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The Prospects of Federalism: The Regional Problem after Franco

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 March 2014

K. Medhurst
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Extract

DESPITE YEARS OF POLITICAL STABILITY AND RECENT ECONOMIC growth General Franco's dictatorship has left many of Spain's perennial political dilemmas unresolved. The problems that preci itated the Civil War (1936–39) and destroyed the Second Republic will continue, albeit in modified form, to dog Franco's successors.

One particularly intractable problem is posed by Spain's Basque and Catalan minorities. Local nationalist movements contributed to the Republic's collapse and remain a long-term threat to Spain's political stability. This essay, therefore, tries to identify the root causes of these movements; to examine the regional problem's present state and to scrutinize possible solutions to the problem in the post-Franco era.

Type
Article
Information
Government and Opposition , Volume 11 , Issue 2 , 01 April 1976 , pp. 180 - 197
Copyright
Copyright © Government and Opposition Ltd 1976

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References

1 On this subject cf. Linz, J., ‘Early State‐Building and Late Peripheral Nationalisms Against the State; the Case of Spain’; in Eisenstadt, S. N. and Rokkan, S. (eds), Building State and Nations, London, 1973 Google Scholar.

2 For a brief period the Kings of Castile were also Kings of Portugal but this arrangement came to an end in the mid 17th century when Portugal definitively set off along its own path.

3 On the subject of the ‘Napoleonic State’ see Medhurst, K., Government in Spain, Oxford, 1973 Google Scholar, and the same writer's unpublished doctoral thesis—The Legal and Political Institutions of Spanish Local Government, University of Manchester, 1969. The Basque provinces which kept their identities are Alava, Guipúzcoa, Navarra and Vizcaya. It should be noted that Basque Nationalists also claim areas of Southern France as part of the Basque ‘Homeland’.

4 For a strong expression of the view that Catalan and Basque nationalism is part of a wider problem of. Madariaga, S. de, Memorias de un Federalista, Buenos Aires, 1967 Google Scholar.

5 For a detailed bibliography on Catalan nationalism see J. Linz, op cit., Here, brief mention can be made of Venero, M. García, Historia del Narionalismo Catalán, Madrid, 1967 Google Scholar, and Payne, S., ‘Catalan and Basque Nationalism’, Journal of Contemporary History, Vol. I, No. I, 1971 Google Scholar.

6 For the background see Hennessy, C. A. M., The Federal Republic in Spain, Pi γ Margall and the Federal Republican Movement 1868–74, Oxford, 1962 Google Scholar.

7 On this issue see the important article by Linz, J., ‘The Party System of Spain; Past and Future’, Lipset, S. M. and Rokkan, S. (eds), Party Systems and Voter Alignments, New York, 1967 Google Scholar.

8 For a history of Basque Nationalism containing a detailed bibliography see Payne, S., Nadonalismo Vasco, Barcelona, 1974 Google Scholar.

9 On the Basque peoples, see J. Caro Baroja, Los Vascos, Madrid, 1971.

10 On the subject of Carlism, see, Blinkhorn, M., ‘Ideology and Schism in Spanish Traditionalism, 1876–1931’, Iberian Studies, Vol. 1, No. 1, 1972 Google Scholar.

11 The strength of such sentiments was indicated in a remark attributed to a famous pre‐civil war right‐wing politician, Calvo Sotelo. He allegedly said that he would prefer a Spain that was ‘roja’—red, to a Spain that was ‘rota’—broken.

12 This issue is discussed with particular reference to the Basque problem in Medhurst, K., The Basques, Report for Minority Rights Group, London, Second edition, 1975 Google Scholar.

13 Ibid.

14 For a general discussion of opposition parties see Linz, J., ‘Opposition in and under an Authoritarian Regime; the Case of Spain’, in Dahl, R. (ed.). Regimes and Oppositions, London, 1973 Google Scholar. See also Vilar, S., Les Oppositions à Franco, Paris, 1968 Google Scholar.

15 On the Communist Party see Hermet, G., Les Communistes en Espagne, Paris, 1971 Google Scholar.

16 See Hispanic American Review, Stanford, May 1951.

17 ETA is discussed in K. Medhurst, op. cit.; of. also Moqui, J. P., La Revolte des Basques, Paris 1970 Google Scholar.

18 The trial is discussed in Halemi, G., Le Procès de Burgos, Paris, 1971 Google Scholar, and Salaberri, K., El Proceso de Euzkadi en Burgos, Paris, 1971 Google Scholar. The Spanish government's view is expressed in de Arteaga, F., E. T.A. γ el Proceso de Burgos, Madrid, 1971 Google Scholar.

19 See J. P. Moqui, op cit., for some evidence on this.

20 Modern Basque nationalism, and its background, is discussed by P. Gonzalez Blasco in Bell, W. and Freeman, W. E. (eds), Ethnicity and Nation Building, London, 1974 Google Scholar.

21 For data on the use of local languages, and related issues, see Informe Sociológico Sobre la Situacion Social de España, Madrid, 1971.

22 This follows concepts suggested by Dahl, R., Polyarchy, London, 1971 Google Scholar, which J. Linz uses in ‘Early State Building and Late Peripheral Nationalisms Against the State’, op cit.

23 See especially the views of Lijphart, A., ‘Consociational Democracy’, World Politics, xxi, 01 1969 Google Scholar.

24 See S. de Madariaga, op. cit, for support for a federal solution. He sees the need, however, to include Portugal in any Iberian federal system which, at present, is totally unrealistic.

25 Something akin to the arrangements envisaged for Scotland might meet the case.

26 The case of Belgium comes to mind.

27 ETA might pose the same problem for the PNV as the Provisional IRA poses for Ulster's SDLP.

28 See Sérant, P., La France des Minorités, Paris, 1965 Google Scholar.

29 See Díez Alegría, M.: Ejército y Sociedad, Madrid, 1972 Google Scholar, for strong hints of this.

30 See on this general theme of regional differences in Spain, Linz, J. and de Miguel, A., ‘Within‐Nation Differences and Comparisons: the Eight Spains’ in Merrith, R. L. and Rokkan, S., Comparing Nations, London 1966 Google Scholar. For a general discussion of nationalism see Smith, A. D., Theories of Nationalism, London, 1971 Google Scholar. Evidence presented in this discussion seems largely to bear out the theses of Dr Smith.