‘Europe of the Regions’ and the problem of boundaries in liberal democratic theory

Abstract

The article explores the concept of culture as a criterion for political boundaries, and finds both prominent positions on the cultural criterion in contemporary liberal democratic theory—liberal nationalism and its cosmopolitan opposition—inadequate. To this end, the article compares two opposing visions of culture-based regionalism in Europe, developed by Green parties and by parties of the new far-right, respectively. The comparison indicates that the exclusionary meanings of culture as a criterion for political boundaries, typical for the new far-right, dominate the notion of culture in this context in general—despite the ecologists' efforts to appropriate the cultural criterion and reinvent it. The ensuing difficulty for the theoretical positions is: (1) an inclusive and pluralist notion of culture as a criterion for political boundaries is currently unavailable, and (2) particularities are conceptually indispensible in a theory of political borders—replacing cultural particularism by no particularism is implausible.

Notes

 ^* The article includes references to material written by activists, party members and office holders, writing in these capacities. They are marked with (*) next to their name, in its first appearance in the references below.

 1. F. Whelan, ‘Prologue: Democratic theory and the boundary problem’, Nomos XXV: Liberal Democracy, (1983), pp. 13–47; A. Buchanan, ‘The making and unmaking of boundaries: What liberalism has to say?’ in A. Buchanan and M. Moore (Eds) States, Nations and Borders: The Ethics of Making Boundaries (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003), pp. 231–237; W. Kymlicka, ‘Territorial boundaries: a liberal egalitarian perspective’, in D. Miller and S. H. Hashmi (Eds) Boundaries and Justice: Diverse Ethical Perspectives (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2001), pp. 249–254. By ‘theory’ I mean normative political theory or political philosophy.

 2. For example, C. Beitz, Political Theory and International Relations (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1999); S. Caney, Justice Beyond Borders (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005); R. Goodin, ‘Enfranchising all affected interests, and its alternatives’, Philosophy and Public Affairs, 35 (2007), pp. 40–68.

 3. For example, D. Miller, On Nationality (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995), pp. 81–119; Kymlicka, ‘Territorial boundaries’, op. cit., Ref. 1, pp. 264–272; W. Kymlicka, Politics in the Vernacular: Nationalism, Multiculturalism and Citizenship (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001), pp. 203–220.

 4. I use the term ‘new far-right’ for the family of parties in West European democracies that are located at the right end of the political spectrum in their respective countries, but can no longer be classified as fascist or neo-fascist parties. That there is such a party-family and that its members have some common general characteristics is rather uncontroversial, and I follow here P. Ignazi, ‘The silent counter-revolution’, European Journal of Political Research, 22(1) (1992), pp. 3–34; P. Ignazi, Extreme Right Parties in Western Europe (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003); C. Mudde, The Ideology of the Extreme Right (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2000); C. Mudde, Populist Radical Right Parties in Europe (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007); H. G. Betz and S. Immerfall (Eds), The New Politics of the Right (London: Macmillan, 1998); H. B. Betz and C. Johnson, ‘Against the current—Stemming the tide: the nostalgic ideology of the contemporary radical populist rights’, Journal of Political Ideologies, 9 (2004), pp. 311–327. I take no position with regard to the controversies within the research field of this party-family, namely in respect to the precise definition of their ideologies, sub-categories within the party-family or the nature of the challenge that they pose to democracy.

 5. Cosmopolitans do not agree on which role boundaries should then have; see the second section below.

 6. For alternative conceptual possibilities within liberal democratic thought, see e.g. J. Carens, Culture, Citizenship and Community (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000), pp. 64–68, 161–176; R. Bajpai, ‘Minority representation and the making of the Indian constitution’, in R. Bhargava (Ed.) Politics and Ethics of the Indian Constitution (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008), pp. 354–391; A. Shachar, Multicultural Jurisdictions: Cultural Differences and Women's Rights; C. A. Macartney, National States and National Minorities (London: Oxford University Press, 1934).

