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Repression and Dissent in Contemporary Catalonia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 August 2020

Laia Balcells Open the ORCID record for Laia Balcells [Opens in a new window] ,
Spencer Dorsey  and
Juan F. Tellez Open the ORCID record for Juan F. Tellez [Opens in a new window]
Laia Balcells*
Affiliation:
Georgetown University, Washington, DCUSA
Spencer Dorsey
Affiliation:
Duke University, Durham, NC, USA
Juan F. Tellez
Affiliation:
University of South Carolina, Greenville, SC, USA
*
*Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

An extensive literature in political science and sociology has analyzed how state repression shapes attempts by social movements to pursue political objectives. Less studied, however, is the effect that state repression of activists has on the broader public. Understanding public responses to repression is important, as both states and social movements take action with an eye toward (de)mobilizing broader constituencies. This letter analyzes this dynamic in the context of contemporary Catalonia, where the Spanish state cracked down on efforts by Catalan activists to hold a public referendum on independence. Matching poll respondents in the months before and after the crackdown in late 2017, the study finds that repression increased public sympathy for independence for a short period, and heightened animosity towards actors perceived to be associated or complicit with the Spanish state. The findings speak to the potential for state repression of nonviolent movements to create windows of opportunity for broader mobilization.

Keywords

repressionsecessionSpainvictimizationviolencefederalism
Type
Letter
Information
British Journal of Political Science , Volume 51 , Issue 4 , October 2021 , pp. 1742 - 1750
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press

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References

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Supplementary material: Link

Balcells et al. Dataset

Dataset

https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/KWS9UD
Link
Supplementary material: PDF

Balcells et al. supplementary material

Appendix

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