Nationalism and Self-Determination in Western Europe: The Secessionist Turn.

Autonomy was for most of the last decade o the 20^th century the primary objective of nationalist movements in Western Europe. Nationalist movements in Catalonia, Flanders and Scotland are now promoting, with a fair degree of success, more radical self-determination options than ever. These transformations have occurred in different ways in the three internal national communities. In Catalonia, the rise of secessionism has come with a programmatic change in the traditionally dominant nationalist party.  In Scotland, it has involved the ascent to power and the surge in popularity of a party that always advocated independence. In Flanders, the establishment and growing support for a new nationalist party helped bolster notions of confederalism and independence. The objective of this paper is to explain, using a historical institutionalist framework, the trajectory of nationalist movements in Catalonia, Scotland, and Flanders since the turn of the 21^st century. For example, what accounts for the secessionist turn in Catalonia? Why has the option of independence taken off so sharply in Scotland? Why has Flemish nationalism come to adopt confederalism as a conceptual reference in the debate over the future of the country? In answering these questions, we are also looking to explain variations across cases in the nature of contemporary self-determination positions.