Nationalism and Political Society on Mediterranean Insular Region: In Case of Corsica (France)

Abstract

Corsican nationalism can be chronologically and formationally classified into three periods. Nationalism emerged in Corsica as some components of “new social movement (A. Touraine)” in the first period of about two decades 1960-80. Its characteristic is transformation and development from several local or populist struggles to regionalist movement, from regionalism to autonomist and separatist movement. During the second period of about two decades 1980-2000, nationalist movement was in slump or lost its balance in the several “geopolitical conflicts” on the Corsican society. Especially, by some internal conflicts among the nationalists since 1990 (fratricide war), Corsican nationalism as a movement was extremely broken up and marked the end. In the third period from the year 2000 to present, two new Corsican leaders guided Corsican nationalist idea, thought and purpose toward the outside of the nationalist movement. And at last their new coalition organization won the Corsican political society in 2015. This recent nationalist victory in Corsica is often correlated and compared with Catalan or Scottish independent movement. However actual Corsican nationalism does not aim the independence of the island from France but drawing out a maximum profit from the European Union by making use of the concept of the European (Mediterranean) insularity.