Regional elements influencing political culture
The 'Constituent political cultures of Europe' (CPCE) project argued that both constituent cultures offer distinct socialisation routes for citizens. The EU-funded project grounded European political culture in the interaction of multiple constituent political cultures generated by demographic and institutional variations at the regional level. CPCE drew on grid/group theory, proposing that regions are the building blocks of any state political culture. It provided a first systematic mapping of Europe's multiple and overlapping political cultures, locating the constituent regional and sub-state political cultures in 18 western European states. The socialisation processes setting these two types of cultures apart were also clarified. The development of indicators for predicting the presence of constituent cultures enabled CPCE to identify their impact on individuals and regions. Key project findings suggest it may be possible to distinguish between 'hard' regional political cultures in bounded territorial units and 'soft' regional variants of state-wide political cultures. CPCE findings have been presented in 2 edited collections, articles, book chapters, and 25 conference papers or invited talks. Research outcomes highlight how elements of regional political cultures influence voting in regional elections. They also have important implications for better understanding the extent of regional and state-wide solidarity, and support for regional legislative autonomy.
Keywords
Political culture, constituent cultures, regional, sub-state, voting, solidarity