A Culturalist Approach to Ethnic Nationalist Movements: Symbolization and Basque and Catalan Nationalism in Spain

Abstract

The Spanish transition to democracy after the death of General Francisco Franco in 1975 is heralded as the “very model” of successful transition from authoritarianism to democracy (Gunther 1992), the epitome of “transition through transaction” (Share 1986, 1987). Spain is proclaimed “the country to be studied” (Przeworski 1986: 61) for good cause. Despite a long history of political turmoil, a notoriously brutal civil war, and nearly 40 years of dictatorship, Spain transformed itself into a democracy “from the inside out” using a remarkably quiescent process of reform called, significantly, the “strategy of consensus” (Carr and Fusi 1979; Payne 1985).

From National Holiday to Independence Day: Changing Perceptions of the “Diada”

“…Guibernau argues that those Western liberal democracies in which state and nation are not coextensive and where strong minority nationalist movements have emerged, such as Catalonia, Flanders, and Scotland, are examples of an emerging type of "deepening of democracy" (Guibernau 2013, p. 327). Although some authors, such as Thomas J. Miley, have argued for seeing Catalan linguistic identity as an ethnic component (Miley 2007), there is a wide consensus in the literature on Catalonia that ethnicity and ancestry have little to do with being Catalan (see for example Brandes 1990;Desfor Edles 1999;McCrone 2007;or Dardanelli and Mitchell 2014). The Catalan language can work both as an ethnolinguistic marker of inclusion or, as others have suggested, as a vehicle for the integration of foreigners and non-nationalists into a wider "Catalan culture" (Conversi 1997, p. 4).…”

Why the Spanish State of Autonomies could be the right Example for the Bolivian State

“…The result was an almost permanent state of martial law and increasing reliance by Catalan economic interest on the police authority of the Spanish state" (Payne ,1971). Laura Desfor Edles even speaks of 'two wars that were going on in Catalonia in the first two decades of the twentieth century: nationalist struggle against the government in Madrid and a class struggle which pitted rich against poor" (Edles, 1999).…”

“…Besides the Lliga, the middle an upper class Catalans saw him as the leader who could restore order and stop the anarchistic chaos. It is doubtful if this was a wise thing to do while Primo de Rivera "a week after he seized power began to suppress all manifestations of Catalanism" (Edles, 1999). Ultimately, he dissolved the Catalan Mancomunitat in 1924.…”

“…Moreover it was a symbolic destruction of everything that was left of Basque autonomy at that time. The tree of Guernica symbolized the Basque fueros, while it was the place to meet for the heads of the Basque villages to discuss Basque politics, it symbolised "liberty for all the Basque peoples" (Edles ,1999).…”

“…In the 1950s Franco introduced capitalism which opened up Spain to the symbols, norms, and institutions of modern, Western European democracy. "Over the same course of time, the liberalization of the Church lay people to veer away from the mentality of the Cruzada and toward the spirit of moderation, reconciliation, and political and religious tolerance" (Edles ,1999). One can conclude that in the Franco period, Catalan nationalism was less violent than Basque nationalism.…”