Business Interests and The Challenges of Regionalism. Evidence from Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom

The debate on regionalism in Europe has change since Catalonia and Scotland set the goal of independence. It seems that the novelty is to know who are the promoters and opponents of the so-called “national freedom” of stateless nations. In this regard, entrepreneurs are definitely a sector that is worth asking. However, we know that the challenges of independence have impact on the overall regional policy, so we also need to ask about how the State accommodates the tensions between elites throughout the country, and how governments deal with regional demands by managing the policy agenda. Today, these concerns apply to Spain, Italy and the United Kingdom. This paper presents the results of an investigation on the impact of devolution in business associations in nine European regions. Our goal is to investigate the patterns of regional mobilisation of entrepreneurs, as well as the particularities that define the system of interest representation in each region. The paper focuses on three topics concerning business and regions, namely, views on devolution, institutional participation, and public policy outcomes. The methodology used in this research is qualitative, based on interviews with some fifty business leaders, and documentary analysis of primary sources.