REGIONS WITH SPECIAL STATUS IN MULTI-LEVEL POLITICS: CLASSIFICATION AND TYPOLOGY
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17072/2218-1067-2026-3-48-59Keywords:
multi-level politics, administrative-territorial division, regions, special status, classification, typology, factor analysisAbstract
Modern states tend to homogenize their political space. In the multi-level interactions between the center and the administrative-territorial units of the first subnational level (regions), this is reflected, in particular, in the fact that regions within a single country typically enjoy identical political-administrative status. However, dozens of regions with special status have been identified worldwide. This article attempts to define this concept, assess its empirical content, and propose approaches to the typology and multidimensional classification of regions with special status. Since typology organizes objects on the basis of essential characteristics, it seems to be correct to build it on the origin of special status. Consequently, six types of region with special status have been identified: ethnic, historical, geographic, economic, metropolitan, and overseas regions. Classifications of regions with special status can be based on a wide variety of variable properties, along which they exhibit variability. To eliminate the correlation between them and create a general multidimensional classification, factor analysis was used, the results of which revealed four dimensions that define the space of variability of regions with a special status: political-institutional, political-subjective, ethnocultural and natural-geographical.
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