Thursday, June 27, 2013
5.59 (PC Hoofthuis)
Problems derived from the existence of peripheral nationalisms - advocating political projects alternative to the Spanish-wide nation-building project- have been at the core of the constitutional and political history of Spain since the 19th century. The State of Autonomies was devised during the transition to democracy as a solution to the Catalans’ and Basques’ national question. Its evolution, however, and events such as the Plan Ibarretxe or the most recent calls for independence in Catalonia seem to suggest that the Spanish political system has only partially succeeded in that purpose.
While the literature abounds with references to the general influence of the past in the current territorial structure of Spain, few analyses have been primarily devoted to explore the extent of that influence and the causal mechanisms through which historical legacies shape the operation of the system and the territorial dynamics within it. The proposed paper is intended to shed some light on the effect of legacies (particularly those relating to ethno-linguistic fragmentation, the state- and nation-building processes and alternative interpretations of the past) on the terms of the founding constitutional pact and the development of the State of Autonomies afterwards. To that aim, the paper will look for institutional mechanisms entrenched in the very constitutional framework and whether they have effectively materialised in the form of specific territorial dynamics and path-dependence patterns in disputes surrounding the national question and the division of powers, thus serving to either feed or alleviate historical grievances.
While the literature abounds with references to the general influence of the past in the current territorial structure of Spain, few analyses have been primarily devoted to explore the extent of that influence and the causal mechanisms through which historical legacies shape the operation of the system and the territorial dynamics within it. The proposed paper is intended to shed some light on the effect of legacies (particularly those relating to ethno-linguistic fragmentation, the state- and nation-building processes and alternative interpretations of the past) on the terms of the founding constitutional pact and the development of the State of Autonomies afterwards. To that aim, the paper will look for institutional mechanisms entrenched in the very constitutional framework and whether they have effectively materialised in the form of specific territorial dynamics and path-dependence patterns in disputes surrounding the national question and the division of powers, thus serving to either feed or alleviate historical grievances.
