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The venturous bid for the independence of Catalonia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2018

Josep M. Colomer
Josep M. Colomer*
Affiliation:
Department of Government, Georgetown University, 588 ICC, 3700 O Street, NW, Washington, DC 20057, USA
*
*Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

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Following an ambiguous constitutional compromise for democratization, the territorial decentralization of the Spanish state developed by means of political party competition, exchanges, and bargaining. Hence, the so-called state of autonomies was characterized as “non-institutional federalism” [Colomer, Josep M. 1998. “The Spanish ‘State of Autonomies': Non-institutional Federalism.” West European Politics 21 (4): 40–52]. In the most recent period, competition and instability have intensified. New developments include, on one side, attempts at recentralizating the state and, on the other side, demands and mobilizations for Catexit, that is, the independence of Catalonia from Spain, which resulted in sustained inter-territorial conflict. This article addresses these recent changes with a focus on the relations between the Spanish and the Catalan governments. The political changes were analyzed as a result of opportunities and incentives offered by a loose institutional framework and the subsequent competitive strategies of extreme party leaders.

Keywords

federalismsecessionnationalismEuropean UnionSpainCatalonia
Type
Articles
Information
Nationalities Papers , Volume 45 , Issue 5 , September 2017 , pp. 950 - 967
Copyright
Copyright © 2017 Association for the Study of Nationalities 

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