Free The Secession Of Catalonia, Spain Term Paper Sample

Throughout their history, countries may develop as autonomous, semi-autonomous, or dependent states. As such, they have a privilege of pursuing their own vector of development, have it determined by dominant political administrations, or have a partially allowed discretion. Some countries or regions go on to wrest their fate from the firm grip of a superior political master while others languish in their roles of other states’ political satellites. Catalonia is a region in Spain with its unique culture, linguistic abundance, a historical legacy, and economic potential. Still, its history is rather an endless series of periods, over which political dominance was any other states’ but its own. It has gone a long way from being just a part of other countries to becoming a state about to receive what it virtually never had, which is autonomy and the right to decide on political orientation, economy, culture, and other essential state issues. The point is that repressions often instituted by Madrid and causing a degree of alienation, economic, linguistic, and cultural self-sufficiency as a state, and dissatisfaction with state economic policies, court decisions, and rather low living standards unite Catalonians in the conviction in favor of secession although some surveys show the reversal of public feelings.

Independence as the Never-Possessed Ultimate Goal. Secessionism as a Product of the Centuries-Long Political Inferiority and Repressions

Desquens (n.pag.) states that the region of Catalonia has a rich history, with ancient Greeks, Phoenicians, and Romans leaving their imprints while dominating the area. The influence of the Arabs was also strong, all though it be that it was rather brief, as compared with other Spanish regions. In the middle ages, Catalonia was a paramount constituent of the Crown of Aragon, a Mediterranean great power. In the 15th century, it became a part of the Kingdom of Castile via a political royal marriage, which led to the emergence of the confederation of states with separate languages, laws, and parliaments. In the wake of the War of the Harvesters fought in 1640, Portugal gained sovereignty while Catalonia forfeited a part of its lands to the north. After losing the War of Spanish Succession in the 18th century, in which it took sides with the Habsburgs, Catalonia felt the wrath of the French Bourbon throne claimant obliterating all state institutions and banning the language in a move that per se decomposed the state structure and initiated the cultural assimilation that continued well into the 20th century.
As a surge of nationalism was spreading across Europe, the seeds of the national conscience of the Catalonians were sprouting up. The movement evolved assuming regionalist proportions, now requesting a wider political autonomy. In the early 20th century, years before the Spanish Civil War between 1936 and 1939, the region had a partial self-government. On two different occasions, a Catalan Republic was proclaimed within the Iberian Federation. Still, the victory of Francisco Franco in 1939 brought about a merciless dictatorship that institutionalized the violation of human rights, collective and individual cultural rights, the forbiddance of the language, the denial of cultural identity, penalization for cultural expression, and the overall cultural extermination of Catalonia. The establishment of democracy in 1975 marked the beginning of the revival of languages, culture, and national institutions. Having endured three centuries of Spain-imposed repression, the language of Catalonians spoken by 8 million ay all social levels and known by another 10 million remains vibrant being central to their national identity. Much the same can be said of the literary legacy of Catalonia (Desquens n.pag.).
Thus, there is every reason to claim that separation efforts may be the logical outcome of Spain’s part in repressions. Discrimination and repressions instituted by Madrid may have rendered Catalonians averse to their compatriots or at least alienated from them. That language survived the centuries of abolition and repressions, so did Catalonians’ cultural identity shows the region can develop as a separate nation in its own right, which may convince them to go separate and publicly embrace the attitude. Language being spoken in Catalonia and a portions of other territories must strengthen the pro-secession attitude, as it demonstrates the uniqueness of the local culture and its distance from the remainder of Spain that largely does not speak any more than it knows the language. As for the percentage of language speakers, 74% of Spain speak Castilian Spanish as an official language, 17% Catalan, 7% Galician, and 2% Basque (Central Intelligence Agency n.pag.). While spoken more widely than other EU languages like Slovenian, Lithuanian, Finnish, Danish, and Maltese, the EU has not granted a recognition while the government of Spain has left unaddressed the demands of Catalonians to lobby for recognition (Desquens n.pag.). Catalonians may feel discriminated by the Spanish government unwilling to meet their recent demands, which probably does not leave them questioning the rationality of secession.
Language and a literary heritage may be not the only factors that make Catalonians convinced on their separation choice. Desquens (n.pag.) suggests that the region has television and radio channels, magazines, and newspapers in Catalan. In excess of 8 million books are edited on a yearly basis. The region has a high rate of cultural creativity abounding with painters, architects, musicians, and opera singers. Catalonian imaginative talent fin its application in design, architecture, and fashion, as is to be observed in Barcelona in particular. Catalonia has its own police, healthcare system, the Parliament and Autonomous Government with significant responsibilities in the fields of culture and education (Desquens n.pag.). Ex-Minister of Defense of Spain, Professor Carme Chacon Piqueras (2) claims that Catalonia has developed industrial sector and economy above the median Spanish level. The population of 7 million residents, which is equivalent to 14% of the Spanish population, is responsible for 20% of the national GDP. There have emerged frictions between the government of Catalonia and that of Madrid over the distribution of money and power, budget contribution, and the extent of self-government (Chacon 2). It has economic, cultural, and political visual signs of a self-sufficient state.
Catalonia’s is a history of wrong political stakes and the oppression of bigger political and military powers. It may be that the independence of the region was long overdue. Every colonist or new coming military and politically superior power had its own pragmatic regional interests. Phoenicians, ancient seafarers originally based in modern-day Levant region, founded trade mainstays or trading posts while Romans established a province exploiting the economic potential of the region not allowing it to develop even as a semi-autonomous client kingdom. Nor did the Arab Caliphate give the region a modicum of independence. Franco’s dictatorial regime left the country’s identity damaged and human right violated. The region effectively had no such thing as autonomy, and there seems to be no trust in such thing as power located away from Catalonia. Current autonomy ambitions may be nothing else but settling historical scores or restoring justice, that is to say, secessionism may have historical roots. Being politically inferior or second most superior to a bigger power has a negative connotation for Catalonians taught by the historical experience.

