Livianna S. Tossutti, "How Transnational Factors Influence the Success of Ethnic, Religious And Regional Parties in 21 States," Party Politics, January 2002, vol. 8, no. 1, pp. 51-74.

First Paragraph:
The growth of transnational organizations, regional trading blocs and population mobility in the post-war era has blurred the political, economic and cultural boundaries between states and their peoples. Inter-state convergence, however, has not been accompanied by a diminution of intra-state diversity. The intractable conflict between Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland, the dissolution of Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia, and the resurgence and persistence of ethnic, religious and regional political identities in advanced capitalist democracies, highlight the durability of sub-state loyalties in the homogeneous, one world environment that globalization was supposed to create (Barber, 1992). The formation of the Bloc Québécois in Canada, the Catalan Convergence and Union in Spain, the Lega Nord in Italy, Christian parties in Scandinavia and the ethno-territorial cleavages which divided the main party families in Belgium confirm the importance of culture and territory as reference points for citizens. Since 1945, 197 new ethnic, religious and regional political parties have been established in 21 Western countries (Banks and Muller, 1999; Day 1988, 1996; Europa Publications, 1993; http://www.agora.stm). Almost a quarter of them have emerged as more than trivial political actors, serving as members or external supporters of coalition governments, supporters of minority governments, or as the Official Opposition.

Figures and Tables:
Table 1. Party salience in 21 states: alternative models (generalized estimating equation estimates)

Last Paragraph:
While it would be premature to accept Barbers argument that globalization will accomplish what modernization and state-building processes did not that is, erode local and religious identities economic and technological convergence have a greater potential to inhibit these parties access to power than domestic institutional arrangements or cultural heterogeneity. Since the models did not correctly predict between 18 and 24 percent of the outcomes, some room remains for party leaders to counter pressures towards standardization, especially when their cause is aided by their programmatic orientation and persistence.