“Drift into Mafiadom”? Political Violence and Criminality in the Corsican Nationalist Movement

Abstract

Although the problem of violence has been central to the Corsican question since the appearance of nationalist movements in the 1970s, the focus of the public debate surrounding it shifted significantly during the 1990s. Prior to this, the violence had been almost exclusively associated with political motives; afterward, it became increasingly understood in terms of common crime. It was no longer seen as simply the radicalized form of an identity claim seeking recognition by the French State of the social and cultural specificity of the island, and demanding an institutional status that guaranteed autonomy (or even independence) to territorial powers—a claim expressed through not only legal means (collective action, electoral participation) but also illegal means (attacks and other acts of violence). An increasing number of political leaders and commentators on the Corsican problem also represented this violence as being a pernicious illustration of the island society’s “drift into mafiadom.” They saw indications of this in the rise in organized crime, the conversion of militants from clandestine activism to criminal activities (especially racketeering), and their illegal appropriation of a substantial proportion of local economic resources (through extortion, intimidation, or corruption).