Title: SPPO 1400 Regional and National Diversity and the Spanish Political System Dr Pablo San Martin p.sanmartin@leeds.ac.uk
1SPPO 1400Regional and National Diversity and
the Spanish Political SystemDr Pablo San
Martin p.sanmartin_at_leeds.ac.uk
Department of Spanish, Portuguese and Latin
American Studies
2Nation-building and peripheral nationalism 19th
Century-Civil War (i)
- Weak Spanish nationalism contested by several
nationalist alternative projects within Spain
(Catalan, Basque, Galicianbut also Valencian,
Andalusian, Asturian, Canarian, etc.). - Historical formation of Spain Alliance and
progressive union of several Christian kingdoms
and territories. - Kingdom of Spain Crown of Castile (Kingdom of
Asturias and León, Kingdom of Galicia, Señorío of
Biscay, County of Castile, Kingdom of Navarra,
etc.) Crown of Aragon (Catalan Counties,
Valencia, Aragon, etc.). - No serious attempt to create a centralized
administration until 18th century. Traditional
institutions of self-government of various
territories Fueros (Castile) and Cortes
(Aragon). - Strong regional and local elites.
- Early 1800s Napoleonic invasion and
Independence War. Emergence of Spanish
identity? - 19th century Failed process of nation-building.
- Conservative liberals linked to local and
regional oligarchies and networks of power ? Not
interested in developing a more inclusive concept
of citizenship. - Traditionalism (Carlism) Fuerismo, particularism
and support of alternative king. National
regionalism idealization of the medieval
regional traditions, attack of the central
(liberal) state. - Republicanism Centralist and Federalist. Spain
as a nation composed of a collection of
nationalities (territories with their own
culture, traditions, languages, laws, etc.).
Defence of autonomy Federal state.
3Nation-building and peripheral nationalism 19th
Century-Civil War (ii)
- Second half of 19th century Romantic movement
Folkloric studies. Concept of ethnic nation
(opposed to the civic nation) Nation as a
transhistorial, perennial community defined by
language, culture, race, spirit. - End of 19th / beginning of 20th century
Emergence of peripheral nationalism (and
regionalism). - The later half of the nineteenth century sees
the resurgence of cultural activities in
languages other than Castilian in various parts
of the peninsula (). Whilst Castilian had by
now come to dominate all walks of public life in
Spain, (), the other languages were still spoken
() by their communities, () although in many
areas they were in a classic diglossic situation
vis-à-vis Castilian. - These cultural and linguistic renaissances ()
were stimulated by the European-wide Romantic
movement, ()which espoused a particular form
of cultural nationalism. () The essence of (this
Romantic) nationalism () is the notion of a
national spirit (Volksgeist), and of language as
the soul of the nation. - Mar-Molinero, C., The Iberian Peninsula
Conflicting Linguistic Nationalisms, in Barbour,
S. and Carmichael, C. (eds.), Language and
Nationalism in Europe (Oxford Oxford University
Press, 2000), p.88. - Catalan Lliga, ERC. History, culture and,
especially, language, as the main markers of
identity. - Basque PNV. Race as central identity marker.
- Galician Race and culture (language) as identity
markers. - Others Asturian, Aragonese, Andalusian,
Valencian, etc.
4Francoism and the Transition to Democracy
- Francoism Totalitarism, fascism, authoritarian
regime? ? It was Francoism a pragmatic blend
of different ideological traditions
National-syndicalism (Falange), Military
nationalist patriotism, Carlist traditionalism,
National-Catholicism, Economic liberalism - Several internal families within Francoism the
Army, the Church, the Traditionalists (Carlist),
the Monarchist, the technocrat Catholics (Opus
Dei)and the Francoists - Main features Spanish Nationalism (at
ideological/cultural level) and Centralism (at
political / administrative level). - The Crisis of Francosim Overlapping of several
partial crisis during the late 1960s and early
1970s ? Students mobilizations, working-class
movements, new internal opposition,, terrorism,
partial liberalization of the press, and
peripheral nationalism/regionalism ? failure of
the Francoist nationalism project.. - Nationalist/Regionalist tradition was too strong
and rooted in Spanish history. - Spanish Kingdom aggregation of different
territories with different cultures, languages,
political traditions, elites, etc. - Ninetieth century failed process of
state-building. Weak state, always contested. - Emergence of nationalist/ regionalist movements
in the second half of ninetieth century.
