Provincialism in Belhavia
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Provincialism in Belhavia broadly refers to a set of political, social, and cultural attitudes, behaviors, and phenomena in Belhavian society and politics that emphasizes localism, regionalism, particularism, and parochialism in Belhavian sociocultural and religious divides and Imperial and provincial politics due to the nation's federalist system of government.
Provincialism is a distinctive Belhavian phenomenon, with analysts noting the trend arising because of a history of provincial rights', the highly decentralized and devolved nature of Belhavian political life and its wide separation of constitutional powers, long-standing social, cultural, and religious divides, and the persistence of ethnoreligious self-segregation.
Localism
Political localism in Belhavia has roots dating back to the folkloric Landing of the Jewish Settlers around c. 1300 C.E. In the Late Middle Ages and early modern period, Belhavian life was largely rural, agrarian, local, and isolated. Much of the population lived in small towns separated from one another by rudimentary travel which took many hours or more likely days on foot or by horse to traverse, and later by horse-drawn carriage.
In this environment, while there was a sense of overarching national identity to "Belhavia" and the Crown both religiously and ethnically as Jews as well as shared geography, one's daily existence was dictated more by local conditions, events, and leaders moreso than national, and later Empirewide, conditions.
While this state of being generally faded between the 1820s and 1900 as Belhavia underwent industrialization, modernization, and most of the population transferred to the cities, the localist tradition still has lingering weight in rural small-town Belhavia, along with sympathy and nostalgia for its heyday existing among many conservative, religious, and traditionalist Belhavians through social and cultural symbolism and artwork.
Regionalism
Regionalism has a cultural relevance mostly in politics, industry, and sociocultural identity. Politically, provincial and local elected officials often have a form of regionalist camaraderie with other politicians in their shared political, cultural, and social regions.
Middle Belhavia provinces such as Arkania, South Dakos, and Vannen as well as North Belhavia provinces such as North Dakos and Freeport each identify with their regional neighbors on many issues of public policy and social attitudes. In Imperial politics, this is actualized with the Tories, whose electoral base is in Middle Belhavia and South Belhavia, promoting policies favorable to agricultural interests, religious voters, and small businesses while the Liberal Democrats, whose political base is in North Belhavia, advocate policies such as urban infrastructure, harbor dredging, and renewable energy tax credits which favor their regional constituencies' priorities and agenda.
Culturally, many Belhavians' place of identification is more provincial, with one likely to say, "I'm from West Dakos" rather than "I'm from North Belhavia." However, on larger regional issues such as infrastructure concerns, widely diverging political and religious attitudes, or geographic differences, regional identities often assert themselves.
Particularism and parochialism
Many Belhavians and their elected officials, especially religious Jews and ethnic and ethno-religious minorities such as Westerners, Western Jews, Rodarian Jews, and Rodar-Catholics, described themselves and by their critics and opponents as having parochial and particularistic concerns and mindsets.
Ethnoreligious communities of all types, but particularly Orthodox Jews, often engage in parochial politics, with local politicians in their community criticized regularly for addressing local and community-specific concerns at the expense of more universal, broader issues and problems. This is related to political particularism, a feature of nearly all cohesive ethnic and religious blocs inside Belhavia except for Westerners, most of whom have assimilated into either chiloni or dati Belhavian sociocultural sectors.