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Francophone Exceptionalism within Alpine Ethno-regionalism? The Cases of the Union Valdôtaine and the Ligue Savoisienne

In their book Challenges to Consensual Politics: Democracy, Identity, and Populist Protest in the Alpine Region, Daniele Caramani and Yves Mény argue that the Alpine region displays a political culture characterized, among other things, by marked conservatism, nativism and Euroscepticism. Such transnational political culture manifests itself throughout the Alpine arch by the presence of successful ethno-regionalist, right-wing populist and Eurosceptic parties. In the same book, however, Michael Keating proposes a more nuanced thesis. While the above-mentioned characteristics are, indeed, predominant in the Germanic-speaking area of the Alps (with some spill-over effects in the Italian-speaking area), the French-speaking area boasts a more progressive political culture. The paper aims to explore this alternative thesis by analysing the ideological identities of two ethno-regionalist parties operating in the Francophone Alpine area—the Union Valdôtaine in Italy and the Ligue Savoisienne in France. The analysis substantiates Caramani and Meny's thesis, revealing how most ideological aspects present in other Alpine areas, such as localism, traditionalist conservatism, work ethics and reluctance to share wealth with others, are very strong in Savoy and Aosta valley too. However, the lack or weakness of crucial populist radical-right ideological elements, such as open xenophobia, racism and Euroscepticism, appears to support Keating's alternative thesis.