South Tyrol - Атлас этнических региональных автономий - Сеть по исследованию идентичности

Description of the autonomy

South Tyrol is an autonomous province (the second subnational level) inside one of the five Italian regions with a special status - Trentino-Alto Adige. Besides being formally a part of Trentino-Alto, it has more powers than the region and has an independent constitutional status. Small in population (half a million people, less than one percent of the country's total), Bolzano is very successful economically - it has the highest GRP per capita among all regions of Italy (1.5 times higher than the national average). It is located in the north-eastern part of the country and borders the Austrian Federal State of Tyrol. It became a part of Italy after the First World War. The title group - the German-speaking southern Tyrolesians - constitute the majority of the population (62.3%, 2011 census). Other notable groups are Italian-speaking (23.4%) and Ladin (4.1%).

The autonomy was established in 1948 as a means to guarantee the German-speaking population the preservation of their language and culture and has gone a long way of development, with a gradual increase in the degree of its autonomy. In this process (until the early 1990s), the Austrian Republic actively participated as a party; it still plays the role of kin-state for the German-speaking population. There was an ongoing conflict during the first period of autonomy (from 1948 to the beginning of the 1970s) when secessionists attempted several terrorist acts.

At the moment, South Tyrol represents one of the most successful models of the solution of the ethnopolitical conflict through the provision of territorial autonomy. Between the province, the three main ethnolinguistic groups and the Italian Republic, a complex system of interaction, checks, balances, and preferences is built. A unique feature of this system is a clear division of the population of South Tyrol by self-identification in the course of regular population censuses into ethnolinguistic communities, primarily Italian and German-speaking, as well as Ladin. This division lays the foundation for the quota system in the public service, separate systems of school education, and the adoption of specific decisions in the regional parliament.

Autonomy's characteristics

Year of the creation of the autonomy:

Geographic

Where is the autonomy situated:
Autonomy area: km²
Share of the autonomy in the area of the country: %
Autonomy population:the latest census thousands of people
Share of the autonomy in the population of the country: %

Country's characteristics

Level of economic development of the country:GDP per capita in 2015 in current price in $ in $
Political regime in the country:It is based on the Freedom House Index, 2015. All countries of the world are located on a scale from 1 (most free) to 7 (least free). Countries whose ratings fall between 1.0 and 2.5 are “Free”, between 3.0 and 5.0 are "Partly Free," and those between 5.5 and 7.0 are "Not Free."

Economic

Share of the autonomy in the economy of the country:GRP of the autonomy divided to GDP of the country (%) %
Level of economic development of the autonomy:relative to the country (%): GRP per capita of the autonomy divided to GDP per capita of the country %

Ethnic

Share of the dominant in the country ethnic group in the population of the autonomy:in %: population size of the dominant in the country ethnic group divided to overal population size of the autonomy (the latest census; expert estimations) %
Share of the titular ethnic group in the population of the autonomy:in %: population size of the titular ethnic group of the autonomy divided to overal population size of the autonomy (the latest census; expert estimations) %
Ethnic peculiarity:It indicates a key characteristic of autonomy's ethnic identity - language or religion or both
Diversity of ethnic composition:The presence of other (in addition to the titular group in the autonomy and the dominant group in the country) significant ethnic groups in the population of the autonomy

Political

Degree of self-rule of the autonomy:It is based on the Regional Authority Index project that aims at measuring the powers of all the regions in 81 countries. Here the index "tier_selfrule" (2010) is used. It summarizes five dimensions of self-rule: institutional depth; policy scope; fiscal autonomy; borrowing autonomy; and the extent to which a region has an independent legislature and executive. The index takes value from 0 to 18
Degree of shared-rule of the autonomy:It is based on the Regional Authority Index project that aims at measuring the powers of all the regions in 81 countries. Here the index "tier_sharedrule" (2010) is used. It summarizes five dimensions of shared-rule: participation of a region in national law-making; intergovernmental meetings; the distribution of national tax revenues; borrowing; and constitutional change. The index takes value from 0 to 12
The presence of the "kin-state":"Kin-state" is a state whose main population shares the ethnic characteristics of the titular ethnic group of the autonomy
Linguistic preferences:It indicates how the language of the titular ethnic group of the autonomy is learned in secondary schools in the autonomy
Ethnic conflicts:It indicates whether the serious conflicts between the autonomy and the central government as well as between ethnic groups within the authority take place in 2001-2015. The level of conflict is determined on the basis of the annual reports of Conflict Barometer