This article was downloaded by: [Anwen Elias] On: 16 March 2015, At: 13:54 Publisher: Routledge Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK Nationalism and Ethnic Politics Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/fnep20 Catalan Independence and the Challenge of Credibility: The Causes and Consequences of Catalan Nationalist Parties’ Strategic Behavior Anwen Eliasa a Aberystwyth University Published online: 13 Mar 2015. Click for updates To cite this article: Anwen Elias (2015) Catalan Independence and the Challenge of Credibility: The Causes and Consequences of Catalan Nationalist Parties’ Strategic Behavior, Nationalism and Ethnic Politics, 21:1, 83-103, DOI: 10.1080/13537113.2015.1003490 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13537113.2015.1003490 PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the “Content”) contained in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis, our agents, and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinions and views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors, and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sources of information. 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Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms- and-conditions Downloaded by [Anwen Elias] at 13:54 16 March 2015 Nationalism and Ethnic Politics, 21:83–103, 2015 Copyright © Taylor & Francis Group, LLC ISSN: 1353-7113 print / 1557-2986 online DOI: 10.1080/13537113.2015.1003490 Catalan Independence and the Challenge of Credibility: The Causes and Consequences of Catalan Nationalist Parties’ Strategic Behavior ANWEN ELIAS Aberystwyth University This contribution examines the role of Convergencia` i Unioand´ Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya in putting the issue of Catalo- nia’s constitutional relationship with the rest of Spain at the top of the Catalan and Spanish political agenda. It focuses on the strategic behavior of these two parties in pursuit of their territorial goals since 1978 and identifies the complex dynamics that led both parties to converge around a shared commitment to Catalan sovereignty. It is argued that the extent to which past strategic decisions have strengthened or weakened nationalist parties’ credibility on their core business of territorial empowerment has a significant impact on the options currently available to them as they seek a satisfactory answer to the Catalan question. On 23 January 2013, the Catalan parliament approved a declaration recogniz- ing the sovereignty of the Catalan people and asserting the nation’s right to decide on the nature of Catalonia’s relationship with the rest of Spain.1 The Downloaded by [Anwen Elias] at 13:54 16 March 2015 declaration was significant, firstly, because it was facilitated by agreement of the two main Catalan nationalist parties—ConvergenciaiUni` o´ (CiU, Conver- gence and Union) and Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (ERC, Republican Left of Catalonia)—that historically have been electoral and political rivals in Catalan politics. Such a rivalry derived in large part from the parties’ com- peting visions of how Catalonia should be governed, with CiU’s preference for accommodation within the Spanish state contrasting to ERC’s indepen- dentist ambitions. Secondly, the declaration paved the way for the holding of an unofficial consultative referendum on Catalonia’s constitutional status Address correspondence to Anwen Elias, Department of International Politics, Aberyst- wyth University, Aberystwyth SY23 3FE, Ceredigion, UK. E-mail: [email protected] 83 84 A. Elias in relation to Spain on 9 November 2014. The result—80.8% in support for Catalonia’s secession from Spain, on a turnout approximating 35%—was the latest demonstration of growing support for a radical change in the scope and operation of Catalan self-government. This contribution examines the role of CiU and ERC in putting the is- sue of Catalonia’s constitutional relationship with the rest of Spain at the top of the Catalan and Spanish political agenda. It does so by analyzing the electoral strategies deployed by CiU and ERC since Spain’s transition to democracy. In line with the goal of the collection as a whole, the contribu- tion also identifies the complex dynamics that led both parties to converge around a shared commitment to Catalan sovereignty. In doing so, it starts from the observation that stateless nationalist and regionalist parties (SNRPs) rarely confine themselves to their core territorial business when they engage in competition with other political parties who usually have a very differ- ent set of priorities. Rather, scholars of territorial politics have demonstrated that there are strong electoral and political incentives for SNRPs to position themselves on, and give salience to, other issues that fall outside the center- periphery concerns that define these parties’ raison d’etre.ˆ 2 In the Catalan context, the empirical analysis traces nationalist parties’ shifting positions on, and selective emphasis of, the two issue dimensions that have histor- ically structured Catalan politics: the territorial and left-right dimensions.3 The contribution examines how CiU and ERC’s territorial ambitions have accommodated, and even at times been overshadowed by, socioeconomic policy ambitions in the pursuit of votes. The argument developed is that the strategic decisions made by nationalist parties over time have implications for what nationalist parties can credibly stand for in the current struggle with the central state over Catalonia’s constitutional relationship to the rest of Spain. A historical analysis of the strategic behavior of CiU and ERC thus provides significant insights into the complex dynamics that have led to the recent rapprochement between CiU and ERC and that enable and/or con- strain each party as it seeks to find a definitive resolution to the Catalan Downloaded by [Anwen Elias] at 13:54 16 March 2015 question. The contribution is organized as follows. The next section provides an empirical overview of the strategic behavior of CiU and ERC in the Catalan political space since the late 1970s. The analysis draws on a range of primary and secondary sources, including interviews conducted with party represen- tatives.4 The factors driving shifts in parties’ positions on, and the relative salience of, territorial versus left-right issue dimensions, are examined in the following section. The concluding discussion reflects on the implications of nationalist parties’ past strategic behavior for their current efforts to push for a radical reconfiguration of Catalonia’s relationship with Spain. It also outlines the broader contribution of the study’s findings to scholarly un- derstandings of the strategic behavior of SNRPs in multinational, multilevel settings. Catalan Nationalist Parties’ Strategic Behavior 85 MAPPING THE ELECTORAL STRATEGIES OF CATALAN NATIONALIST PARTIES CiU was formed in 1978, as an alliance between UnioDemocr´ atica` de Catalunya (UDC, Democratic Union of Catalonia) and Convergencia` Democratica` de Catalunya (CDC, Democratic Convergence of Catalonia). The former was established in 1931, in direct response to the declaration of Spain’s Second Republic; it combined defense of Catholic values with a clear Catalanist vocation expressed via support for Catalan self-government within a federal Spanish state.5 The latter was established in 1974 under the leader- ship of Jordi Pujol, an individual with a record of cultural and civic activism in defense of Catalan nationhood spanning three decades. Pujol aimed to bring together groups with diverse ideological preferences to pursue a po- litical program anchored in the core values of democracy, Catalanism, and a center-left socioeconomic agenda.6 The creation of CiU responded to the electoral context in which the two participating parties found themselves after the 1977 Spanish general election.7 UDC’s poor showing threatened its survival as a political organization, whilst CDC’s stronger performance was nevertheless insufficient to establish the party as the principle mouthpiece for the Catalan nationalist movement.8 The formation of CiU was thus an alliance of convenience for both partners. Within the Catalan political space, CiU positioned itself exclusively on the territorial dimension, as a Catalanist party with a strong nation-building pedigree that could be trusted to govern in Catalonia’s interests. In contrast to the more traditional left-right rhetoric of its statewide rivals and in spite of the distinctive left-right profiles of the alliance’s partners, CiU focused instead on the goal