![Sample our Social Sciences journals, sign in here to start your FREE access for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/110822/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Social-Sciences.jpg"})
Abstract
This article builds on recent attempts to explain divergent uses of sub-state nationalism to push for policies of assimilation or multiculturalism and drive popular support for independence. It analyses the dynamics of discourses and policies in Spain before, during and after peak times of identity politics to provide a more nuanced understanding of the conditions leading to the activation of identity-driven policies. Substantive ethnographic evidence is presented to explain recent alterations to national discourses of identity, surprising reversals of immigration policies, and the modulation of Catalan and Basque independence movements. The main finding is that both identity discourses and resulting policies depend on the affinity for identity politics at the sub-state level, and this affinity is in large part primed by the popular perception of how secure sub-state national identity is against the ‘official’ state narrative.
Acknowledgements
The author would like to thank the participants who contributed to the research with their personal stories and interpretations, Michael Bernard and Ido Oren for their guidance throughout, and the anonymous referees for their very helpful comments.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes
1. Causal mechanisms are often ‘black-boxed’ in process-tracing efforts to discuss the events leading up to an empirical manifestation. This article is not a process-tracing case study, which would be inappropriate for the space afforded. It is a work of theory testing, providing some evidence of the causal mechanism by showing that priming is a necessary but perhaps not sufficient condition.
2. Participants 62–68, 71–74, 76–81 and 83–86.
3. Participants 31–41, 51–53, 55–56.
4. There was noticeable discontent for those displaying the Spanish flag, even if they were not Catalan and just in the region for work.
5. Esteladas are Catalan senyera flags predominantly hoisted with a blue triangle and a white star (estelada blava) or a yellow triangle with a red star (estelada vermella). The estelada blava is the original modelled after the Cuban and Puerto Rican flags raised against Spanish imperialism.
6. Immigrants were more viewed as a burden to the economy in Catalonia, despite the provisions and allowances offered by the Department of Housing and Social Affairs in the Basque Country. Both the threatening aspect and the lower ethnic status of immigrants were more prescient in Catalonia.
7. Correbous is a Catalan tradition where bulls are taunted after paper or fireworks have been tied to their horns and set alight. Both newspaper stories were corroborated in focus groups and interviews.
8. Unemployment dipped to 7.9% in 2007, increasing to 20.5% during the 2010 World Cup, and ranging from 23.5% to 26.2% in 2012 (Eurostat).
9. Jazzaldia, the longest continuous jazz festival in Europe, takes place throughout San Sebastian, which was bidding for the 2016 European Capital of Culture and drawing thousands of Europeans to their ‘city of culture’.
10. Participants 62–74, 76–86, 88–94 and 96–98. The current ETA ceasefire was announced in the September after the 2010 World Cup, further reinforcing the perception that Basque nationalism is relatively safe.
11. These institutions include regional control of the educational system, use of regional language, maintenance of local celebrations and protection of neighbourhood associations.
12. Immigrant population in the Basque Country increased by 74% (from 85,542 to 148,877) between 2006 and 2013 (Ikuspegi Citation2014).
13. Participants 62–74 and 76–98.
Additional information
Funding
Notes on contributors
Victor M. Olivieri
VICTOR M. OLIVIERI is a PhD Candidate in the Department of Political Science at the University of Florida.