Regional Identities and Political Aspirations in Today’s France

Résumé 0

Contrary to what the rivalry among the various territorial levels can suggest, analysis of data gathered by the OIP [Observatoire interrégional du politique] shows a high correlation of the levels of attachment of the French to « overlapping » territorial governments, from the local level to Europe. The strength of this territorial identity makes it possible to overcome the contradictory effects of social position on attachment depending on whether one is interested in Europe or in the other governmental levels. Better yet, looking at a scale of regional identity, one can see that the inhabitants of regions having a strong identity are not the most fervent partisans of further decentralization. Nor does attachment to this process derive from better democracy at that level: it is because proximity seems to be a token of greater efficiency that decentralization is so strongly supported. The French thus consider that the regions’ present powers are sufficient for the full development of their identity – except in the case of Corsica. This result justifies a reconsideration of the relations between territorial identity and political aspirations, until now too exclusively envisaged through the controversies concerning only the nation-State relation.