Guido Panzano | Université libre de Bruxelles (original) (raw)

Drafts by Guido Panzano

Central European University (CEU) - MA in Nationalism Studies - Final Thesis, 2020

The thesis classifies cases of majoritarian and power-sharing democracy in plural societies. The ... more The thesis classifies cases of majoritarian and power-sharing democracy in plural societies. The research questions are: How are democratic regimes in plural societies articulated? Which dimensions can grasp the institutional varieties and practical performances of political regimes in ethnically divided democracies? What is the effect of majoritarian institutions in plural democracies, in terms of ethnic inclusion and exclusion?
Accordingly, I shall map 47 plural democracies through 18 variables along 2 institutional dimensions: (i) majoritarianism or power-sharing in the government, parliament and electoral system and (ii) the territorial articulation of power. I shall then add another dimension on (iii) regime quality related to group relations: ethnic inclusion or exclusion. This framework, coupling de jure institutions with de facto performances, proves that: (i) power-sharing democracy is associated with ethnic inclusion; nonetheless (ii) majoritarian democracy occurs in plural societies and can coexist with ethnic inclusion.
A simple quantitative analysis is insufficient to explain this pattern. I will thence conduct a most similar comparison of 2 majoritarian democracies of my sample – Turkey (majoritarian/ exclusive) and Mali (majoritarian/inclusive) – to confirm that: (i) majoritarian institutions in plural societies often lead to ethnic exclusion, albeit (ii) this scenario can be avoided when exogenous factors are at play (party system, political culture/tradition of accommodation). However, as the diachronic analysis will show, these factors remain precarious and (iii) majoritarian institutions, in particular the centralization of power, are demonstrated to be ill-suited to deal with territorially concentrated minorities.
The thesis offers a detailed and useful classification and discusses examples of majority rule and power-sharing in plural democracies, and finally proposes further research directions, including authoritarianism and regime change.

MA Thesis - University of Florence, 2019

This thesis aims to examine the concept of ethnic domination and its manifestations in deeply div... more This thesis aims to examine the concept of ethnic domination and its manifestations in deeply divided places. In brief, ethnic domination can be defined as a means of managing ethnic differences in multiethnic contexts through asymmetrical power relations, in accordance to collective distinctions of an ethnonationalist ideology, whereby a group is subordinated to another holding the critical power, albeit not intent to directly eliminate the subaltern.
In the introduction and the first chapter, I shall deal with two core conceptualizations, ethnicity and the state, by proposing a ‘constructivist-structural’ approach towards ethnicity and emphasizing the role of the nationalizing state as an instrument of domination. When this process structures the ordinary politics, a hybrid political regime, the hegemonic ethnic state, could be revealed. Accordingly, I shall analyse Israel and Estonia, two prototypical cases of ethnic domination (also examined as most similar cases). The Israeli and Estonian examples would be helpful to observe six variables, detected by operationalizing ethnic domination properties on three political-institutional layers: (i) state-citizenship; (ii) government-parliament; (iii) parties and party system. Then, an overarching classification of political regimes and a definition of democracy in plural societies would be provided.
Secondly, I shall scrutinize the empirical cases in detail. In fact, Israel (considered within the Green Line) and Estonia have sizeable ethnonational minorities: the Palestinian citizens of Israel and the Russian-speaking group of the Soviet diaspora in Estonia. Moreover, they are dominated by majority groups (the Estonian and the Jewish) embracing ethnonational ideologies (Zionism and restorationism). The variables of ethnic domination would be thus retraced in the Estonian and Israeli experiences. In fact, both countries (i) adopt state centrism and hierarchizing citizenship policies in constitutional norms that disenfranchise or discourage minority participation; (ii) encompass an ethnic majoritarianism in government formation despite electoral preferences and the (mostly ethnic) opposition; (iii) reinforce ethnic cleavages in the ethnic party system in order to exclude minority parties or soften, through patronage or co-optation, minority claims by ethnic mainstream actors.
Finally, I will discuss the findings of the comparison. After having problematized ethnic domination and political stability, the tightening of the condition of the Palestinian citizens of Israel and the democratic evolution of ethnic politics in Estonia will be diachronically connected to internal and external factors.