The Evolution of Secession Mindset

Besides historical reasons for separation efforts, there are modern causal factors that can be playing their unique role in shaping the public opinion. Guntermann (2) notes that nationalism has become the quintessence of the Catalan politics since the late second half of the 19th century. They would secure victories during the 1907 elections and those held in the course of the Second Spanish Republic between 1931 and 1936. After the turnaround in political development, that is to say a shift to democracy, nationalists resurfaced proving successful by forming regional governments in the years between 1980 and 2003 and since 2010 and counting. It is worth noting that nationalists in the region were never about seceding from Spain during the parliamentary tenures. It was to modernize, not to secede that nationalist leaders came to power. The only party that has openly taken a pro-secession stand is Esquerra Repúblicana de Catalunya, a left-wing party.
Over 2012 and 2013, the support for separation seems to have reached new heights. A survey institute of the Spanish government, the Centre d’estudis d’opinió (n.pag.) interviewing citizens since 2011 has discovered that upwards of 50% of Catalonians would vote for secession if the authorities were to hold a referendum. To be precise, in 2012, the figure was 57% of respondents. The first time the institute had put the question was in 2005. Since then, public support had jumped from 14% to 50% in 2013. Notably, months before 2011, the support was about 26%, which means it doubled over the two-year period (qtd. in Guntermann 3). Obviously, opposition to secession is quite mediocre. If the authorities should hold a plebiscite or referendum, a mere 21% of those interviewed should vote against the withdrawal and 14% should refuse to vote (Guntermann 3).
The reason for support to be this high is the economic crisis of 2008 that sent the percentage of yes voters rising before inflicting serious damage on the economy. According to Instituto Nacional de Estadística (n.pag.), the rate of unemployment increased by 13.7% in the following five years being 11.3% in 2008. In Catalonia alone, the level increased from 9% to 22.7% (qtd. in Guntermann 3). Thus, support as high as it is now is a backlash, a negative response to the local discontent with the current economic state of affairs. During the regional election campaign of 2010, Convergència i Unió, which is a nationalist coalition, has vowed to negotiate a new fiscal autonomy agreement for Catalonia called “fiscal pact.” Moreover, a public campaign has called for the dissolution of the fiscal “pillaging” of Catalonia by the government of Spain (Guntermann 4).
Economic rhetoric revolves around the facts that the central government fails to ensure the adequate standard of living, that economic policies of the national government are detrimental with regard to Catalonia, and that the autonomy of the regional government presents advantages (Guntermann 4). Howe (n.pag.) and Mendelsohn (n.pag.) suggest that plenty of citizens develop economic expectations as a part of separation reasoning (qtd. in Guntermann 4). Centre d’Estudis d’Opinió (n.pag.) claims that as many as 63% of interviewees believe Catalonia will improve their living standards when independent, only 16% fear lest it become worse, and another 19% presume it would stay unchanged (qtd. in Guntermann 4). Beyond these factors, the Constitutional Court of Spain ruled in 2006 as if certain sections of the statute of Catalonian autonomy run counter to the constitution, which led people to arrange massive protests on the streets of Barcelona (Guntermann 4).
The Spanish central authorities do not seem to sit apathetic making attempts to avoid the secession. Page (5) states that the Constitutional Court of Spain ruled on 26 March 2014 that the initiated referendum was unconstitutional. On 8 April 2014, the parliament of Spain cast votes declining the petition issued by the parliament of Catalonia of allowing a binding referendum (Page 5). The stance of Spanish politicians is understandable. It is not that Catalonia does not deserve to be set free; it is that multiple other regions, be they in Spain or beyond are no less unique in terms of culture or history often dominated by oppressing foreign powers. Some recently conducted surveys may instil some optimism into Madrid. Page (7) notes that the campaign in favor of separation from Spain had enjoyed momentum until recently.
The matter is that a survey of the public opinion on the matter of dispute released by El Mundo in the September of 2014 indicates that the tide of public opinion seems to be shifting away from the once solid secession attitude. In February 2014, 40.7% of respondents replied in the affirmative to the question of statehood and independence, as did already 34.6% of interviewees in September 2014. Set against statehood were 24.4% and 39.5% of the interviewed in February and September of 2014 respectively (Page, 7). As may be seen from the figures, the citizens of Catalonia are increasingly starting to reject the idea of secession, appealing though it may have seemed before. While the rate of secession may show a negative dynamics taking a downward trend, it may reclaim its percentage, as unemployment and economic stagnation have not released Spain. The probability of them disappearing is not high enough for popular attitude to reverse significantly.

