Abstract
This contribution analyzes the effects of consociational mechanisms on South Tyrolean politics. We focus on the process of ethnic outbidding, the phenomenon whereby more radical political forces prevail over moderate ones, fostering centrifugal patterns. To this end, the research focuses on the interplay between consociationalism and the so-called process of (de)securitization, the process through which an issue is viewed (or no longer viewed) as an existential threat based on an ‘us-versus-them’ logic. The contribution analyzes to what extent dynamics of (de)securitization have developed in South Tyrol vis-à-vis the ethnic question, through examining whether the experience with the consociational mechanisms has contributed over time to overcome the friend-enemy distinction. Processes of (de)securitization are analyzed as they have developed in political discourses, using as data the electoral programs of the South Tyrolean political parties that (should) have the most radical positions on ethnic issues: Fratelli d’Italia and Süd-Tiroler Freiheit. The analysis will show that the South Tyrolean case both confirms and contradicts the expectation as well as the criticism of consociational theory and the extent such a type of institutional design could affect processes of ethnic outbidding.