Regionalisms and Separatist/Independence Movements in Europe

general courses

Presentation of factors shaping ethnic, regional and national identities in Europe, a general analysis of regionalist and separatist (independence) movements in Europe and a detailed description of selected regionalist and separatist (independence) movements in Europe after the second world war, both those which have managed to create independent states or autonomous regions and those which have not reached this goal.

1. Definitions of notions (region, nation, ethnic group, regionalism, nationalism, etc.).

2. Collective identities: territorial, regional, national, ethnic.

3. Factors shaping collective identities in Europe:

3.1. historical,

3.2. economic,

3.3. cultural-linguistic,

3.4. geographic,

3.5. administrative.

4. Strength and dynamics of changes in collective identities (when regional identity becomes national identity and regionalism becomes national movement, actors of regionalism and nationalism).

5. Emergence of nation states and shaping of the political map of Europe in the 19th and the first half of the 20th century as a period of forming of nations and regions.

6. Regionalist and separatist (independence) movements as an attempt of correcting the political map. “Centrifugal” and “centripetal” nationalism.

7. Regionalism and federalism in Europe – an attempt to reconcile centrifugal and centripetal forces.

8. Europe after the second world war – regions, regionalisms, nationalisms and separatist (independence) movements:

8.1. Western Europe and the role of European integration,

8.2. Central-eastern Europe, the fall of socialism (communism) and disintegration of federative states.

9. The most important cases of regionalist and separatist (independence) movements in Europe of the 21st century: UK (Scotland, Wales, and others), Spain (Catalonia, Basque Country, and others), Belgium (Flanders, Wallonia), Italy (“Padania”, northern regions, Sardinia and others), France (Corsica, various ethno-regionalisms), Germany, Switzerland, Poland, Czechia, Ukraine etc.

10. Conclusions and perspectives.

1. Roman Szul, Regionalist, ethno-linguistic and separatist/independence movements in Europe after the Second World War and European integration (in) Borderlands of Nations, Nations of Borderlands. Minorities in the borderlands and on the fringes of countries, edited by Marek Sobczyński and Marek Barwiński, “Region and Regionalism” No 13 vol 1, Łódź – Opole 2017, pp. 39-66.

2. Roman Szul, Regionalizm w Polsce na tle europejskim (w) Polska regionalna i lokalna w świetle badań EUROREG-u, pod red. Grzegorza Gorzelaka, Centrum Europejskich Studiów Regionalnych i Lokalnych Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego, Warszawa 2007, ss. 114-142.

3. Regionalism in Central and Eastern Europe (in) Social and Economic Development in Central and Eastern Europe. Stability and Change after 1990, Edited by Grzegorz Gorzelak, Routledge, London and New York 2020 pp. 75 – 98 ISBN 978-1-138-32429-9 (hbk), ISBN 978-0-429-45096-9 (ebk)

W zakresie wiedzy student:

(1) wymienia i charakteryzuje czynniki kształtujące narody, ruchy narodowe oraz regiony i ruchy regionalne.

(2) omawia ewolucję znaczenia regionalizmu i separatyzmu (ruchów narodowych) w Europie.

(3) ma pogłębioną wiedzę na temat wybranych przypadków regionalizmu i separatyzmu (ruchów narodowych) w Europie.

W zakresie umiejętności student:

(1) samodzielnie interpretuje problemy z dziedziny idei narodowej (nacjonalizmu) i ruchów regionalistycznych.

(2) interpretuje zjawiska z dziedziny geografii ekonomicznej, kulturowej i politycznej istotne z punktu widzenia regionalizmu i nacjonalizmu.

W zakresie kompetencji społecznych student jest gotów:

(1) aby wypełnić świadomie swoją rolę społeczną, rozumie potrzebę formułowania i przekazywania społeczeństwu w sposób powszechnie zrozumiały informacji i opinii dotyczących różnych aspektów polityki regionalnej i tożsamości regionalnej.

Presence at lectures and a test after the end of the series of lectures verifying the knowledge of the Students and what they consider as the most important. The score of the exam is basis for the final mark. Absence at 3 classes reduces the final mark by ½ point, absence at more than 3 classes reduces the final mark by 1 point.