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Prospects for an Independent Catalonia

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Abstract

The aim of this paper is to examine the factors that have triggered the recent shift from devolution to secession expressed by the Catalan grassroots movement which has been consolidated in the last 5 years or so. This movement stands in favour of the so-called ‘right to decide’ which specifically demands the right of Catalan citizens to be considered as a ‘demos’ able to decide upon its political future by means of holding a referendum on the issue. Conflict has emerged as a result of the Spanish state’s prohibition to allow for a referendum on that issue. The paper offers an overview of the origins of modern Catalan nationalism by tracing back its roots to Franco’s dictatorship and the subsequent transition to democracy. It analyses the main arguments behind the qualitative shift from devolution to secession embodied in the rise of a novel bottom up secessionist movement supporting the idea of holding a referendum on Catalan independence from Spain; so far, strictly forbidden by the Spanish State. The paper considers the impediments to a ‘referendum’ on Catalan independence founded upon the Spanish Constitution. To conclude, it examines the rise of a novel grassroots civil society movement demanding the right of Catalonia to decide upon its political future.

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Notes

  1. For instance, the Basque Country expands across Spain and France.

  2. This refers to Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (Catalan Republican Left).

  3. For a detailed version of the activities of the Generalitat in exile illustrated with key documents from that period, see Ferré, M. (1977) La Generalitat de Catalunya a l’exili, Aymà, Barcelona.

  4. PSC—Socialist Party of Catalonia, federated with the PSOE; PSOE—Spanish Socialists Workers Party; ERC—Catalan Republican Left; ICV—Greens.

  5. At the election, the PSC (PSC-PSOE)-CpC obtained 42 seats, corresponding to 31.17 % of the vote. Against all predictions, the CiU, with its new leader Artur Mas, managed to obtain 30.93 % of the vote, which corresponded to 46 seats. As well as the PSC, it had also lost 10 seats when compared to 1999. The key to political change in Catalonia was then in the hands of the ERC which obtained a record 23 seats corresponding to 16.47 % of the vote. In the 1999 election, it had obtained 8.7 % of the vote corresponding to 12 seats. The ICV achieved a significant recovery, obtaining 9 seats (it had 5 previously), and the PP obtained 15 seats, 3 more than in 1999.

  6. La Vanguardia, 24th January 2013, Catalan News Agency, 24the January 2013.

  7. El País, Madrid 9th July 2010. ‘La Constitución no conoce otra nación que la Espanola’. Accessed 27.09.2010 http://www.elpais.com/articulo/espana/Constitucion.

  8. El País, Madrid 28th June 2010. ‘Los artículos considerados inconstitucionales’. Accessed 27.09.2010 http://www.elpais.com/articulo/espana/Constitucion.

  9. EPA Catalonia, Semester 2, 2013. http://www.datosmacro.com/paro-epa/ccaa/cataluna

  10. El País, 11th May 2008. See also, Las Balanzas fiscales de las CC.AA. espanolas con las AA. Públicas centrales 2005. Ministerio de economía y hacienda, Madrid 15th July 2008, p. 19.

  11. La Vanguardia, 4th April 2012. Accessed 04.04.2012 http://lavanguardia.com/politica

  12. Centre d’Estudis d’Opinió, CEO, Political Opinion Barometer, 2nd wave 2013.

  13. CEO, Political Opinion Barometer, 2nd wave 2013.

  14. CEO. CEO, Political Opinion Barometer, 2nd wave July 2013.

  15. CiU, has won the Catalan election by obtaining 50 seats, having received 30.68 % of the vote corresponding to 1.112.341 million votes. However, CiU has lost 12 seats. On this election, the biggest winner is the Catalan Republican Left (ERC)—a party in favour of independence founded in 1931. ERC has moved from having 10 seats to 21, thus obtaining 13.68 % of the vote equivalent to 496.292 seats.

  16. Declaration of the National Conference for the constitution of a Catalan State. Barcelona, 30th April 2011.

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  1. Department of Politics and International Relations, Queen Mary University of London, Mile End Road, London, E1 4NS, UK

    Montserrat Guibernau

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  1. Montserrat Guibernau
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Correspondence to Montserrat Guibernau.

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Guibernau, M. Prospects for an Independent Catalonia. Int J Polit Cult Soc 27, 5–23 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10767-013-9165-4

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