Federal democracy in plural Spain

Despite its secular ethnoterritorial diversity, Spain is an entity clearly identifiable as a historical unity. This unity goes beyond the simple aggregation of territories and peoples with no other affinity than their coexistence under the rule of one common monarch or political power. Political unity was first achieved during the Roman presence in Hispania for nearly five and a half centuries until ad 404. The barbarian invasions opened up a new process of political unification, strengthened by the occupying Visigoths from ad 540 onwards. Since the early eighth century, the crusading spirit against the Muslim invaders, and, fundamentally, the unity of the Christian faith, ensured a high degree of mutual understanding of all peoples and territories in Spain prior the discovery of the ‘New World’ in 1492. In modern and contemporary times Spain saw the rise and fall of the first world-wide Empire in human history. Economy, traditions, idiosyncrasies, arts and cultures, and a common ancestry ought to be regarded as factors conforming Spanishness in a long-term process of historical sedimentation. The economic, cultural, political and social specificities that make up Spain’s unity does not, however, obliterate internal oppositions. As has happened in the past, territorial rivalries among Spanish nationalities and regions have brought about an extra cultural incentive for creativity and civilization, but they have also provoked confrontation. From an historical point of view, it can be said that Spanish central actors, institutions and political forces have often been both weak through inefficacy and strong through violence, something which has resulted in damage to the unity of Spain’s diversity. Since its formation as a modern state, centrifugal tendencies and lack of internal accommodation have found expression in a number of civil clashes: e.g. the Revolt of the Reapers (1640-52); the War of Spanish Succession (1701-14); the Carlist wars (183340, 1846-48 and 1872-75); or the Civil War (1936-39). In these conflicts ethnoterritorial cleavages played an important role. Language is a crucial identity and political marker fuelling national and regional sentiments in Spain. Castilian, or Spanish as is usually referred to elsewhere, is the official language state-wide. But approximately a fourth of the Spanish population of 42 million is bilingual. Their minority languages2 are also official in their respective regions3: Catalan (Català) in Catalonia, Valencian (officially known as valenciano) in Valencia;4 the Balearic Islands, and in some boundary areas in Aragon; Basque (Euskera) in the Basque Country and Navarre; and Galician (Galego) in Galicia.5 Asturian (Bable/Asturianu), though not official, is a ‘protected’ language in Asturias. There are also some other surviving Romance minority languages or dialects such as Astur-Leonese, Leonese, Cantabrian or Aragonese (these do not have any official status because of their very small number of speakers).6 Unlike the situation in Switzerland, Canada or Belgium, in those Spanish regions with vernacular languages other than Spanish, most people with vernacular languages as mother tongues are perfectly bilingual. Bilingualism of those living in those regions and with Spanish as a mother tongue is not as extended. For this reason, it could be said that Spanish is spoken throughout Spain, serving as a lingua franca, virtually including all Catalans, Basques and Galicians. Other than being a multilingual state, Spain’s internal relations are crucially shaped by the historical trajectories of its territorial constituents. Indeed, history is the main source out of which regional elites and political actors take stock for the claiming of sub-state home rule and the decentralization of political power in contemporary Spain. On analysing the internal processes of conflict and cooperation in Spain, the interpretations made on past events often carry more weight as political claims for home rule than ‘differential’ or ‘distinct origin’ factors, such as language, law or economic development. Most minority nationalisms and regional movements find in the fertile and complex Spanish history reasons for legitimizing their quests for autonomy, self-government or self-determination. Such historical references are dated as early as pre-Roman times. For instance, the influential Catalan nationalist thinker, Enric Prat de la Riba (1870-1917), described how in the sixth century bc, Phoenician explorers found the Iberian etnos covering from Murcia (in the south-east of the Iberian Peninsula) to the river Rhone in France: This was: The first link. . . in the chain of generations that have forged the Catalan soul.

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