 7. T. Pogge, ‘Cosmopolitanism and sovereignty’, Ethics, 103 (1992), pp. 48, 69–75; T. Pogge, ‘An egalitarian law of peoples’, Philosophy and Public Affairs, 23 (1994), pp. 199–203; S. Caney, ‘Cosmopolitan justice and equalizing opportunities’, Metaphilosophy, 32 (2001), pp. 113–134; R. Goodin, ‘What is so special about our fellow countrymen?’, Ethics, 98 (1988), pp. 678–683.

 8. D. Miller, ‘In defence of nationality’, Journal of Applied Philosophy, 10 (1993), pp. 3–16; Miller, On Nationality, op. cit., Ref. 3, p. 188; D. Miller, ‘Liberalism and boundaries: a response to Allen Buchanan’, in Buchanan and Moore (Eds), op. cit., Ref. 1, pp. 262–272; Kymlicka, Politics in the Vernacular, op. cit., Ref. 3, pp. 39–49.

 9. For example, A. Margalit and J. Raz, ‘National self-determination’, Journal of Philosophy, 87 (1999), pp. 439–461; W. Kymlicka, Liberalism, Community and Culture (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1989), p. 195; W. Kymlicka, Multicultural Citizenship: A Liberal Theory of Minority Rights (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995), p. 84; Miller, On Nationality, op. cit., Ref. 3, pp. 184–185.

10. M. Moore, The Ethics of Nationalism (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001), p. 52. National self-determination means, in this context, that nations should remain primary units of justice, democracy and self-government.

11. Kymlicka, Multicultural Citizenship, op. cit., Ref. 9, pp. 76–79; W. Kymlicka, ‘The new debate on minority rights’, in A. Laden and D. Owen (Eds) Multiculturalism and Political Theory (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007), p. 34; Margalit and Raz, ‘National self-determination’, op. cit., Ref. 9, pp. 443–444; Miller, On Nationality, op. cit., Ref. 3, Chapter 2. For a systematic overview and discussion, see Moore, ibid., pp. 24–73. For a critique of the internal consistency of the definition as employed in liberal nationalism and liberal multiculturalism, see A. Vincent, Nationalism and Particularity (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002), pp. 165–172; A. Abizadeh, ‘Does liberal democracy presuppose a cultural nation?’, American Political Science Review, 96(3) (2002), pp. 495–509.

12. Miller, On Nationality, op. cit., Ref. 3, pp. 24–26, 85.

13. Kymlicka, Multicultural Citizenship, op. cit., Ref. 9, pp. 76–79; Margalit and Raz, ‘National self-determination’, op. cit., Ref. 9, pp. 443–444.

14. K. C. Tan, ‘Liberal nationalism and cosmopolitan justice’, Ethical Theory and Moral Practice, 5 (2002), pp. 431–461; D. Moellendorf, Cosmopolitan Justice (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 2001), pp. 128–141; S. Caney, Justice Beyond Borders, op. cit., Ref. 2, pp. 173–182; H. de Schutter and R. Tinnevelt, ‘Is liberal nationalism incompatible with global democracy?’ Metaphilosophy, 40 (2009), pp. 109–130.

15. For reasons to approach in general problems in political theory from an ideological–conceptual perspective, see M. Freeden, Ideologies and Political Theory: A Conceptual Approach (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1996), pp. 27–32; G. Talshir, ‘The objects of ideology: Historical transformation and the changing role of the analyst’, History of Political Thought, 26 (2005), pp. 520–549. In this section, I limit the discussion to the relevance of conceptual analysis of political ideologies to the particular problem at hand.

16. For an informative introduction to this method, see D. McDermott, ‘Analytical political philosophy’, in M. Stears and D. Leopold (Eds) Political Theory: Methods and Approaches (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008), pp. 11–27.

17. On the method of conceptual morphology and the constraints on meaning that it yields, see Freeden, Ideologies and Political Theory, op. cit., Ref. 15. pp. 60–95.

