European Integration, Party Strategies, and State Restructuring: a Comparative Analysis

To what extent and in what way does European integration fuel state restructuring?

This is a long-standing but still not a fully answered question. While the theoretical

literature suggests a positive link between the two, previous empirical studies have

reached contrasting conclusions. The article offers an alternative testing of the

proposition, centred on the role of party strategies as a causal mechanism, analysed

across space and time. On the cross-sectional axis, it focusses on parties in Flanders and

Wallonia (Belgium), Lombardy and Sicily (Italy), Catalonia and Andalusia (Spain), and

Scotland and Wales (United Kingdom). On the cross-temporal axis, it focuses on four

critical junctures connecting integration and state restructuring. It analyses the degree to

which ‘Europe’ has been strategically used in connection to state restructuring and which

conditions have been necessary and/or sufficient to that outcome. The analysis has been

conducted on the basis of a Qualitative Comparative Analysis methodology. Five main

results emerge: (1) overall, parties have generally exploited ‘Europe’ in connection with

state restructuring to a limited extent only but in a few cases exploitation has been very

intense and intimately linked to strategic turning points; (2) ‘Europe’ has overwhelmingly

been used to support state restructuring; (3) the most intense use has been made by

regional parties with a secessionist position and positive attitude to the EU; (4) ‘use of

Europe’ is a product of a complex conjunctural effect of several conditions; (5) it has

increased over time but is not a linear product of integration, a sharp drop can be

observed between the two most recent time points. These findings show that European

integration can indeed exercise causal influence upon state restructuring via party

strategies but that this is highly contingent on the complex interaction of multiple factors.