Conclusions

The secession of Catalonia is the separation campaign of the citizens of Catalonia for a number of reasons, whether historical or modern. Over its eventful history, different nations and states like Romans, Phoenicians, and Spanish used to dominate the region exploiting its economic potential, often discriminating against its culture, and denying national identity. Thus, current secession may be the ambitions of gaining what Catalonia never had, which is the discretion to develop independently. The Madrid power elites discriminated against Catalonia, especially in the days of Franco dictatorship punishing for cultural expression and forbidding local citizens to speak their native language. Catalonians can have grown alienated from the central authorities after the years of repressions. Presently, the Spanish central government is refusing to push for the recognition of the Catalan language by the EU further angering its speakers. Catalonians along with a number of smaller minorities or ethnic groups speak Catalan not understood, much less spoken by the majority or 74% of the Spanish, which further reinforces the secession attitude of Catalonians identifying themselves as a unique national group. Indeed, their language has survived the centuries of repression, as has their literary legacy that is very rich.
The region has produced multiple cultural talents like musicians, painters, opera singers, and architects. Catalonian fashion, design, and architecture significance is beyond question. Besides, it has the system of healthcare, police, a local government and a parliament. Its industrial and economic potential far exceeds the Spanish average while GDP makes up 20% of the Spanish total rate. Being convinced of their self-sufficiency, the Catalonians likely want to become independent. More than that, Catalonians believe secession would improve their living standards. Overall, the economic crisis of 2008, Spanish court decisions declaring referendum unconstitutional and ruling that Catalonian autonomy contravenes the constitution causing street demonstrations, discrimination, insult, and repressions, persistent language unrecognition increasing alienation from Spain, self-sufficiency as a state and economic capacity reinforce the pro-secession public attitude. So do unequal wealth and power distribution by the central government, budget contribution, and possibly the insufficient extent of self-government shaping the public opinion in favor of separation. While some surveys show a shift away from secession, the movement is far from abandoned.

Works cited

Central Intelligence Agency. The World Factbook. Spain. CIA.gov. n.d. n.pag. Web. 7 Apr. 2015.
Chacon, Carme. “Catalonia Should Remain Part of Spain.” Miami Herald. Miami Dade College. 26 February 2014. 1-3. Web. 7 Apr. 2015.
Desquens, Josep. “Europe’s Stateless Nations in the Era of Globalization.” The Bologna Center Journal of International Affairs. 2003. n.pag. Web. 7 Apr. 2015.
Guntermann, Eric. Rational Secessionism? Explaining Support for the Independence of Catalonia. The 3rd Annual Conference of the European Political Science Association, June 22, 2013. Université de Montréal. Conference paper. 2013. Web. 7 Apr. 2015.
Page, Rob. “Debate in Possible Independence of Catalonia: Key Issues.” House of Commons Library. 3 November 2014. 1-7. Web. 7 Apr. 2015.