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Catalonia Vs Spain: a Desire for More Autonomy Has Led to a Surge of Independentism and a Divided Catalan Society

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Catalonia Vs Spain: a Desire for More Autonomy Has Led to a Surge of Independentism and a Divided Catalan Society Department of Political Science Chair of Political Sociology Catalonia vs Spain: A desire for more autonomy has led to a surge of independentism and a divided Catalan society SUPERVISOR CANDIDATE Noé Meiler Prof. Michele Sorice Matr. 0792 ACADEMIC YEAR 2017-2018 Table of Contents 1 Introduction ......................................................................................................................................... 3 2 History .......................................................................................................................................................... 3 2.1 Early History of Catalan Institutions: ........................................................................................................... 3 The Generalities .......................................................................................................................................................................... 3 2.2 The rise of “Catalanism” ............................................................................................................................. 4 Republicanism and Federalism.................................................................................................................................................... 5 2.3 The Franco Regime ..................................................................................................................................... 6 Primo De Rivera ........................................................................................................................................................................... 6 The second Spanish republic ....................................................................................................................................................... 7 The civil war ................................................................................................................................................................................. 9 Franco’s Dictatorship................................................................................................................................................................. 10 Resistance and support in Catalonia ......................................................................................................................................... 11 Spain after Franco ..................................................................................................................................................................... 12 Franco’s legacy .......................................................................................................................................................................... 12 2.4 Spanish Democracy .................................................................................................................................. 14 The Constitution of 1978 ........................................................................................................................................................... 14 Regional government ................................................................................................................................................................ 14 Jordi Pujol and Catalan autonomy ............................................................................................................................................ 15 The Majestic Pact ...................................................................................................................................................................... 16 3 Resurgence of Independentism ........................................................................................................... 16 3.1 Key factors in the resurgence .................................................................................................................... 16 A new “Estatut” for Catalonia ................................................................................................................................................... 16 Supreme court sentence 2010 .................................................................................................................................................. 18 Protests and rise of independentism ........................................................................................................................................ 18 3.2 Defining Catalan nationalism .................................................................................................................... 19 The Basque case ........................................................................................................................................................................ 21 3.3 Radicalization and the end of dialogue ...................................................................................................... 22 The ambiguity of Artur Mas ...................................................................................................................................................... 22 The radicalization of Convergència i Uniò ................................................................................................................................. 23 Referendum 2014 ...................................................................................................................................................................... 24 3.4 From autonomy to independence ............................................................................................................. 26 Carles Puigdemont .................................................................................................................................................................... 26 3.5 Referendum and the Unilateral declaration of Independence .................................................................... 27 Towards the referendum .......................................................................................................................................................... 27 Llei del referèndum d'autodeterminació de Catalunya ............................................................................................................ 28 1 October ................................................................................................................................................................................... 29 Post-referendum ....................................................................................................................................................................... 30 Unilateral declaration of independence ................................................................................................................................... 31 Political prisoners or imprisoned politicians? ........................................................................................................................... 31 3.6 The central role of traditional and new media in Catalan independence .................................................... 32 Social media............................................................................................................................................................................... 33 4.Conclusion ......................................................................................................................................... 34 4.1 Point of no return? ................................................................................................................................... 34 Bibliography......................................................................................................................................... 35 Riassunto ............................................................................................................................................. 48 1 Introduction The current Catalan crisis is of great importance to Spanish and European politics. Its causes are manifold, making it difficult to establish a starting point. Some commentators might point to contemporary problems, such as the economic crisis and discontent with the government in place. Others would argue that historical reasons play an important part, tracing the issue back to the early beginnings of Catalan institutions and the fall of Barcelona to the Bourbon army in 1714. The aim of this paper is to point out the different factors playing a role in the crisis and argue that the region’s strive to more autonomy within Spain is the key factor of the resurgence of independentism. 2 History 2.1 Early History of Catalan Institutions: To understand the issue at hand, it is of great importance to understand the rich history of Catalan institutions. The first year of relevance is that of 801, when Charlemagne the king of the Franks, liberates parts of the territory known today as Catalonia from Muslim occupation, in an effort to halt its crusade towards Frank territory. The liberated territory was named “Marca Hispánica” (Treccani, 2017) and its control was given to counts indirectly controlled by Charlemagne. Progressively the counties establish relations among each other culminating in the formation of “Usatges” – a collection of customs “recognized from parliaments and kings alike” in all the territory’s counties (Kosto, 2016). The “Usatges” main roles were to facilitate taxation across territories. These institutions were maintained for centuries and were key to create a sense
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