Shifting Political Landscapes and Outbidding Effects in South Tyrol: Narratives of South Tyrolean Political Forces towards the Autonomy System

The 2023 elections for the South Tyrolean Council marked a turning point for the Italian province with its German- and Ladin-speaking populations and a sophisticated autonomy system. For the first time, the SVP, the party that historically represented German-speakers, lost its dominant position and was forced to create a broader governing alliance, involving for the first time a second German-speaking party and two right-wing Italian speaking parties, one of those being Fratelli d’Italia, the party heir to the Italian post-fascist tradition. Also of note is the electoral success of Südtiroler Freiheit, a party that prioritizes secessionist goals over autonomy. In light of these events, this paper analyzes how the autonomy system affected the relations at the political level between South Tyrolean linguistic groups and the evolution of the narratives of South Tyrolean political forces towards the autonomy system. To this end, this article examines the political discourses of relevant parties, taken from their respective electoral manifestos for the 2023 election, and selected previous programs, to highlight whether, how, and to what extent, perceptions over the autonomy system have changed over time. The analysis reveals the challenges, opportunities, and contradictions of South Tyrolean autonomy in times of change.