Damien CANAVATE

Thesis project

Working Title: Contemporary Changes in the Cultural and Linguistic Policies of French Regions (1980s–2010s)

This dissertation project aims to examine contemporary transformations in the cultural and linguistic public policies of French regions, in light of the long-term history of regionalist demands on the one hand, and recent administrative and territorial reforms on the other (decentralization measures, regional mergers, processes of territorial differentiation, etc.). Using comparative and socio-historical methods, the research project will explore three cases, all marked by significant political and institutional restructuring in recent years: the Corsican regional authority, the Grand Est region and the future European regional authority of Alsace, and the Occitanie region. The central objective of this work is to explore the concrete consequences of regionalist mobilization in terms of public action in the cultural, linguistic, and local development sectors. To better understand the mechanisms governing the production of public programs in the sectors where these demands are concentrated, the study examines how the dynamics of regionalism and other political forces interact. At a time when regionalism is becoming institutionalized and as certain territories are experiencing tensions between the center and the peripheries, this research project situates the analysis of public action in the sectors under consideration within the interplay between regionalism as a political ideology and electoral mobilization, regionalization as a legal-political process, and regional governance as a mode of local government within the state.

Edited by Christophe Roux, Professor of Political Science, CEPEL – University of Montpellier.