Nationalist Violence in Postwar Europe

This book offers the first comprehensive analysis of nationalist violence in postwar Europe and of its complex causes.

Luis De la Calle (Author)

9781107024106, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 23 July 2015

294 pages, 32 b/w illus.
23.7 x 16 x 2.5 cm, 0.6 kg

'When will prosperous democracies face the challenge of violent nationalist unrest? When central elites have the luxury of ignoring regional demands and regional elites can't improve their position through normal democratic politics, argues Luis de la Calle. The combination of theoretical clarity and empirical precision makes Nationalist Violence in Postwar Europe a key contribution to the study of conflict and nationalism.' Stathis N. Kalyvas, Yale University, Connecticut

This book argues that nationalist violence in developed countries is the product of unresponsive political elites and nationalists blocked from attracting supporters through legal channels. Political elites are prone to ignoring a regional polity when their clout in that region is negligible and they do not rely on the region's support to maintain their positions of power. Conversely, when nationalists cannot make inroads through legal channels, incentives for violence are ripe. Thus, when nationalists in postwar Europe found elites unresponsive, it was state repression that helped radicals build a new group of support around militant action. The larger this new constituency legitimizing violence grew, the longer the conflict lasted. The book elucidates this complex dynamic through a deft combination of theoretical modeling, statistical methods and comparative case studies from the Basque Country, Catalonia, Corsica, Northern Ireland, Sardinia and Wales.

1. Introduction
2. The argument
3. An empirical approach to nationalist violence in postwar Western Europe
4. The Basque country vs Catalonia: prior mobilization and differences in responsiveness
5. Northern Ireland vs Wales: the power of institutions
6. Corsica vs Sardinia: prior autonomy and differences in responsiveness
7. Conclusions, limitations, and extensions.

Subject Areas: Revolutionary groups & movements [JPWQ], International relations [JPS], Nationalism [JPFN], Comparative politics [JPB], Violence in society [JFFE], Social & political philosophy [HPS], European history [HBJD]