Georg Grote, University of Dublin

Wenn die Schutzmacht Schutz braucht – Südtirol, Österreich und die Dynamik des modernen westeuropäischen Regionalismus

This paper deals with the increasing importance of regionalist forces in the Alpine region, its opportunities and threats to the balance of power between the well-established states of the area and its benefits for the participating populations and poses the question how powerful traditional states may remain in the light of an increased significance of the region.

Since Austria had to part with its province of South Tyrol in the aftermath of World War I, it fulfilled the role of a protector to the Deutsch Südtiroler in their struggle against Italian and Fascist oppression.

Especially after World War II, and particularly since the Staatsvertrag of 1955, which reestablished Austria’s role in Europe, Austria has taken its role as the protector of South Tyrolean interests quite seriously, so much so that it led to rifts with its neighbor Italy over the issue.

The path first taken in 1946 with the Gruber-de Gasperi agreement, that of negotiation instead of confrontation, finally paid off in the 1990s and resulted in the cessation of Austria’s protective role over South Tyrol, in Italy’s consent to Austrian’s attempts to join the EU, and in the establishment of South Tyrol’s wide-reaching autonomy from Italy.

Curiously, South Tyrol has not stopped at that stage in the attempt to establish self-governance and has since sought the alliance of Nordtirol and the Italian province of Trento in order to establish an alpine Euroregin, which threatens the integrity of both the Austrian and the Italian states in some of their core functions. Thus, South Tyrol exemplifies the explosive powers of Western European regionalism.