Identifying with the Nation: Spain's Left-Wing Citizens in an Age of Crisis

Abstract

This study analyses the extent, sense, and strategies employed by sympathisers with Spanish state-wide left-wing parties to ‘reconstruct’ their affective ties with the Spanish nation after the ‘monopolisation of patriotism’ by Franco's regime. Such an undertaking is further complicated within the context of economic crisis and intensified peripheral nationalism found in Catalonia and the Basque Country. This article applies qualitative analysis to the discourse of left-wing participants from 11 focus groups held in March 2012 amidst the economic (and political) crisis. As expected, this context of crisis favoured the emergence of explicit discourse on the Spanish nation, providing an opportunity to gain a better understanding of its nature. Findings show that welfare nationalism and social patriotism define the kind of attachment developed by the interviewees towards Spain better than the concept of constitutional patriotism, or any kind of ethnic-cultural feeling of belonging.

Keywords::

• Spanish Nationalism
• National Identities
• National Political Community
• Left-Wing Parties
• Political Decentralisation
• Welfare Nationalism

Acknowledgements

For their valuable comments on earlier drafts, we are indebted to the two anonymous reviewers and the editors of South European Society and Politics, and to Carsten J. Humlebæk. This work is part of the research project ‘Spanish Nationalism: discourses and praxis from the left, 1982–2008’ funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation: http://www.upo.es/proyectos/nacionalismo_esp/index.jsp/.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

^1. In the multi-level system of government that characterises Spain, state-wide parties are defined as parties that compete in general elections as well as regional elections (directly or through federated parties).

^2. As defined by Bar-Tal (1997), patriotism is an attitude associated with positive emotions and feelings, expressed through beliefs that imply belonging, affections, loyalty, pride, and/or care with respect to the group and the territory.

^3. Peripheral nationalism emerged during transition to democracy with particular strength in the so-called ‘historic nationalities’ characterised by having their own languages and historic traditions of self-government (Catalonia, the Basque Country, and Galicia). These nationalist movements politicised regional identities with respect to the demand for regional autonomy and in some cases independence from the central state of Spain. The political decentralisation of the state, recognised in the Spanish Constitution of 1978, and developed through the regions' Statutes of Autonomy, even outside ‘historic nationalities’, has further developed regional identities among citizens. As a matter of political interest, survey studies usually measure the extent to which these regional identities and the identification with Spain are compatible. They speak of ‘compatible identities’ or ‘dual identities’ when people feel at the same time part of Spain and their region (autonomous community); and of ‘exclusive identities’ when people only feel part of the region (excluding being part of Spain at the same time) or only feel part of Spain (excluding any particular feeling of belonging to the region).

^4. The identification between the winning side in the Spanish Civil War and the nation as such, in the process that Bar-Tal (1997) has referred to as the ‘monopolisation of patriotism’, de-legitimised and suppressed any other ideological alternative as anti-patriotic, appropriating the concept of the nation and alienating those on the losing side (Republican, Socialist, and Communist mainly) from any possible affective ties with the country.

^5. The concept of ‘exclusive identity’ refers to people who express feelings of belonging to a single political community, in this case Spain or any of its regions. By contrast, ‘dual’ or ‘multiple identity’ refers to shared feelings of territorial identification: defining oneself as Catalan and Spanish at the same time is an example of dual identity.

^6. That is, the process of political decentralisation recognised in the Spanish Constitution of 1978 and developed through the regions' Statutes of Autonomy through which different regions in Spain became autonomous communities with powers of self-government.

^7. That is, the perception that Spain set an example of a peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy without breaking political legality thanks to the consensus of all relevant political actors (from different ideologies).

^8. As mentioned previously, we are referring to parties that compete in general elections as well as regional elections. State-wide left-wing parties should not be taken to be central-state-oriented parties. In fact, large percentages of people who support federal, confederal, and self-determination projects are to be found among sympathisers of state-wide left-wing parties.

^9. The group sessions were transcribed and coded with computer assistance. The coding followed a mixture of exploratory (holistic and hypothesis coding) and procedural (theming the data) methods (Saldaña 2013; Suárez, del Moral & González 2013).

^10. However, and for the purpose of transparency and reproducibility, readers can access the transcripts on the web (Spanish transcripts only): http://www.upo.es/proyectos/nacionalismo_esp/repositorio/index.jsp

^11. The denomination of castellano has been developed to restrain its normalisation as the official language for all Spanish people, indicating that it originated in one particular region (Castile) and putting it on a par with other official languages from different regions (Catalonia, Galicia, and the Basque Country).

^12. Briefly, Lepsius (2004) defines the ‘ethnic nation’ as based on the idea of a group of people having a common ethnic background. The ‘cultural nation’ is based on the idea of a shared cultural heritage. The ‘class nation’ is based on the idea of achieving class equality (the proletarian revolution to realise the interests of workers and peasants, as in the German Democratic Republic or the USSR). Finally, the ‘nation of citizens’ is based on equal rights and democratic legitimacy for all citizens.

^13.El Correo, 14 July 2014: http://www.elcorreo.com/bizkaia/politica/201407/14/decalogo-nuevo-lider-psoe-20140714001043-rc.html (accessed 27 September 2014).

^14.http://www.psoe.es/saladeprensa/news/68544/page/zapatero-dice-que-psoe-hace-patriotismo-social-para-que-los-espanoles-vivan-mejor-tengan-mas-derechos-mayor-proteccion.html (accessed 4 January 2015).

^15.http://lafragua.blogspot.com.es/2015/02/discursodepabloiglesiasenlapuerta.html

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Antonia María Ruiz Jiménez

Antonia María Ruiz Jiménez is an Associate Professor of sociology at Pablo de Olavide University (Seville) and obtained her PhD in political science and administration from the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid in 2002. Her current research interests include national and European identities, political parties, manifestos, and mass media analysis. She has published in the Revista Española de Investigaciones Sociológicas, Revista de Estudios Políticos, and South European Society and Politics, among others.

Manuel Tomás González-Fernández

Manuel Tomás González-Fernández is an Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology at Pablo de Olavide University (Seville). He holds a PhD in sociology (with distinction) from the Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia. His research interests include qualitative methodology, territory, identities, and rural development.

Manuel Jiménez Sánchez

Manuel Jiménez Sánchez is an Associate Professor in the Sociology Department at Pablo de Olavide University (Seville). He received his PhD in political science from the Universidad Autónoma of Madrid and is a doctor member of the Juan March Institute (Madrid). His research interests include political participation, social movements, and environmental policy.