The EU and Territorial Politics Within Member States: Conflict Or Co-Operation?

Front Cover
Angela K. Bourne
BRILL, 2004 - Political Science - 245 pages
"The EU and Territorial Politics Within Member States" examines whether European integration helps or hinders the resolution of domestic territorial conflicts, including conflict between national groups, between territorially-based political parties or communities and different levels of political authority. The research draws on a wide range of case studies - from Germany, Belgium, Spain, the United Kingdom, Cyprus, Ireland and Italy. The studies suggest EU institutional rules altering the balance of power between central and regional elites (as in Germany) and/or different national elites (as in Spain) and particular EU policies, such as enlargement in Cyprus and EU anti-terrorism policy in Spain, may create new or aggravate existing tensions within member states. However, the same EU institutional rules in different states (such as Belgium) and different policies, such as cross-border programmes in Ireland may have the opposite effect. Similarly, opportunities for re-imagining territorial identities and redefining ambitions for control over territories may in some ways help the search for means to accommodate conflicts, while in others they may help entrench territorial cleavages or reproduce old tensions.
 

Contents

The Europeanisation of Intergovernmental Cooperation and Conflict
19
European Integration and IntraState Relations in Germany and
51
The Case of Catalonia
79
European Integration and Conflict Resolution in the Basque Country
101
British and Irish Conceptions
127
and CrossBorder Cooperation in the Island of Ireland
157
Changing Allegiances in
185
The Politics of the Northern League and Italys Changing Attitude Towards
211
Conclusion
231
Copyright

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About the author (2004)

Angela Bourne is a Lecturer in European Politics at the University of Dundee, United Kingdom. Her other publications include articles on the European Union and on Basque politics in the "Journal of Common Market Studies," the "International Journal of Iberian Studies" and "Perspectives on European Politics and Society." Two books, "The European Union and the Accommodation of Basque Politics in Spain" (Manchester University Press) and "European Union Studies" (co-edited with Michelle Cini, Palgrave) are forthcoming.