Europeanizing the Party Politics of Minority-Kin-State Relations: Evidence from Northern Ireland and South Tyrol

Abstract

This article explores how kin-minority parties have changed their territorial positions as a result of European integration. Kin-minority parties aim to represent a national minority that they consider to be part of a larger nation that constitutes the majority in a neighboring kin-state. The analysis is carried out through a comparison of the Social Democratic and Labor Party (SDLP) in Northern Ireland and the South Tyrolean People’s Party (SVP) in South Tyrol. The article finds that both parties endorse Europeanized, functional cooperation with their respective kin-states. This supersedes irredentism and other ethnically inspired territorial claims. Kin-minority parties maintain this position despite possible spill-backs of European integration.