(The latest version of this page is at Pattern Descriptions. An archived copy of this page is held at https://www.patternsofpower.org/edition02/6632.htm)
Ethnic groups, and historically separate nations desiring autonomy, create separatist pressures. Regionalisation can be a useful safety valve, which might increase the acceptability and responsiveness of governance for distinct cultural groups.
There are some aspects of governance which are particularly relevant to preserving cultural identity: for example, autonomy in the teaching of languages and history. Regionalisation has worked well in practice where there is a clear association between a cultural group and a particular geographic region; the Catalonian autonomy in Spain is an example of regionalisation to re-establish an older identity which pre-dated the unification of Spain.[1]
Historic boundaries can cross into other countries though – for example the Basque region overlaps both France and Spain, and there are Kurds in Turkey, Iraq and Iran – so greater political autonomy for some cultural groups, as united entities, would have international connotations and would be very difficult to achieve in practice.
© PatternsofPower.org, 2014
[1] Michael Keating described the history of Spain's "Minority Nations", and the way in which their governance is evolving within the framework of Spain and Europe, in a paper entitled The Minority Nations of Spain and European Integration. A new framework for autonomy? This paper was available in May 2014 at http://cadmus.eui.eu/bitstream/handle/1814/6122/Keating_2000_MinoritynationsofSpain.pdf?sequence=3.