and our common hopes and fears as we face a succession of global environmental crises.
Globalization, thus conceived, is an ideological programme for thought and action. As with modernisation it is not merely an account of how the world is changing, but also a prescription of how it should change. As yet we do not have global economic change, rather we have macro-regional functional integration in Western Europe, North America arid to a lesser extent, in parts of South and East Asia. But the cumulative impact of these trading blocks is to establish a new regime whereby barriers to capital, trade, influence, the race for resources, uniform product standards, manufacturing and technology transfer are all reduced. Social and cultural change are deeply implicated in this world vision, and we have enough evidence to recognise that some groups and regions will be advantaged, and others marginalised ss globalization is entrenched in the world system. However, it is neither an inevitable nor an uncontested process. Fragmentation and dissolution so often follow periods of aggrandisement. We need far more information and practical measure designed to specify how minorities may cope with these new challenges and opportunities and how the recent strengthening of the European Union influences the impact of these diverse processes in selected regions?
CONCLUSION
In terms of this essay's remit the key question is how-will the processes summarised under the twin labels of globalisation and deten'itorialisation effect the maintenance of regional identities and the transformation of corresponding regional spaces? We are not yet at tfie dawn of a 'Europe of the Regions.' despite a campaign which has lasted for well over a generation.-1 But we daily witness the emergence of a new regional actors whose cumulative impact on the territorial, slate-nation will be profound (Cooke, 1989; Keating and Loughlin, 1997). Tension and conflict between all the processes at different levels wili be inevitable, such is the nature of our competitive system. But ! also detect a strong yearning for mutual understanding, rapprochment and partnership which may yet prevail if the appropriate supportive political and economic infra-structures can be built and are allowed to flourish,
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
1 am grateful to my colleague j. Loughlin and F. Cass Publishers for their permission to draw on an earlier consideration of these issues which was published as Williams, 1997.
3 a I tiueri, 1984; HeraiFci, 1963, 1971
271
ANNALES t f)/'97
....... Cotin H. WILLIAMS. Fi.iROPFAN! RECSONAU5M AD THE SEARCH FOR NEW REPRESENTATIONAL SPACES,	( ...........~~
EVROPSKI REGIONALIZEM V LUČI ISKANI A NOVIH REPREZENTATIVNIH PROSTOROV
Colin H. WILLIAMS
Univerza Wales, Cardiff, Ockleiefc za veliki ie?ik in kulturo. CB-Cardiff CFt 3XW, PO Box 910
POVZETEK
Članek obravnava vprašanje regionalizma v luči iskanja novih, v družbenem pogledu ustreznih reprezentativnih prostorov. Nedvomno se v evropskem kontekstu srečujemo s problemom regionalizac ije oziroma decentralizacije, ki pa se ne prekriva nujno z regionalističnimi zahtevami in pričakovanji. Obenem smo danes priče še navidez protislovnim trendom, ki po eni strani vodijo čedalje bolj poudarjeno globalizacijo, po drugi pa A ponovnemu uveljavljanju lokalne in regionalne identitete na poddrž.avnem nivoju, kar se je v mnogih državah Evrope izražalo tudi s separatističnimi zahtevami različnih perifernih skupnosti, na primer Baskov, Bretoncev ali Škotov
Čeprav so evropske države, ki se povezujejo v okvbu Evropske unije, svojo notranjepolitično, družbeno in ekonomsko organizacijo v marsikaterem pogledu prilagodile rastočim decentralizacijskim potrebam ali bolje potrebam no bolj fleksibilnem in cenejšem državnem aparatu, ostaja vizija »Evrope regij« v tem prostoru slejkoprej močno prisotna in še vedno spodbuja rastoče število regionalisiičnih gibanj. Tradicionalnim regionalističnim območjem zahodne Evrope so se v zadnjih letih namreč pridružila ¡udi tista v srednji in vzhodni Evropi. Znotraj Evropske unije je na dejavnost regionalističnih gibanj močno vplivalo dejstvo, da so tu državni aparati de! svojih pristojnosti prepustili skupnim evropskim telesom, kjer so lahko vzpostavili neposredni odnos z regijami in za ta območja pripravili vrsto razvojnih programov. To je okrepilo dinamizem in vlogo regionalnih skupnosti ter jim hkrati omogočalo, da se med seboj povežejo in počnejo igrati vlogo nekakšnih regionalnih razvojnih akterjev, in ne le glasnikov lokalnega in perifernega protesta. Izven okvira Evropske unije pa se regionalna gibanja kažejo kot izraz notranje demokratizacije in postopne decentralizacije tradicionalno rigidnib državnih upravnih ureditev, a tudi kot izraz ponovno obujenih notranjih in medetničnih konfliktov,, ki vodijo v nacionalistično konfrontacijo in za vira nje integracijskih procesov, kar verjetno ne bo ostalo brez vpliva na prizadevanja za izgradnjo novega "skupnega evropskega doma".
