What Holds a Multinational State Together? – The Political Stability of the Spanish “State of Autonomies” Adam Holesch TESI DOCTORAL UPF/ANY 2016 DIRECTOR DE LA TESI Dr. Klaus - Jürgen Nagel DEPARTEMENT DE CIÈNCIES POLÍTIQUES I SOCIALS ii For Iwona iii iv Acknowledgements Many Ph.D. acknowledgments start with emphasizing the personal suffering, the desperate hours of night work and loneliness or the negative thoughts full of self- doubt about the possible intellectual irrelevance of one’s work. Even if these feelings are not unfamiliar to me, usually, during the four years of writing I felt quite the opposite. I think that having the privilege of writing a Ph.D. thesis, with a degree of personal autonomy is priceless and one of the best parts of one's life cycle. This experience was possible especially due to two factors, first an excellent supervision and the support of my colleagues and second, the financial security given me by the relevant state institutions. Considering the first point, I would like to emphasize that this work would not have the shape and spirit that it has without the invaluable academic, intellectual and human support provided by many colleagues and scholars. First and foremost, I would like to thank my "Doktorvater", Klaus-Jürgen Nagel, not only for the academic and intellectual support during the four years of writing but also for the flexibility when this Ph.D. thesis changed its direction – again and again. Prof. Nagel was of biggest support not only as a tutor but also as a friend, with a permanent availability during the whole writing process. He introduced me to many scholars and institutions and gave me the possibility to co-author some of his papers. He also read uncountable versions of the thesis, missing a lot of sleep. Besides my supervisor, I would like to mention some other scholars, who had a decisive impact on this work. Working with Prof. Will Kymlicka in Kingston left a big impact on me. I had the honor that he decisively influenced this thesis. He showed me which part of my research is relevant; he taught me also how to reduce an argument and why I should not be afraid of an intradisciplinary approach. That intradisciplinary approach was strengthened during my two research stays at the European University Institute in Florence in the years 2014 and 2015 under the superb supervision of Prof. Bauböck. Prof. Bauböck was able, even after countless hours of seminars, meetings, and administrative quarrel, to give me the final advice, which allowed me to close my Ph.D. thesis. At the same time, accepting me as his visiting student allowed me to take advantage of all the facilities of European University Institute, which is nothing else than an „academic heaven". As a convinced European v with Polish, German and Silesian roots, I always felt very proud to be part of this institution. I also made a research stay at the Central European University in Budapest under the supervision of Prof. Nenad Dimitrijevic, who helped me to solve many theoretical doubts about my work. I also had the possibility to discuss significant parts of my work within this institution. Many other scholars, whom I met on my Ph.D. path, took their time to read large parts of the thesis or helped me to develop some parts of my research. I will always be in debt with them and their indispensable advising. Among them were Jacint Jordana, Ferran Requejo, Philipp Genschel, Camil Ungureanu, Klaus Offe, Ignacio Lago, Bruno Arpino, Ronald L. Watts, Robert Fishman, Javier Astudillo Ruiz and Javier Arregui. I discussed different aspects of my research with many scholars, the comments of nearly all of them left a deep imprint in my research. I would like to thank Margaret Moore, Jan Erk, Joseph Miley, Diego Gambetta, Alain Gagnon, Roland Sturm, Francisco Herreros, Liesbet Hooghe, David Horowitz, Michael Keating, Peter A. Kraus, Francesc Pallarés, Andrea Noferini, Ivan Serrano, Mariano Torcal, Guy Laforest, Cristina Zuber, Jordi Muñoz, Mike Medeiros, John McGarry, Zsuzsa Csergo, Hans-Peter Kriesi, Richard Bellamy, Uwe Pütter, Jaume Lopez, Zsolt Enyedi and Andres Moles for their help. I would also like to thank the evaluators of this thesis and the members of the Ph.D. tribunal for their very helpful comments. Even if receiving such outstanding help, all the mistakes and misunderstandings in my research are my responsibility only. Many of my Ph.D. colleagues read parts of the manuscript and helped me with valuable advice. My biggest thank is going to Sergio Martini, who gave not only important academic feedback but is also responsible for important impulses in at least two chapters of this thesis. I would like to thank Peter Clinton for helping me with the English corrections. Also, Martin Portos, Lluis Perez-Lozano, Marc Sanjaume, Tobias Tesche, Daniel Schulz, Takeshi Miyai, Lorenzo Piccoli, Emrah Uyar, Josep Costa, Félix