Saturday, March 15, 2014
Governor's (Omni Shoreham)
This paper examines the resurgence of Catalan nationalism in order to problematize key features of the scholarship studying the impact of ethnofederalism on the stability of multinational states.First, the paper questions the emphasis on the comparative statics of much comparative work on ethnofederalism. While many scholars note the importance of institutional change for the stability of multinational states (whether the institutions are being decentralized or centralized over time, and how), none make it the explicit subject of their study. As a result, the impact of the dynamics of ethnofederalism remains undertheorized. On the basis of recent relations between Spanish and Catalan governments, this paper develops hypotheses related to the temporal dynamics of decentralization in multinational states.Second, the paper will demonstrate the inadequacies in the conceptualization of political stability in multinational states. In most studies of peaceful states, stability is seldom systematically conceptualized. In conflict-ridden states, it is usually associated with levels of violence. This kind of approach is inadequate for two reasons. First, it precludes the comparison of a wide array of states, those experiencing little conflict with those mired in open warfare. Second, in the case of violent outcomes, it conflates an indicator of instability with the very concept. This paper will offer a new definition of instability in multinational polities.Thus, while the revival of Catalan nationalism in recent years will form the backdrop of the paper, its main arguments will have broader theoretical and conceptual implications for the study of multinational states.