Dosedanji razvojni tiendi pa so vendarle privedli do oblikovanja nekakšne de facto federalne Evrope, znotraj katere so se znatno okrepila tudi usta evropska telesa, ki se posvečajo vprašanjem varstva manjšin ter ohranjanja in širjenja manjšinskih jezikov, in s rem prispevala k temu, da so tudi te tradicionalno periferne skupnosti pridobile novo vlogo in vpliv. K temu ¡n pripomoglo tudi povečevanje čezmejnih stikov, izmenjav in povezovanj, kar je opaziti ne le znotrat Evropske unije, ampak tudi med državami članicami Unije in njihovimi sosedi. Se posebne, dobrodošla je intenziftkacija čezmejnih odnosov na strateško pomembnih in v preteklosti mnogokrat konfliktualnih območjih, kakršna je južna Tirolska ali Furlanija-julijska krajina, kjer se romanski svet stika z germanskim in slovanskim. Poudariti pa gre, da tudi v tem primeru nismo priče enostavnim, linearnim procesom, temveč največkrat protislovnim dinamikam. Tako «e "evmpeizai ija"perifemejših regij aH regij s posebnimi kulturnimi značilnostmi pod vplivom bolj neposrednih posegov evropskih teles ali okrepitve medregionalnega in mednarodnega sodelovanja lahko izkaže tudi kol negativni proces, k; povečuje labdnost po naravi proti zunanjim vplivom manj odpornih in ranljivejiih regionalnih skupnosti. Zaradi tega se te skupnosti neredko upirajo vsem zunanjim »modernizacijskim>r vplivom in posegom ter se tendenčno zapirajo v nekakšno regionalno samozadostnost.
Po drugi strani se tudi oblike državnega poseganja spreminjajo in postajajo kompleksnejše. Večinoma namreč ti poseg1 ne sodijo več v okvir nekdaj prevladujoče težnje po homogenizaciji it. standardizaciji državnega ozemlja in njegove družbene strukture, ampak so vse boij zavestno usmerjeni k ovrednoteniu lokalne in regionalne specifike, zavedajoč se pomena lokalne in regionalne identitete za celosten razvoj območij s posebnimi kulturnimi, jezikovnim, in etničnimi lastnostmi. Toda s krepitvijo regionalne specifike se države kot zagovorniki njim lastnih kulturnih lastnosti obenem upirajo vse bolj obsežnim in agresivnim globalizacijskim vplivom Rezultat takega sožitja med c entri in periferijami je svojstvena povezava kulturnih in ekonomskih razvojnih pobud na ravni regij, v katerih dobivajo regionalne skupnosti in njihove družbene lei politične organizacije novo vlogo Ta se kombinira s tradicionalnimi regionalističnimi zahtevami, ki se kot nekakšna konstanta ohranjajo na vseh območjih in jih lahko sintetiziramo v tri točke;
1} skrb za ohranjanje m širjenje edinstvene kulture, jezika in z njima povezanih institucij;
2) težnia po vplivanju na smer in hitrost ekonomskih sprememb v regiji.
Ji skrb za ustrezno politično predstavništvo, ki naj povečuje demokratično partecipacijo in regionalno identiteto,
Sodobni regionalizem se tako pomika iz polja protekcionističnih zahtev in protesta na polje prevzema vloge subjekta lastnega regionalnega razvoja v dogovoru z. državnimi in skupnimi evropskimi organi. Zato je temeljno vprašanje, s katerim se danes srečujemo pri obravnavi problemov regionalizma, to, koliko procesi giobalizacije in deteritoriallzacije lahko vplivajo nr, ohranjanje regionalne identitete in na spreminjanje prostorov, v katerih so te
272
ANNALES i O/'97
Colin H. WILLIAMS: EUROPEAN REGIONALISM AD THE SEARCH FOK NEW Rf.PRESENTAtlONAS. SPACES, 2M-27J
identitete prisotne. Čeprav se, kljub naporom, ki trajajo le več. kot eno generacijsko obdobje, ne nahajamo ravno v situaciji »Evrope regije, pa se vendarle srečujemo ž vrsto novih regionalnih akterjev in pojavov, ki močno učinkujejo na notranjo strukturo državne ureditve. Verjetno je ena izmed poglavitnih novosti na ravni odnosov med centri in periferijami, na kaiero so nedvomno vplivali razvijajoči se procesi mednarodne integracije, ravno manjša kon-fliktualnost med lokalnimi in regionalnimi skupnostmi ter centralnimi oblastmi. V takem položaju se oblikujejo razmere vzajemnega razumevanja in sodelovanja ter oblikovanja primernejših in za enakopravnejši razvoj regionalnih skupnosti ustreznejših političnih in ekonomskih razvojnih smernic, ki črpajo svojo legitimnost v kulturni specifiki prostorov, katerim so namenjeni.
Ključne besede: Evropa, regionalizem, etnične skupine, regionalna politika
REFERENCES
Agnew, |.A., Corbridge, S. (1995): Mastering Space, London, Routledge.
Srunn, S-, Leinbach, T.R. (eds.) (1991): Collapsing Space and Time: Geographic Aspects of Communication and information. London, Harper Collins Academic. Castells, M. (1997): The Rise of the Network Society. Oxford, Blackv,'!!.
