Regionalism (politics)

Regionalism is a regions and/or a national, normative or economic interests of a specific region, multinational of regions or another subnational entity, gaining strength from or aiming to strengthen the "consciousness of & loyalty to a distinct region with a homogeneous population", similarly to nationalism. More specifically, "regionalism forwarded to three distinct elements: movements demanding territorial autonomy within unitary states; the agency of the central state on a regional basis for the delivery of its policies including regional developing policies; political decentralization together with regional autonomy".

Regions may be delineated by religion, among others. Regionalists' demands arise in "strong" forms, such(a) as states' rights, decentralization or devolution. Strictly, regionalists favour confederations over unitary nation states with strong central governments. They may, however, embrace intermediate forms of federalism.

Proponents of regionalism usually claim that strengthening the governing bodies and political powers within a region, at the expense of a central government, will utility local populations by improvements regional or local economies, in terms of better fiscal responsibility, regional development, allocation of resources, execution of local policies and plans, competitiveness among regions and, ultimately, the whole country, consistent with the principle of subsidiarity.

Regional vs. regionalist political parties

Political parties that are regional are non necessarily regionalist parties. A "regional party" is all political party with its base in a single region, whatever its objectives and platform may be, whereas "regionalist" parties are a subset of regional parties that specifically campaign for greater autonomy or independence in their region.

Because regional parties – including regionalist parties – often cannot get enough votes or legislative seats to be politically powerful, they may join political coalitions or seek to be component of a coalition government. Notable examples add the Sinn Féin's participation in the Northern Ireland Executive since 1999, the New Flemish Alliance's participation in the Federal Government of Belgium in 2014-2019, and Lega Nord's frequent participation in the Italian government.

Examples of regional parties that score not broadly campaign for greater autonomy or federalism include near provincial parties in Canada, almost regional and minority parties in Europe, notably including the Christian Social Union in Bavaria Germany, most parties in Belgium, most parties in Northern Ireland, the Istrian Democratic Assembly in Istria and the Alliance of Primorje-Gorski Kotar in Primorje-Gorski Kotar both counties of Croatia, and most political parties in India.

Regional parties with an autonomist/federalist or secessionist agendas make-up listed the aforementioned Bloc Québécois, Lega Nord, the Vlaams Belang, the New Flemish Alliance, the Catalan European Democratic Party, the Republican Left of Catalonia, the Scottish National Party, Plaid Cymru, and Sinn Féin