18. C. Calhoun, ‘Cosmopolitanism and nationalism’, Nations and Nationalism, 14 (2008), p. 431.

19. Freeden, Ideologies and Political Theory, op. cit., Ref. 15, p. 106.

20. For an overview and discussion of the use of public opinion surveys in political theory, see A. Swift, ‘Public opinion and political philosophy: The relations between social scientific and philosophical analysis of distributive justice’, Ethical Theory and Moral Practice, 2 (1999), pp. 337–363; Swift et al., ‘Distributive justice: Does it matter what the people think?’ in J. R. Kluegel, D. S. Mason, and B. Wegener (Eds) Social Justice and Political Change (New York: Walter de Gruyter, 1995), pp. 15–48; see also A. Swift and S. White, ‘Political theory, social science and real politics’, in Stears and Leopold (Eds), op. cit., Ref. 16, pp. 49–68; M. Stears, ‘The vocation of political theory: Principles, empirical inquiry and the politics of opportunity’, European Journal of Political Theory, 4 (2005), pp. 325–350.

21. See e.g. H. Keman (Ed.), Comparative Democratic Politics (London: Sage, 2002); I. Budge, Mapping Policy Preferences: Estimates for Parties, Electors and Governments 1945–1998 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001). P. Mair, ‘Left-right orientations’, in R. J. Dalton and H. D. Klingemann (Eds) Oxford Handbook of Political Behavior (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007), pp. 206–222; I. Budge, D. Hearl, and D. Robertson, Ideology, Strategy and Party Change (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987); H. Kitschelt, The Transformation of European Social Democracy (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994), pp. 198–206; P. Mair, Party System Change: Interpretations and Approaches (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998); see also S. Lukes, ‘Epilogues: The grand dichotomy of the twentieth century’, in T. Ball and R. Bellamy (Eds) The Cambridge History of Twentieth-Century Political Thought (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003), pp. 602–625.

22. For the argument that the point could be trivial for other political concepts, see A. Swift, ‘Public opinion and political philosophy’, op. cit., Ref. 20, pp. 349–351.

23. Freeden, Ideologies and Political Theory, op. cit., Ref. 15, pp. 77–78, 85–89.

24. For example, R. Nozick, Anarchy, State and Utopia (New York: Basic Books, 1974) compared with R. Rocker, Anarchism and Anarcho-Syndicalism (London: Freedom Press, 1973).

25. Kymlicka, ‘Territorial boundaries’, op. cit., Ref. 1, p. 250; see also D. Miller, ‘Political theory for earthlings’, in Stears and Leopold (Eds), op. cit., Ref. 16, pp. 34–35, 41–42.

26. Betz and Johnson, ‘Against the current’, op. cit., Ref. 4; P. A. Taguieff, ‘From race to culture: The new right's view on European identity’, Telos, 98–99 (1994), pp. 99–125; G. Talshir, ‘Knowing right from left: The politics of identity between the radical left and the far right’, Journal of Political Ideologies, 10 (2005), pp. 311–335; G. Talshir, The Political Ideology of Green Parties (New York: Palgrave, 2002).

27. To be sure, this ideological element is not shared by all parties of the far right. The French National Front, for example, is unequivocally statist. On similarities, difference and classification difficulties with the far right, see e.g. C. Mudde, ‘The war of the words: Defining the extreme right party family’, West European Politics, 19 (1996), pp. 225–248; Ignazi, Extreme Right Parties in Western Europe, op. cit., Ref. 4, pp. 4–19; Mudde, Populist Radical Right Parties in Europe, op. cit., Ref. 4, pp. 32–57. The regionalist vision of the far right is not the most common or widespread far-right ideology, but its elements constitute one of the voices of this ideological compound, within important members of this party family, including the FPÖ and Lega Nord, especially where the parties address national groups that do not overlap with states. While the French ND is not a political party, but a think tank, it has played an important role in the ideological renewal of the far right. Ignazi, op. cit., Ref. 4, pp. 90–92 and see below Ref. 62.

