Doctoral Dissertation Research: Territory and Identity in the Age of Globalization: The Case of Western Europe

该项目探讨了在人口日益国际流动、市场一体化和民族国家结构转型的背景下，领土和身份之间的关系。西欧是这项研究的重点。地理学、社会学、人类学、经济学和政治学领域的大量学术论文指出，经济生产模式和政治治理形式正在经历一个超国家（如欧盟、全球）和次国家（如地区和城市）尺度的重新调整过程。然而，相对较少的贡献，以解决的问题，谁生活在正在经历这些重新缩放过程的空间的人的领土特性的变化。本研究的目的是为理解这一相关问题提供经验和理论贡献。这项任务将通过采用定量和定性相结合的方法进行。首先，研究将使用来自欧洲晴雨表调查的数据集，涵盖1982-2004年，以回答以下问题：国家认同仍然是西欧人民领土政治认同的主要形式吗？超国家和次国家范围内经济生产和治理形式的重新调整是否与人民领土特性的类似重新调整有关？如果是这种情况，在社会人口特征方面是否有任何明确的模式，可以解释领土特性的这种重新调整？ 欧洲这些身份变化的时间和区域趋势是什么？其次，研究将收集五个区域案例研究的定性数据（大伦敦、芬兰的Hame、意大利的利古里亚和卡拉布里亚以及法国的阿基坦）。这些案例研究区域是根据严格的方法分析选择的，该分析将欧洲各区域按社会人口预测因素进行聚类，这些预测因素是对欧洲联盟的依恋的基础。 通过对普通人的焦点小组和对政治经济精英的访谈，本研究将探讨与“领土归属”概念相关的不同含义。“领土归属”在欧洲晴雨表调查中以一种自我意义的方式使用。了解在当今全球化社会中领土和身份如何相互关联，具有学术和政策价值。从学术的角度来看，需要这种理解来补充关于经济生产模式和政治治理形式的去领土化/再领土化的理论。在政策领域，虽然我们对全球化如何在经济和政治上重组领土有了很好的了解，但对全球化如何影响领土与身份之间的关系仍然知之甚少。 民族国家模式至少在过去两个世纪里巩固了自己作为主导政治形式的地位，现在正受到这些经济、政治和心理社会变化的挑战。对这一挑战的理解被认为是一个突出的公共政策问题，特别是在欧洲，从一个经济联盟转变为一个具有自己的政治-领土身份的主体的项目正在顺利进行。

This project explores the relationship between territory and identity in the context of increasing international mobility of people, integration of markets, and transformation of the structure of the nation-state. Western Europe is the focus of this research. A vast amount of scholarly contributions in geography, sociology, anthropology, economics, and political science have pointed out that modes of economic production and forms of political governance are today experiencing a re-scaling process on both the supra- (e.g. European Union, global) and the sub-national scales (e.g. regions and cities). However, relatively few contributions have been made in order to address the issue of the changes of the territorial identities of the people who live in the spaces which are experiencing these rescaling processes. It is the aim of this research to offer an empirical and theoretical contribution for understanding this relevant issue. The task will be carried out by employing a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods.First, the research will use a data set coming from Eurobarometer surveys and covering the years 1982-2004 in order to answer the following questions: Is identity with the nation still the primary form of territorial political identities for people in Western Europe? Is the re-scaling of forms of economic production and governance at the supra- and sub-national scale associated with a similar re-scaling of the territorial identities of people? If this is the case, is there any clear pattern in terms of socio-demographic characteristics that accounts for such a re-scaling of territorial identities? What are the temporal and regional trends in these identity changes in Europe?Second, the research will collect qualitative data in five regional case studies (Greater London; Hame, Finland; Liguria and Calabria, Italy; and Aquitaine, France). These case study regions are selected on the basis of a rigorous methodological analysis that clustered the regions of Europe on the socio-demographic predictors that underlie attachment to the European Union. By using focus groups with ordinary people and interviews with politico-economic elites, the research will explore the different meanings associated with the notion of 'territorial attachment', which is used in a self-meaningful way by Eurobarometer surveys.To understand how territory and identity relate to each other in today globalized societies has both scholarly and policy value. From a scholarly perspective, this understanding is needed for complementing theories on both the de-/re-territorialization of modes of economic production and of forms of political governance. In the policy domain, while we have a good understanding about the ways that globalization is restructuring territories economically and politically, little is still known about the ways globalization affects the relationship between territory and identity. The nation-state model which, at least for the last two centuries, has consolidated itself as the dominant political form is now under challenge from these economic, political and psycho-social changes. The understanding of this challenge is considered a salient public policy issue, particularly in Europe, where the project of transformation from an economic union into a subject with its own political-territorial identity is now well underway.