Abstract:South Tyrol (Italy), with its three officially recognized language groups (Germans, Italians and Ladins), is a successful model of how a minority problem can be solved. It is based upon the principle of dissociative conflict resolution, which means separating the language groups as much as possible between themselves, as well as the principle of consociational democracy, which focuses primarily on the cooperation between the language groups’ elites. In the last few years it has been observed that while the ins… Show more
“…It is a socially prominent characteristic of all three linguistic groups, and cooperation between the SVP and its Italian‐language coalition partner during the most important period in the development of the autonomy arrangement, the Democrazia Cristiana (Christian Democrats), was facilitated by a shared commitment to Christian democracy and anti‐communism (Pallaver : 305). Furthermore, the strong desire of both German‐ and Italian‐speaking elites to avoid escalating the conflict after the Second World War, and the less violent character of the conflict in comparison to other divided territories, encouraged pragmatic compromise on both sides (Pallaver : 386).…”
Section: The Silver Lining: Power‐sharing's Potential To Transform Comentioning
confidence: 99%
“…The focus is increasingly on … enlarging the scope of self‐government and less on the measures for group protection, although both elements will always be the two pillars upon which the whole autonomy is grounded ( 2008: 158).There have also been important social changes beyond the perceptions of ‘socio‐political cohabitation’ depicted in Table . As Günther Pallaver argues, for example, generations of ‘forced cooperation’ has led many political, economic, and intellectual elites to develop strong working relationships, a common sense of purpose, and in some cases a shared identification across groups (Pallaver ).…”
Section: The Silver Lining: Power‐sharing's Potential To Transform Comentioning
confidence: 99%
“…There have also been important social changes beyond the perceptions of 'socio-political cohabitation' depicted in Table 3. As Günther Pallaver argues, for example, generations of 'forced cooperation' has led many political, economic, and intellectual elites to develop strong working relationships, a common sense of purpose, and in some cases a shared identification across groups (Pallaver 2014). Last but not least, the broad acceptance and endurance of power-sharing in South Tyrol have been facilitated by the fact that, like Northern Ireland (McGarry and O'Leary 2006), the province's autonomy arrangement was negotiated rather than imposed and is an example of 'complex consociation' (Wolff 2008), characterised by the combination of power-sharing with at least one other major conflict-regulating strategy and the participation of 'external or international powers in the making, implementation, and maintenance of the settlement' (O'Leary 2005: 35)in this case territorial autonomy and the close involvement of Austria, respectively.…”
South Tyrol is an autonomous, predominantly German‐speaking province in Italy, and one of the most successful cases of power‐sharing in the world. Nevertheless, the Province recently conducted a participatory‐democratic process known as the ‘Autonomy Convention’ to debate and draft a proposal for revising the 1972 Autonomy Statute. It is the first such process with the stated intent of amending a power‐sharing arrangement, and our research questions are whether this represents a new type of consociational negotiation, and what made it possible. The answer to the first question is ‘no’, and the Convention is best seen as a ‘participatory‐ish consultation’ which had no formal power. But the problems that it faced, and the fact that it occurred at all, are evidence of consociational democracy's potential to transform conflicts. The Convention, we argue, is the result of ‘normal’, not ‘ethnic’ politics, and two generations of successful power‐sharing made that possible by desecuritising the relationship between South Tyrol's three official linguistic groups.
“…It is a socially prominent characteristic of all three linguistic groups, and cooperation between the SVP and its Italian‐language coalition partner during the most important period in the development of the autonomy arrangement, the Democrazia Cristiana (Christian Democrats), was facilitated by a shared commitment to Christian democracy and anti‐communism (Pallaver : 305). Furthermore, the strong desire of both German‐ and Italian‐speaking elites to avoid escalating the conflict after the Second World War, and the less violent character of the conflict in comparison to other divided territories, encouraged pragmatic compromise on both sides (Pallaver : 386).…”
Section: The Silver Lining: Power‐sharing's Potential To Transform Comentioning
confidence: 99%
“…The focus is increasingly on … enlarging the scope of self‐government and less on the measures for group protection, although both elements will always be the two pillars upon which the whole autonomy is grounded ( 2008: 158).There have also been important social changes beyond the perceptions of ‘socio‐political cohabitation’ depicted in Table . As Günther Pallaver argues, for example, generations of ‘forced cooperation’ has led many political, economic, and intellectual elites to develop strong working relationships, a common sense of purpose, and in some cases a shared identification across groups (Pallaver ).…”
Section: The Silver Lining: Power‐sharing's Potential To Transform Comentioning
confidence: 99%
“…There have also been important social changes beyond the perceptions of 'socio-political cohabitation' depicted in Table 3. As Günther Pallaver argues, for example, generations of 'forced cooperation' has led many political, economic, and intellectual elites to develop strong working relationships, a common sense of purpose, and in some cases a shared identification across groups (Pallaver 2014). Last but not least, the broad acceptance and endurance of power-sharing in South Tyrol have been facilitated by the fact that, like Northern Ireland (McGarry and O'Leary 2006), the province's autonomy arrangement was negotiated rather than imposed and is an example of 'complex consociation' (Wolff 2008), characterised by the combination of power-sharing with at least one other major conflict-regulating strategy and the participation of 'external or international powers in the making, implementation, and maintenance of the settlement' (O'Leary 2005: 35)in this case territorial autonomy and the close involvement of Austria, respectively.…”
South Tyrol is an autonomous, predominantly German‐speaking province in Italy, and one of the most successful cases of power‐sharing in the world. Nevertheless, the Province recently conducted a participatory‐democratic process known as the ‘Autonomy Convention’ to debate and draft a proposal for revising the 1972 Autonomy Statute. It is the first such process with the stated intent of amending a power‐sharing arrangement, and our research questions are whether this represents a new type of consociational negotiation, and what made it possible. The answer to the first question is ‘no’, and the Convention is best seen as a ‘participatory‐ish consultation’ which had no formal power. But the problems that it faced, and the fact that it occurred at all, are evidence of consociational democracy's potential to transform conflicts. The Convention, we argue, is the result of ‘normal’, not ‘ethnic’ politics, and two generations of successful power‐sharing made that possible by desecuritising the relationship between South Tyrol's three official linguistic groups.
“…Dieser Konflikt wurde auf staatlicher Ebene von Österreich, der "Schutzmacht" Südtirols, vor die UN getragen und resultierte schlussendlich im seit 1972 gültigen zweiten Autonomiestatut, mit dem dann auch die Minderheitenrechte durchgesetzt wurden (vgl. Pallaver 2014).…”
Section: O Neununclassified
“…10 Prozent. In dieser Gruppe befinden sich allerdings nicht nur ansässige Ausländer sondern auch Personen mit fehlender oder ungültiger Sprachgruppenerklärung und zeitweise abwesende Personen (ASTAT 2013, 118 Nach der Abkehr von der Politik der Italianisierung und einer Zeit des Konfliktes in den 60er und 70er Jahren, organisiert sich Südtirol heute in einem "dissoziativen Konfliktlösungsmodell" E. Pokriefke, H. Atz (Pallaver 2014), in dem öffentliche Güter und Ressourcen nach einem Proporzmodell aufgeteilt werden, das auf der zahlenmäßigen Stärke der drei anerkannten Sprachgruppen(Deutsche, Italiener, Ladiner) basiert. Betroffen sind etwa die politische Repräsentation, öffentliche Berufe, Sozialwohnungen, Sozialtransfers usw.…”
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