Nations sans Etat autre que social? L'impact du nationalisme subetatique dans la transformation de l'Etat social au Canada et en Espagne (1980--2004)

This thesis utilizes Canada and Spain to witness the transformation of the welfare state within a plurinational context. In particular, the present deals with the "social nationalism" phenomena, hence the instrumentation of social policies by nationalist sub-state governments in the pursuit of a greater national solidarity sentiment. While scrutinizing different cases of nationalism offered in the mentioned states, it shows, by analysing regional initiatives towards the fight against poverty and social exclusion, that the nature of the nationalism put forth by the sub-national entity and the associated intergovernmental dynamics (collaboration or confrontation with central instances), seems to influence theirs harvest policies.;This thesis contains three distinct parts. First, the "social nationalism" variable is studied and resituated in the theoretical deliberations on the transformation of the welfare state (Chapter I), and a socio-historical assessment of the Basque, Catalan, Galician and Quebecois nationalism is proposed (Chapter II). Second, a review of the evolution of Canadian and Spanish welfare states is made (Chapter III), followed by an in depth appreciation of the hits and misses of social nationalism (Chapters IV and V). Finally, after the study of the prevailing institutional, ideological and socio-economical circumstances, renditions are made about social nationalism and its potential impact in the transformation of the welfare state in plurinational democracies (Chapter VI and Conclusion).;Keywords : Social nationalism; Intergovememental relations and comparative federalism; Nations without States; Transformation of the Welfare State; Comparative Social Politics, Canadian Politics; Spanish Politics.;To better judge this studied relation, the "nationalism" variable is challenged by considering intermediate factors able to influence the development of social policies, while also utilizing the non-nationalistic sub-state counter-cases. The analysis of public assistance policies in the seven studied sub-state cases (four nationalists and three federalists) reveals that only two nations without state out of four (Basque country and the province of Quebec) have privileged variable logics of intervention in direct rupture with their respective central government orientation for the transformation of the Canadian and Spanish welfare state. The presence of a main stream sovereign movement, feeding intergovernmental confrontations, combined with the ideological orientation of sub-state government and the existence of a mobilized and claiming associative fabric, explains mainly the different choices of public intervention put forth in welfare matters.