28. R. Inglehart, The Silent Revolution: Changing Values and Political Styles Among Western Publics (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1977); H. Kitschelt, The Radical Right in Western Europe (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1995), pp. 47–56; L. Hooghe, G. Marks, and C. Wilson, ‘Does left/right structure party position on European integration?’ Comparative Political Studies, 35 (2002), pp. 965–968. For a recent and comprehensive discussion, see H. Kriesi et al., West European Politics in the Age of Globalization (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008), pp. 3–20, 320–344. Note that the sociological claim that the ‘new politics’ parties do not indicate the emergence of a new dimension to political competition but have transformed the existing ones is compatible with the party-politics claim that party-competition is two-dimensional, consisting in an economic dimension and a cultural dimension. See also M. Gabel and S. Hix, ‘Defining the EU political space: An empirical study of the European election manifestos 1979–1999’, in M. Steenbergen and G. Marks (Eds) European Integration and Political Conflict (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004), pp. 93–119.

29. For example, Kitschelt, Radical Right in Western Europe, op. cit., Ref. 28, pp. 149–206; Kitschelt, Transformation of European Social Democracy, op. cit., Ref. 21; R. Rohrschneider, ‘New party versus old left realignments’, Journal of Politics, 55 (1993), pp. 682–701; Betz and Immerfall (Eds), New Politics of the Right, op. cit., Ref. 4; R. Lachat, ‘The electoral consequences of integration-demarcation’, in H. Kriesi et al., ibid., pp. 296–319; M. Schain et al. (Eds), Shadows over Europe: The Development and Impact of the Extreme Right in Western Europe (New York: Macmillan, 2002); P. Hainsworth, The Extreme Right in Western Europe (London: Routledge, 2008); see also Mudde, Populist Radical Right Parties in Europe, op. cit., Ref. 4, pp. 277–292 for a tentative assessment of the impact of populist radical rights parties.

30. G. Marks and C. Wilson, ‘The past in the present: A cleavage theory of party response to European integration’, British Journal of Political Science, 30 (2000), p. 459.

31. For example, E. Bomberg, Green Parties and Politics in the European Union (London: Routledge, 1998); M. Münter, Grüne Alternative für Europa? Die Europapolitik der Grünen bis 1990 (Berlin: Logos, 2001); S. Salzborn and H. Schiedel, ‘Nation Europa’, Blätter für deutsche und internationale Politik, 10 (2003), pp. 1209–1217; U. Ruge, Die Erfindung des ‘Europa der Regionen’ (Frankfurt/M: Campus, 2003); A. Spektorowski, ‘Regionalism and the right: The case of France’, Political Quarterly, 71 (2000), pp. 352–361.

32. Talshir, Political Ideology of Green Parties, op. cit., Ref. 26, pp. 108–140, 255–270; P. Serne, Les Verts ont 20 ans (Paris: Les Verts, 2004); J. Raschke, Die Grünen: wie sie wurden, was sie sind (Köln: Bund-Verlag, 1993), pp. 39–59.

33. Die Grünen im Bundestag, Vielfalt statt Einfalt (Bonn: Die Grünen, 1990); Die Grünen in Bundestag, Argumente: Die Multikulturelle Gesellschaft (Bonn: Die Grünen, 1990); C. Joppke, Immigration and the Nation State (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004), pp. 199–207.

34. Compare Les Verts, Le Livre des Verts (Paris: Éditions du félin, 1994), pp. 163–173; Y. Frémion,* ‘Régionalistes, nationalistes, autonomistes écologistes, face au Jacobinisme’, Verts Europe, 30 (1991), p. 2; Reconstruire l'espoir! En Vert et à Gauche: L'écologie, l'égalité, la citoyenneté (La Tour d'Aigues: éditions de l'aube, 2002), pp. 209–227.

35. Les Verts, ‘Langues et cultures des différents peuple de France: Verts et autonomistes agirons en concert’, Verts Europe, 32 (1991), p. 1.

