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The Unilateral Declaration of Independence in Catalonia, 2017: Strategies of Legitimation in Political Discourses

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The Unilateral Declaration of Independence in Catalonia, 2017: Strategies of Legitimation in Political Discourses The Unilateral Declaration of Independence in Catalonia, 2017: strategies of legitimation in political discourses. Ramir Rabaza Jiménez European Studies Bachelor Thesis 15 Credits Spring 2020 Supervisor: Fredrik Lindström 1 Abstract: The relation between the Catalan nationalist forces as well as the other sub-nationalisms and the Spanish Government has been a matter discussed throughout all the Spanish democracy. In recent years the challenge to the Spanish state set by the Catalan government when taking a unilateral approach on Independence has resulted in the imprisonment and exile of political leaders. The aim of this thesis is to analyse the events that occurred in Catalonia after the Catalan elections of 2015 and the unilateral approach on self-determination taken by the Catalan Autonomous Government with the promise of a binding referendum. The laws passed by the Catalan government which were rejected by the Constitutional Court, as the law itself denied the authority of the Constitutional Court and declared independence. This resulted in the application of the 155th article of the Spanish Constitution, suspending autonomous government, to enforce the Constitutional Court’s resolutions by the Spanish government. The essay will focus on the discourses given by politicians to criticize or justify these actions, analysed through theoretical and political normative perspectives. Keywords: Spain, Catalonia, autonomy, referendum, sovereignty, constitutionalism, self- determination, secession, independence, sub-nationalisms. 2 Table of Contents 1. Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 4 1.1 Contextualisation ................................................................................................................ 5 1.2 Mapping the polit ical part ies in Catalonia ............................................................................. 7 2. Previous Literature ................................................................................................................ 7 3. Aim and Research Question. ................................................................................................ 10 4. Theoretical Framework ........................................................................................................ 11 4.1 Adaptation of WPR Approach .......................................................................................... 12 4.2 Delimitations ........................................................................................................................ 14 5. Analys is.............................................................................................................................. 14 5.1 Political approaches taken by the different sides to justify their actions. ................................ 14 5.2. What blockages to a solution for Spain and Catalonia that are created by these inter-locked legit imisations can be identif ied? ............................................................................................. 18 5.2.1 155th Article Application in the Senate and the Discourses. ........................................... 18 5.2.2 ‘Law of Juridical Transition and Foundation of the Republic' discourses in the Catalan Parliament .............................................................................................................................. 23 5.3 What solutions can be perceived by looking beyond the tacit assumptions built into the antagonistic positions taken? ................................................................................................... 27 5.3.1 Questioning Discourses Given in Public........................................................................... 32 5.3.2 Discussion Regarding Separation of Powers ..................................................................... 33 6. Conclusion.......................................................................................................................... 34 Bibliography .............................................................................................................................. 37 3 1. Introduction On 1st October 2017 a referendum was celebrated in Catalonia with the compliance of the autonomous government. The referendum was the summit of the unilateral approach on independence taken by the parties forming the Catalan government after the failed attempts of negotiating a legal self-determination referendum for Catalonia in the recent years. The Catalan government used all the tools and powers they had to celebrate and legally protect the referendum. However this referendum was clearly illegal as stated by the resolutions of the Spanish Constitutional Court and to the current statute of autonomy. As a result of this disobedience, the central government imposed rule in Catalonia by constitutional mechanis ms. This paper will analyse the political discourses given to justify the actions taken by the differe nt actors that lead to the current scenario by using political theories on the topics of sovereignty, secession and the territorial model of nations and states. A brief introduction of the formation of the regiona l model of Spain is going to be explained to later asses the rights and powers that the differe nt regional autonomies have in Spain as the territorial model of Spain is one of the main topics of the debate on independence. The territorial formation of modern Spain dates back to the 19th century in an administrative model formed by provinces. In the early 20th century, regionalist movements in Spain began to gain influence and provinces were allowed to join in a commonwealth of provinces although the only one formed in 1914 was the one of Catalonia. During Primo de Rivera’s dictatorship (1923-1930), he strengthened the province model and abolished the formation of the Catalan commonwealth in order to centralise the state. During the second republic (1931-1939) in Spain, regionalisms once again reactivated and the province model was considered outdated allowing the formatio n of autonomous regions. The 50 provinces were distributed in 15 regions. The first government of the second republic was propitious to satisfy the Catalan demands and a referendum on their statue was approved in 1931. During Franco’s dictatorship between 1936 and 1977, a return to the model of provinces caused regions to lose their administrative and political power. Between 1977 and 1983, the territorial map of Spain was defined, consequently two agreements in 1981 and 1992 respectively set the power distribution 4 in the law. The Spanish Constitution did not establish a regional map and allowed autonomous communities to be formed within the constitutional frame and regulated by their statutes of autonomy. The Constitution attempted to solve the territorial and regional question in Spain by a new model, not federal, however by giving to their regions mechanisms and capacity to decentralise more than most federal states (Prieto, 2017;Gómez Díaz, 2014). 1.1 Contextualisation Today the Spanish State is divided into 17 autonomous communities and 2 autonomous cities (Ceuta and Melilla). These autonomous regions are recognised in the constitution and have differing levels of self-government depending on their Statutes of Autonomy. For instance, the Basque, Catalonia and Navarre Autonomous Governments have an autonomous police forc e under the rules of the autonomous governments, reducing the presence of Guardia Civil and National Police in their provinces. The Statutes of Autonomy have to be voted and approved in the Spanish Parliament and are subject to the Spanish constitutional framework. There are discussions on the limits and powers that Autonomous communities have as the statutes regulate them but there is no constitutional guideline to the degree of decentralisation. The present Spanish Constitution itself allows any power transfers between states and autonomous communities as far as the statutes regulating them are passed in the parliaments and within the constitutional limits (Marón, 2014). This means that the present constitution has a mechanism for expanding the autonomy of the regions. In fact, the administrative powers transfers and decentralisations to the Catalan autonomous region through negotiations with the Spanish governments in the late 90s and early 2000s was considerable while pro-independence forces did not have more than a 30% of social support (Zambelli, 2015). In later years, conflicts have emerged in this field, conflicts that are of both political and juridical character. They are connected with long-standing legal- theoretical and political-philosophical issues, which will form the most general level of my investigation of one of these conflicts, concerning Catalan autonomy and the issue of independence. The latest phase in this conflict began in 2006. In this year the Catalan government approved through a referendum to change the Statute of Autonomy which was partially denied in 2007 by the Spanish Constitutional Court due to some articles considering Catalonia as a Nation 5 (Boletín Oficial del Estado, 2010). However, since 2012 when the ‘Catalan independence process’ began with the victory in the elections of ‘Convergencia i Unió’, the liberal- conservative pro-Catalan party, in a context of economic crisis and for the first time with a clear Catalan nationalist agenda. The tension between the Spanish Government and the nationalist sectors
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