RiMe Rivista dell’Istituto di Storia dell’Europa Mediterranea ISBN 9788897317616 ISSN 2035-794X numero 7/I n. s., dicembre 2020 Catalan diplomatic presence and actions in the Mediterranean Manuel Duran DOI: https://doi.org/ 10.7410/1432 Istituto di Storia dell’Europa Mediterranea Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche http://rime.cnr.it Direttore responsabile │ Editor-in-Chief Luciano GALLINARI Segreteria di redazione │ Editorial Office Secretary Idamaria FUSCO - Sebastiana NOCCO Comitato scientifico │ Editorial Advisory Board Luis ADÃO DA FONSECA, Filomena BARROS, Sergio BELARDINELLI, Nora BEREND, Michele BRONDINO, Paolo CALCAGNO, Lucio CARACCIOLO, Dino COFRANCESCO, Daniela COLI, Miguel Ángel DE BUNES IBARRA, Antonio DONNO, Antonella EMINA, Vittoria FIORELLI, Blanca GARÌ, David IGUAL LUIS, Jose Javier RUIZ IBÁÑEZ, Giorgio ISRAEL, Juan Francisco JIMÉNEZ ALCÁZAR, Ada LONNI, Massimo MIGLIO, Anna Paola MOSSETTO, Michela NACCI, Germán NAVARRO ESPINACH, Francesco PANARELLI, Emilia PERASSI, Cosmin POPA- GORJANU, Adeline RUCQUOI, Flocel SABATÉ i CURULL, Eleni SAKELLARIU, Gianni VATTIMO, Cristina VERA DE FLACHS, Przemysław WISZEWSKI. Comitato di redazione │ Editorial Board Anna BADINO, Grazia BIORCI, Maria Eugenia CADEDDU, Angelo CATTANEO, Isabella CECCHINI, Monica CINI, Alessandra CIOPPI, Riccardo CONDRÒ, Alberto GUASCO, Domenica LABANCA, Maurizio LUPO, Geltrude MACRÌ, Alberto MARTINENGO, Maria Grazia Rosaria MELE, Maria Giuseppina MELONI, Rosalba MENGONI, Michele M. RABÀ, Riccardo REGIS, Giovanni SERRELI, Giovanni SINI, Luisa SPAGNOLI, Patrizia SPINATO BRUSCHI, Giulio VACCARO, Massimo VIGLIONE, Isabella Maria ZOPPI. Responsabile del sito │ Website Manager Claudia FIRINO © Copyright 2020: Author(s) Gli autori che pubblicano con RiMe Authors who publish with RiMe retain conservano i diritti d'autore e concedono copyright and grant the Journal right of alla rivista il diritto di prima pubblicazione first publication with the works con i lavori contemporaneamente simultaneously licensed under the terms of autorizzati ai sensi della the “Creative Commons Attribution - NonCommercial 4.0 International License”. RiMe. Rivista dell'Istituto di Storia dell'Europa Mediterranea (http://rime.cnr.it) Direzione e Segreteria │Management and Editorial Offices: via G.B. Tuveri, 128- 09129 Cagliari (I). Telefono │Telephone: +39 070403635 / 070403670. Invio contributi │Submissions: [email protected] RiMe, n. 7/I n. s., dicembre 2020, 255 p. ISBN 9788897317616 - ISSN 2035-794X DOI https://doi.org/10.7410/1427 Special Issue Culturas Mediterráneas y usos políticos de las representaciones nacionales en el siglo XX Mediterranean cultures and political usages of national representations in the 20th century Marició Janué i Miret - Marcela Lucci (Editoras) RiMe, n. 7/I n. s., dicembre 2020, 255 p. ISBN 9788897317616 - ISSN 2035-794X DOI https://doi.org/10.7410/1427 RiMe 7/I n.s. (December 2020) Special Issue Culturas Mediterráneas y usos políticos de las representaciones nacionales en el siglo XX Mediterranean cultures and political usages of national representations in the 20th century Marició Janué i Miret y Marcela Lucci (Editoras) Table of Contents / Indice Marició Janué i Miret - Marcela Lucci 5-13 Culturas Mediterráneas y usos políticos de las representaciones nacionales en el siglo XX / Mediterranean cultures and political usages of national representations in the 20th century Marcela Lucci 15-51 Una iconografía para el encuentro. La construcción estética del catalanismo radical americano a partir de la revista Ressorgiment. 1916-1941 / An iconography for gathering. The aesthetic construction of radical American Catalanism from Ressorgiment magazine. 1916-1941 Marició Janué i Miret 53-104 Els inicis de la diplomàcia cultural catalano-alemanya a la primera meitat del segle XX / The beginnings of Catalan-German cultural diplomacy in the first half of the twentieth century RiMe, n. 7/I n. s., dicembre 2020, 255 p. ISBN 9788897317616 - ISSN 2035-794X DOI https://doi.org/10.7410/1427 Luciano Gallinari 105-156 Los proyectos de colonización de Guglielmo Godio y Ricciotti Garibaldi y las interconexiones políticas, económicas y periodísticas entre Italia y Argentina (finales del siglo XIX - principios del siglo XX / The colonisation projects of Guglielmo Godio and Ricciotti Garibaldi and the political, economic and journalistic interconnections between Italy and Argentina (late 19th century - early 20th century) María Soledad Balsas 157-182 Kaleidoscopic realities: Italian Mafia(s) Fiction’s Audiences in Argentina Manuel Duran 183-227 Catalan diplomatic presence and actions in the Mediterranean Martí Grau i Segú 229-255 El pasado mediterráneo en el espacio público francés (1995-2013) / The Mediterranean past in the French public space (1995-2013) RiMe, n. 