36. Bomberg, Green Parties and Politics in the European Union, op. cit., Ref. 31, pp. 57–69; Hooghe, Marks, and Wilson, ‘Does left/right structure party position on European integration?’ op. cit., Ref. 28.

37. Bomberg, ibid., p. 66.

38. See e.g. Parti Vert Européen, Un Projet Ecologiste Pour une Europe Fédérale (2004); European Green Party, A Green Future for Europe (2006), available at http://www.eurogreens.org/cms/default/dok/153/[email protected] (accessed 30 April 2010).

39. A general declaration on the French ecologists' positions is available at http://regions-federalisme.lesverts.fr/rubrique.php3?id_rubrique = 1 (accessed 1 November 2010).

40. Conseil National Interrégional des Verts, ‘Européens de toute façon’, Verts Europe, 56 (1992), p. 1.

41. A. Isler-Béguin,* ‘Quel développement soutenable pour quelles régions d'Europe’, Verts Europe, 32 (1991), p. 1; B. Boissière,* ‘De quelle Europe Politique les Verts rêvent-ils?’ Verts Europe, 22 (1990) et 23 (1991).

42. Boissière, ibid.

43. Boissière, ibid.

44. Groupe Verts au Parlement européen, ‘Non a la ratification du vide démocratique’, Verts Europe, 42 (1992), p. 1; Groupe Verts au Parlement européen, ‘Pour un Maastricht réellement démocratique’, Vert Europe, 48 (1992), pp. 1–2.

45. Les Verts, Le Nouveau livre des verts (Paris: Éditions du Félin, 1999); Les Verts, Le Livre des Verts, op. cit., Ref. 34; A. Isler-Béguin, ‘Quel développement soutenable pour quelles régions d'Europe’, op. cit., Ref. 41, p. 2.

46. Frémion, ‘Régionalistes, nationalistes, autonomistes écologistes, face au Jacobinisme’, op. cit., Ref. 34, p. 2; Les Verts, ‘Langues et cultures des différents peuple de France’, op. cit., Ref. 35, p. 1. This cooperation also included common electoral lists, such as in the case of Max Simeoni, a representative for a Corsican party, ‘Corsican future’, that was elected to the European Parliament in 1989 and 1994 in the French ecologists' list.

47. B. Boissière, ‘Le comité des régions sera-t-il mort-né ?’ Verts Europe, 71 (1993), p. 4.

48. Frémion, ‘Régionalistes, nationalistes, autonomistes écologistes, face au Jacobinisme’, op. cit., Ref. 34, p. 1.

49. U. Bossi* und J. Hatzenbichler* (Eds), Europa der Regionen (Graz: Leopold Stocker Verlag, 1993); Ruge, Die Erfindung des ‘Europa der Regionen’, op. cit., Ref. 31, pp. 269–277.

50. P. A. Taguieff, ‘The doctrine of the national front in France (1972–1989)’, New Political Science, 8 (1989), pp. 29–70; T. Bouclier,* L'Europe des régions contra la France (Paris: Godefroy de Bouillon, 1999).

51. For example, Taguieff, ‘From race to culture’, op. cit., Ref. 26; Betz and Johnson, ‘Against the current’, op. cit., Ref. 4.

52. This point is also of interest for the study of the parties of the far right and their ideology, which could help conceptualize what is radical or extremist about the ideologies of this party-family. It is, however, beyond the scope of the article to pursue this point.

53. Front National, Pour un avenir français: le program de gouvernement du Front National (Paris: Editions Godefroy de Bouillon, 2001), pp. 144–145.

54. Front National, ibid., pp. 145–147.

55. Front National, ibid., pp. 155–156; J. C. Martinez,* ‘Préface’, in Bouclier, L'Europe des régions contra la France, op. cit., Ref. 50, pp. 7–10.

56. P. Stuiber, ‘Haider zum Chef der neuen BZÖ gewählt’, Die Welt (18 April 2005); ‘Haider als Globalisierungskritiker’, Der Standard (13 April 2005).

