Regionalism’s studies in the context of current political events remain relevant for the academic field. However, most of these studies are focused on regionalism, concentrated within one territorial-administrative unit. At the same time, in the European space there is a phenomenon, when regionalism is dispersed over the territory of several regions. Examples of such a world are Transylvania, Silesia, the Basque Country, etc. However, today in political science there is no theoretical framework for such cases. This article offers a conceptualization of this phenomenon, which is proposed to be called supra-regionalism and a typology of supra-regionalisms in the modern world is proposed. Supra-regionalism is a political movement that has a territorial base in several administrative-territorial units, and converts aspects of regional identity (ethnic, economic, political, etc.) into political action, the goal of which is to achieve/preserve the special status of the regions it represents. In the course of the study, a number of criteria were proposed to assess the effectiveness of supra-regionalism. These include its entire integrity - that is, the uniformity of electoral support within the region, as well as the presence of mechanisms for interregional integration and representation of the supra-region. These parameters were developed based on the concept of multilevel control. Among these parameters: political representation of supra-regionalism, constitutional foundations of identity, non-electoral representation, special meetings, representation in Brussels, cross-border regions, participation in European projects. Based on a low-casus comparison of seven European supra-regionalisms, conclusions are drawn regarding the consistency of supra-regionalism in Europe at the moment. First of all, it should be noted that the main (and almost the only) mechanism for the integration of supra-regionalism is party organizations. In general, supra-regionalisms use other opportunities, including the opportunities provided by the European Union for joint representation and implementation of policy in the interests of the supra-region. Moreover, there is a tendency towards a more effective disappearance of supra-regionalisms in the European Union.
SUPRA-REGIONALISM IN THE CONTEXT OF MULTI-LEVEL POLITICS IN THE EUROPEAN UNION
