345 Anwen Elias and Filippo Tronconi 1 Autonomist Parties from Protest to Power: A Comparative Overview In this concluding chapter, we return to the analytical framework outlined in the Introduction to the volume, and provide a comparative overview of autonomist parties as they have moved from protest to power. In so doing, we draw on the extensive empirical data presented in the preceding case studies to identify general trends in the lifespans of autonomist parties, the implications of crossing different thresholds for party organisations and the pursuit of different goals, and the policy impact of autonomist parties (that is, their success in pushing for the territorial re-organisation of politi- cal authority). The aim of this analysis is two-fold: to compare cases within the autonomist party family and assess similarities and differences between them, and compare the autonomist party family with other party families in order to assess the particuliarity of the former. 16.1. THE LIFESPANS OF AUTONOMIST PARTIES One of the key motivations for this study was the observation, outlined in the volume’s opening chapter, that contrary to some predictions, autono- mist parties have proved to be a stable and enduring feature of the political systems of the majority of West European states. The relevance acquired by many of these actors, and thus the direct challenge they pose to the structuring of political authority, informed our collective interest in map- ping the lifespans of these actors, in order to better understand both their internal evolution as well as their impact on the institutions and actors which make up the environments in which autonomist parties operate. And yet, as the case studies demonstrate clearly, it is impossible to iden- tify a uniform process of autonomist party mobilisation and evolution across Western Europe. Parties’ lifespan trajectories display a large amount of variation. Whilst some parties have struggled to cross the thresholds of authorisation (the Aberzale left) and representation (radical Corsican nationalists), others passed all thresholds of a party’s lifespan very quickly after being established (the Südtiroler Volkspartei (SVP)) and even at different territorial levels (the Lega Nord (LN)). Autonomist parties have thus not followed a single direct path from protest to power. In this 1 This chapter has been jointly authored. The inal draft of sections 2 and 4 can be attri- buted to A. Elias, the inal draft of sections 1 and 3 to F. Tronconi. Section 5 has been written jointly. From Protest to Power.indb 345 27.07.2011 14:59:01