BA Thesis - University of Pisa, 2017

Il Sud Tirolo e l’Irlanda del Nord sono due contesti profondamente divisi, dove le fratture non s... more Il Sud Tirolo e l’Irlanda del Nord sono due contesti profondamente divisi, dove le fratture non solo etniche, religiose, linguistiche, ma soprattutto nazionali hanno un ruolo rilevante in politica. Sono regioni di frontiera, dove queste divisioni sono state e a volte rimangono conflittuali, con fenomeni di violenza politica di varia intensità. Ma sono anche due importanti percorsi di risoluzione del conflitto, non di distruzione dell’avversario, ma di accomodazione, compromesso, patto per la condivisione del potere. Le caratteristiche principali di questo accordo sono racchiuse in un intreccio istituzionale, dove i principi dell’inclusione e della divisione dei gruppi si reificano in ordinamenti complessi, analizzati dalla letteratura secondo due tipi ideali: la democrazia consociativa, di cui l’Irlanda del Nord rappresenta ad oggi l’esempio più fortunato e l’autonomia come autodeterminazione interna, per il caso del Sud Tirolo. È evidente, però, che questi due tipi ideali sono utili per comprendere entrambi i contesti, tanto quello nordirlandese quanto quello sudtirolese.
Questa tesi vuole analizzare come l’unione tra meccanismi di condivisione del potere tra gruppi costitutivi e il trasferimento di poteri dall’autorità centrale a quella periferica influisca sulla vita e l’azione dei governi. Le domande di ricerca saranno quindi: come sono governati l’Irlanda del Nord e il Sud Tirolo? Quali le loro forme di governo? Quali le caratteristiche dell’autonomia e del power sharing negli esecutivi? Come le istituzioni influenzano i partiti? E come contribuisce questo panorama alla stabilità o instabilità dei regimi presi in esame? Dopo un’introduzione definitoria e contestuale, nel primo capitolo verranno analizzati criticamente i contributi della letteratura sulla democrazia consociativa, sull’autonomia e sul cosiddetto complex power sharing. In seguito, verrà tracciato un rapido quadro sui casi, collocandoli nella storia e negli apporti teorici. Il terzo capitolo, invece, descriverà i meccanismi di formazione e composizione degli esecutivi dell’Irlanda del Nord e del Sud Tirolo, evidenziandone le esigenze e i differenti metodi di condivisione del potere. Successivamente, verranno approfonditi i peculiari sistemi partitici, in particolare la loro dinamica nel contesto istituzionale. Il quinto capitolo, infine, esaminerà come i diversi profili dell’autonomia influiscono sulla condivisione del potere nel governo e sulla sua stabilità.
Nell’autonomo Sud Tirolo, il power sharing governativo, nelle sue indicazioni minime ma chiare, risponde all’esigenza di protezione della minoranza italiana. Le garanzie per le minoranze sono considerate inscindibili dall’ampia autonomia, richiesta e ottenuta dalla maggioranza tedesca. Vari fattori, ma soprattutto la stabilità della norma costituzionale, hanno reso il Sud Tirolo un modello efficiente di risoluzione del conflitto. In Irlanda del Nord, invece, ad un’istituzionalizzazione maggiore delle garanzie consociative non è seguita una fissazione normativa dell’autonomia che, anche se con alcune costrizioni internazionali, resta legata alla sovranità parlamentare. Questo ha influito sulla vita del governo, conferendo alla maggioranza unionista una sorta di potere di veto sulla condivisione del potere, che ha contribuito e contribuisce all’instabilità della regione.

Papers by Guido Panzano

Nationalism and Ethnic Politics, Dec 7, 2023

Democratization, Apr 7, 2022

Premio Cesare Alfieri «Cum Laude»

This volume examines the concept of ethnic domination and its manifestations in Israel (within th... more This volume examines the concept of ethnic domination and its manifestations in Israel (within the Green Line) and Estonia. Ethnic domination is a method of managing ethnic differences in multiethnic contexts through asymmetrical power relations, in accordance with an ethnonationalist ideology, whereby a group is subordinated to another holding the power, albeit not intent to directly eliminate the subaltern. The volume compares the predicament of Israeli Palestinian citizens and Estonian Russian-speakers in different dimensions (state-citizenship, government-parliament, parties). Also, the analysis explains the divergent trajectories of the cases: the tightening of the condition of Israeli Palestinian citizens and the democratization of ethnic politics in Estonia.

Diritti Comparati - Post, 2019

Few other proposals were as controversial in the Canadian province of Quebec as Bill 21, ‘An Act ... more Few other proposals were as controversial in the Canadian province of Quebec as Bill 21, ‘An Act respecting the laicity of the State’. In fact, religious and minority rights, nationalism, federalism and gender equality are all at stake in the debate around the law, drafted during 2019 spring by Simon Jolin-Barrette, Immigration, Diversity and Inclusiveness Minister of the centre-right Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) and to be voted by the National Assembly (NA) at the end of June. I shall here outline some significant features of the law and make few comments, for showing how its understanding of secularism is misleading and discriminating.

European Centre for Minority Issues - Working Papers, 2018

Located in the northeastern part of Italy, the Autonomous Province of Bolzano/Bozen, also known w... more Located in the northeastern part of Italy, the Autonomous Province of Bolzano/Bozen, also known with the historical name of South Tyrol, is one of the two provinces of Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol region. It is a border region and a deeply divided place, with a majority of German-speaking population (62.3%) and minorities of Italians (23.4%), Ladins (4.1%) and past and recent migrants (10.2%). On the 21st October 2018 almost 400,000 South Tyrolean citizens (69.1% Germans, 26.4% Italians, and 4.5% Ladins) casted their vote to elect the Provincial Council. This Working Paper therefore aims to analyse the party competition in this electoral campaign, underling specificities and evolutions of such a peculiar political system.

Diritti Comparati, 2018

This paper analyses the power-sharing governments of South Tyrol and Northern Ireland. After a fi... more This paper analyses the power-sharing governments of South Tyrol and Northern Ireland. After a first theoretical part, I will focus on the government and on the President of the Autonomous Province of Bolzano/Bozen and on First and the Deputy First Ministers and the executive of Northern Ireland, by describing the institutions and their historical development. The final comparative part will refer to the political context in both areas to explain the causes of power-sharing executives’ (in)stability. In complex regional consociations, this is directly influenced by the nature of autonomy. Where autonomy is fixed by constitutional and international norms, the executive will handle the shocks of the political system (as in South Tyrol). Viceversa, where autonomy can be de iure or de facto suspended and subjected to a partisan relationship with the centre (as in Northern Ireland), regional government will become instable.