7/I n. s., Dicembre 2020, pp. 183-227 ISBN 9788897317616 - ISSN 2035-794X DOI https://doi.org/10.7410/1432 Catalan diplomatic presence and actions in the Mediterranean Manuel Duran (University of Antwerp) Date of receipt17th June 2020 Date of acceptance: 30th December 2020 Abstract Resumen Paradiplomacy is the diplomatic practice of La paradiplomacia es la práctica sub-state entities. Catalonia is often cited as diplomática de las entidades subestatales. one of the textbook examples of this form Cataluña se cita a menudo como uno de los of diplomacy. From the outset, Catalan ejemplos modelo de diplomacia. Desde el paradiplomacy had a clear focus on three principio, la paradiplomacia catalana tuvo geographical areas: 1) the European Union un claro enfoque en tres áreas geográficas: at large, 2) the Mediterranean region, and 1) la Unión Europea en general, 2) la región 3) Latin-America. Due to the regions’ mediterránea y 3) América Latina. Debido a location, the consecutive Catalan la ubicación de las regiones, los sucesivos governments developed a robust gobiernos catalanes desarrollaron una diplomatic policy aimed at the sólida política diplomática dirigida al Mediterranean region as a whole and at Mediterráneo en su conjunto y a posicionar positioning Catalonia as a bridge between a Cataluña como un puente entre el the Mediterranean and Europe. Mediterráneo y Europa. Keywords Palabras clave: Diplomacy; Paradiplomacy; Catalonia; Sub- Diplomacia; paradiplomacia; Cataluña; state Diplomacy; Mediterranean Region diplomacia subestatal; región mediterránea 1. Historical sketch of the current Catalan diplomatic presence within the Mediterranean. - 2. The practice(s) of Catalan Mediterranean diplomacy. - 3. Representation. - 4. Diplomatic communication. - 5. Socialisation. - 6. The future. The Mediterranean. - 7. Conclusion. - 8. References. - 9. Curriculum vitae. The Generalitat seized the opportunities of the EU’s Mediterranean policy, with the launch of the so-called “Barcelona Process” in 1995, as well as with the establishment of the headquarters of the Secretariat of the Union for the © 2020 Author(s). This is an open access work released under the terms of the “Creative Commons Attribution - NonCommercial 4.0 International License” Manuel Duran Mediterranean in the city in 2008. Catalonia also heavily invests in a great number of transnational, interregional and cross-border initiatives within the Mediterranean region, both within the context of European territorial policies, and on its own account. Its network of civil, cultural, academic and economic actors in the Mediterranean region likewise affirms Catalonia’s presence as a key player in the region. In doing so, Catalonia wants to reaffirm its position as a “stateless nation”, with a historical tradition as one of the Mediterranean region’s key players. Just as other sub-state entities within the Mediterranean, Catalonia is once again taking up various economic, social and other links that so flourished in the region before the hardening of diplomatic borders. However, paradiplomacy can turn into protodiplomacy, as the Catalan example showcases. The region’s diplomatic activities are sometimes described as “protodiplomatic”, referring to the autonomous community’s endeavors to instrumentalize its diplomacy to gain external support for its nationalist and independentist political goals. The ongoing political instability in the Southern Mediterranean, as well as the growing political and societal polarization within the Spanish context, highly accelerated by the 2017 independence referendum and its juridical- political aftermath, have however emphasized the limits of Catalan diplomatic voluntarism. It is still uncertain whether Catalonia will soon take up its successful Mediterranean diplomatic practice, or that this will only be a rather short intermezzo, starting from the early 1990s that has come to a slow halt. This article will first present an historical sketch of the current Catalan diplomatic presence within the Mediterranean, after which an overview will be presented of the actors, instruments and practices of its diplomacy. Finally, we try to answer the question whether the successful Catalan paradiplomacy was only a short historical intermezzo that was halted by the more nationalist inspired practice of protodiplomacy . 1. Historical sketch of the current Catalan diplomatic presence within the Mediterranean The unification of Spain under the Catholic Monarchs Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella of Castile at the end of the fifteenth century, and the development of Spain’s colonial empire after the Treaty of Tordesillas, shifted the economic and political centre of gravity from the eastern Kingdom of Aragon to central Castile. Still, during the