Mathieu and Jérémy Dodeigne were reading some parts of this Ph.D. thesis and gave me valuable advice. I would also like to thank the two big Ph.D. families, one at the UPF and the other at the EUI, who gave me not only academic but also every other kind of support. Special thanks go to Juan-Carlos and Emrah, who I shared the office with and who helped me, maybe even without knowing with their positive attitude and academic dedication. vi There were many other people who I look up to, some because I think that they are close to genius, others because they are good friends. Most of them are both. I would like to thank Ali, Albert, Antonella, Andre, Diederik, Francesca, Francesco, Pablo, Fernando, Iñigo, Ixchel, Roger, Josep, Nuria, Queralt, Daniel, Mohammed, Kelly, Dani, Lea, Roberta, Leslie, Paolo, Cecilia, Lydia, Lisa, Wiebke, Silvia, Vincent, Juanra, Miguel, Marcin, Brais, Anders and so many more. All this support would maybe not be enough if it were not for the institutional support. I would like to thank my university, the Pompeu Fabra University, for the conditions given for my research and the grants, which allowed me to share my ideas and receive critiques during many congresses and conferences. Special thanks go to the staff of the UPF secretary like Ana, Carme, Sergi, Montse, Mar, and Cristina. There cannot be a solid research without a reliable funding. For that reason, I would like to thank the Catalan Agency for Management of University and Research Grants (AGAUR) for awarding me with a three-years scholarship FI-DGR, as well as with the BE-DGR 2012 scholarship for five months long research stay at the Queens University in Kingston/Canada. Both, the support of my colleagues and the funding by the institutions are a conditio sine qua non of this Ph.D. work. I hope the following work can stand up to the opportunities given by this ideal framework. There were also other persons, which influenced this Ph.D. thesis without even knowing how big their impact was. Here I think above all of Jussara Limeira, Maite Sollaneles, Jaume Pellisé Capell or Fabian Grass and Axel Birkenkaemper. Last but not least I would like to thank my family for all the support given. One of the reasons to start with a Ph.D. thesis were the long walks with my father many years ago during which he explained me the many paradoxes of politics. Him being part of the “Solidarność” movement politicized me already in diapers. I would like to thank my mother for the blind confidence, and my sister Iwona for being the perfect sister always. I would also like to thank Frederic Chopin for the inspiring music. vii viii Resum En aquesta tesi doctoral responc a la pregunta: "Què manté un estat multinacional junt" mitjançant l'anàlisi d’esdeveniments polítics de l'Estat de les autonomies. La tesi es divideix en vuit capítols empírics, en els quals avaluo l'impacte de variables explicatives com la identitat nacional, la ciutadania, la confiança, el repartiment del poder, l'asimetria i la coerció a l'estabilitat política. Els resultats mostren que, a nivell individual, la identitat nacional “híbrida” dels ciutadans a les unitats nacionals/regionals és un factor important per a l'estabilitat política. Altres variables com la identificació amb l'Estat central i la seva constitució, així com la confiança en els ciutadans de la nació majoritària, i (la manca de) la confiança en les institucions de l'Estat central també són significatius. La major part dels aspectes institucionals com self-rule, la descentralització i l'asimetria tenen dos efectes - estabilitzadors i desestabilitzadors. Poden ser estabilitzadors durant un període, però noves demandes de les unitats nacionals / regionals poden convertir-los en factors d'inestabilitat, sobretot quan ambdós actors comencen a estar en desacord sobre el grau d'aquestes solucions institucionals. Quan la major part de les solucions institucionals estan fallant, l'estabilitat de l'Estat multinacional pot ser garantida pel poder coercitiu de l'Estat central. En un sistema d'autoritat multinivell com la UE, la importància de l'actor supranacional és crucial. Mentre la UE expressa la seva "negligència benigna" cap al "status quo" i les posicions de l'Estat central, l'autoritat de l'Estat central sobre les unitats nacionals / regionals és total. En aquest cas, el poder coercitiu pot ser identificat com un important factor d'estabilització. Resumint, puc extreure del cas espanyol que l'estabilitat política en un entorn multinacional és una construcció complexa, mantinguda no per un, sinó per molts petits llaços. D'altra banda, l'anàlisi empírica mostra que la inestabilitat política a Espanya és més de caràcter polític que social. ix x Resumen En esta tesis doctoral respondo a la pregunta: "¿Qué mantiene un estado multinacional junto" mediante el análisis de los acontecimientos políticos del Estado de las Autonomías.