57. FPÖ, Parteiprogramm 1997, VI–1.1 (quoted from the party's own translation).

58. FPÖ, ibid., VI–3.

59. FPÖ, ibid., VI–4.

60. FPÖ, ibid., VI–3.3.

61. A. Zaslove, ‘Closing the door? The ideology and impact of radical right populism on migration policy in Austria and Italy’, Journal of Political Ideologies, 9 (2004), pp. 101–106; Betz and Johnson, ‘Against the current’, op. cit., Ref. 4; Taguieff, ‘From race to culture’, op. cit., Ref. 26.

62. M. Riedlsperger, ‘The freedom party in Austria: From protest to radical right populism’, in Betz and Immerfall (Eds), op. cit., Ref. 4, pp. 31–33; A. Spektorowski, ‘The new right: Ethno-regionalism, ethno-pluralism and the emergence of a neo-fascist “third way”’, Journal of Political Ideologies, 8 (2003), pp. 111–130; Ruge, Die Erfindung des ‘Europa der Regionen’, op. cit., Ref. 31, pp. 269–277; Ignazi, Extreme Right Parties in Western Europe, op. cit., Ref. 4, pp. 90–91; J. Hatzrnbichler,* ‘De l'Autriche et de la Nouvelle Droite’, Eléments, 91 (1998); M. de Wet,* ‘Die selbstbewußten Regionen Italien: Solidaritätskampagne der Lega Nord für Österreichs Freiheitliche’, Junge Freiheit, 16 (2000).

63. A. de Benoist,* Quel Europe ? (réponse a une enquête), 5/2003; R. de Herte,* ‘Oui a L'Europe fédérale !’ Eléments, 96 (1999), p. 3, available at http://www.alaindebenoist.com/pdf/quelle_europe.pdf (accessed 30 April 2010).

64. de Herte, ibid., p. 3; A. de Benoist and C. Champetier,* ‘Manifeste: la Nouvelle Droite de l'an 2000’, Eléments, 94 (1999), § 3.6.

65. de Herte, ibid., p. 3; J. Hantzenbichler, ‘Regionalismus und Freistaaterei’, in Hatzenbichler and Bossi (Eds), op. cit., Ref. 49, pp. 7–11

66. de Benoist and Champetier, ‘Manifeste’, op. cit., Ref. 64, § 3.6; de Herte, ‘Pour une humanité plurielle’, Eléments, 109 (2003); Hatzenbichler, ibid., pp. 8–9.

67. For example, the Greens' programme for the European Parliament elections of 2004, mentions only very briefly that regions are valuable for defending diversity, while it mentions only the devolution of power to existing regional councils and bodies as the way towards the objective of diversity, in Parti Vert Europeen, Un projet ecologiste pour une Europe Federale (Paris: Les Verts, 2004), pp. 46–47.

68. For example, S. Benhabib, The Claims of Culture (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2002), pp. 1–11, 51–68; A. Finkielkraut, The Undoing of Thought (London: Claridge, 1988).

69. W. Kymlicka, Multicultural Odysseys: Navigating the New International Politics of Diversity (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007), pp. 6–7, 45–48, 98–99.

70. Commission ‘Ecologie et Politique’ des Verts Ile-de-France, ‘Illusions dangereuses’, Tribune des Verts, 12 (1991), pp. 1, 9.

71. ‘Forum de Vérone ’, Verts Europe, 69 (1993), p. 3; M. Isler-Béguin et M. M. Dinguirard,* ‘Si toutes les femmes du monde’, Verts Europe, 65 (1993), p. 1.

72. A. Langer,* ‘Nationalisme et fédéralisme dans l'Europe d'aujourd'hui’, Verts Europe, 42 (1992), p. 2; see also B. Luverà, ‘Der neue Regionalismus: von einem demokratischen Europa der Regionen zum ethnonationalen Föderalismus’, Kommune, 96(6) (1996), pp. 3–16.