Clark, R.P. (1979): The Basques: The Franco Years and Beyond. Reno, The University of Nevada Press. Clark, R.P. (1984): The Basque insurgents, ETA, 19521980. Madison, The University of Wisconsin Press Cooke, P. (1989): Ethnicity, Economy and Civil Society: Three Theories of Political Regionalism. In: Williams, C.H., and Kofman, E. (eds ): Community Conflict, Partition and Nationalism. London, Routiedge. Council of Europe (1992): European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. Strasbourg, Council of Europe.
Fouéré, V. (1984): L'Europe des Régions. St Brieuc, Les Cahiers de ¡'Avenir, 14.
Héraud, G. (1963): L'Europe des Ethnies. Paris, Presse d'Europe.
Héraud, G. (1971): Federalisme et Communautés Ethniques. Edition J. Destrée, Charieoi. Hirst, P., Thompson, G. (1992): The Problem of 'globalization': international economic relaiions, national economic management and the formation of trading blocs Economy and Society, 21, 4, 357-95. James, C, Williams, C.H. (1997): Language and Planning in Scotland and Wales. In: Macdonald, R., and Thomas. H. (eds.): Nationality and Planning in Scotland and Wales. Cardiff, University of Wales Press, 264-302. Keating, M. (1988): State and Regional Nationalism. Brighton, Harvester, Wheatsheaf.
Keating, M. (1992): Regional Autonomy in the Changing State Order: A Framework of Analysis. Regional Politics and Policy, 2, 3, 45-61.
Keating, M., Loughlin, J. (eds.) (1997): The Political Economy of Regionalism, London, Frank Cass. Loughlin, J. (1996): Ireland. Nationalism, Régionali-
sation and Regionalism in Ireland. In: Farber, G., and Forsythe, M. (ed.): The Regions - Factors of Integration or Disintegration in Europe? Baden-Baden, Nomos-Vei lagegesellschaft.
MacLaughlin, j. (1986): The Political Geography of Nation-Building and Nationalism in the Social Sciences: Structural Versus Dialectical Accounts. Political Geography Quarterly, 13, 4, 299-329. MacLaughlin, \. (1993): Defending the Frontiers: The Political Geography of Race and Racism in the European Community, in: Williams, C. H. (ed.): The Political Geography of the New World Order. London, Wiley, 20-46.
Mar-Molinero, C. (1994): Linguistic Nationalism and Minority Language Groups in the 'New' Europe. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 15, 3. Mar-Moiinero, C., Smith, A. (eds.): Nationalism and the Nation in the Iberian Peninsula. Oxford, Berg. Miles, R. (1992): Migration, Racism and the NationState in Contemporary Europe. In: Satzewich, V. (ed.): Deconstructing a Nation. Nova Scotia, Fernvvood Publishing,
Minority Rights Group (1991): Minorities and Autonomy irr Western Europe. London, Minority Rights Group.
Mlinar, Z. (ed,) (1992): Globalization and Territorial Identities. Aldershot, Avebury Press. Mlinar, Z. (1994): Transnational Flows and Language Identity of a Small Nation (The Case of Slovenia). Paper presented to the conference on 'Nation and Languages and the Construction of Europe', Katholieke Universiteit, Leuven, November.
Moreno, L. (1995): Multiple Ethnoterritorial Concurrence in Spain. Nationalism and Ethnic Politics, I, 1, 1132.
O'Riagain, D. (1989): The EBLUL: its Role in Creating a Europe United in Diversity. In: Veiter, T. (ed.): Federalisme, regionalisme et droit des groupes ethnique en Europe. Vienna, Braümuller.
Smith, A.D. (1993): Ties that bind- L.S.E. Magazine, Spring, 8-11.
ANNALES t f)/'97
Colin H. WILHAMS; EUROPEAN RfOlONAI.I5M Aï; THE SiARCS-r FOR NEW REPRESENTATIONAL SPACES. M>5-2?-S
Williams, C.H. (1990): Political expressions of underdevelopment in the west European periphery. In: Buller. H-, and Wright, S. (eds.): Rural Development; Problems and Practices. Aldershot, Avebury. Williams, C.H (ed) (1991b): Linguistic Minorities, Society and Territory. Clevedon, Avon, Multilingual Matters.
Williams, C.H. (1993a): Towards a New World Order: European and American Perspectives. In; Williams, C.H (ed.): The Political Geography of the New World Order London, Wiley, 1-19.
Williams, C.H. (1993b): The European Community's Lesser Used I anguages. Rivista Geográfica Italiana, 100, 531-64.
Williams, C.H. (1994): Called Unto Liberty: On Language and Nationalism. Clevedon, Avon, Multilingual Matters.
Williams, C.H. (1997): Territory, Identity and Language. In: Keating. M . and Loughlin, J. eds.): The Political Economy of Regionalism London, F. Cass, 112-38. Williams, G. (1980): Review of F. Allaidt, Implications of the ethnic revival in modern industrial society Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 1, 363-70.
274