Consolidation of nationalist peripheral parties
in first decades twentieth century. ? II
Republic Decentralized State, with possibility
of Regional Autonomy. - 1960s-70s - Opposition discourses
- Francoism Centralism ? therefore,
Democratization Decentralization. - Transition to Democracy Democratization and
Decentralization as inseparably linked in their
mutual legitimization and that of the overall
political process. - Objective to articulate the principles of unity
and diversity (to satisfy the demands of
peripheral nationalists, mainly Basque and
Catalan).
5The new Spanish 1978 Constitution and the new
political system
- First democratic elections in 1977. ?
Representatives of the mail political forces
formed a working group to elaborate a new
Constitution (passed in 1978) - New Constitution based upon the principle of
consensus, trying to integrate all the different
political sensibilities in the text. - Objective to integrate into the system all the
political forces, not to exclude them.
Problematic issues treated with calculated
ambiguity in the text to allow for future
interpretations and debates. Open text. - How to integrate the principles of territorial
unity and diversity? State of Autonomies Unity
of Spanish nation and autonomy of nationalities
and regions. Nationalist resistance Café para
todos - Spanish political system structured in two main
levels - 1. Spanish / National level.
- 2. Autonomous Communities.
- 3. Municipalities.
- National level
- Bicameral system Congreso and Senado.
- Congreso as representative of national
sovereignty. Electoral constituencies follow the
autonomic map. - Senado as representative of the territories.
- Primacy of the Congreso over the Senado.
Formation of Government and election of
President. Spanish system is not Presidential. - Party system Imperfect Bipartidism ? Two
parties dominate the voting and
representationbut, there are other smaller
parties that although not in a position to form
governments can influence the formation of
government by the two major parties. - Two main State-wide parties. PSOE and PP.
- Third State-wide party IU.
- Non State-wide parties CIU, PNV, BNG, PAR, CC,
PA, etc. (in a position to form governments at
autonomic levels)
6The Estado de las Autonomías
- Autonomic State one of the most original aspects
of the Spanish Constitution and political system.
- One of the highest levels of decentralization in
the Western Democracies. - 17 Autonomous Communities ( 2 Autonomous
Cities), with their own parliaments, elections,
governments,and party systems. - At the time of the Transition, it was thought
that NSWP would be limited to Catalonia and
Basque Country, as expressions of nationalist
ideas. However, it is a state-wide phenomenon. - Electoral system Proportional representation
(DHont system). Proportional system favours the
smaller parties, while the Majority system
favours the main parties.
ONLINE DEBATE about the State of the
Autonomies Is it a solution to the
regionalist/nationalist demands? OrIs it
encouraging the development of regionalist/nationa
list demands (and political parties, etc.)?
7Non State-wide Parties (NSWP) in Spain
- Why NSWP instead of regionalist or nationalist
parties? - Non a homogeneous phenomenon
- Ideology Left (ERC, HB, BNG, etc.), right (PNV,
CIU, CC, PAR). - Territorial scope one or more autonomous
communities, province, localities/areas within
autonomous communities, etc. - Level of nationalism radical nationalists
(independentists), moderate nationalists
(consensus with State), regionalists - Level of acceptance and legitimation of political
system anti-systemic (HB), systemic (PNV, CIU,
etc,). - Strength central parties with possibility to
form government (PNV, CIU, CC), significant
parties with possibilities to participate in
coalition governments (PAR BNG, PSM/UM, PRC),
small parties (PA, UV, CE, UPL, PAS, etc.). - Nations or Regions? Open to Debate.
- Autonomic Arenas
- Example 1 Basque Country
- See www.ehu.es/euskobarometro
8Dual Identity in Spain
9Spain a multilingual state (i)
- Several languages spoken approximately 40 of
the total Spanish population live in a territory
where more than one language is spoken. - Spanish (also called Castilian) is spoken all
over the current territory of Spain and is the
only official language in the whole Spanish
territory. - There are other languages also recognised as
official (or at least protected in some way) in 8
regions. Only in these regions, not in the rest
of Spain - This means that Spain can not be strictly
considered an institutionally plurilingual
state, since only Spanish has the status of
state-wide language. - The strength of these regional languages
(Asturian, Galician, Catalan, Aragonese, etc.)
varies significantly within their respective
historical linguistic areas.
10Spain a multilingual state (ii)
Tabla 1 Competencia lingüística en la Lengua de la Comunidad en las Comunidades Bilingües (a) Tabla 1 Competencia lingüística en la Lengua de la Comunidad en las Comunidades Bilingües (a) Tabla 1 Competencia lingüística en la Lengua de la Comunidad en las Comunidades Bilingües (a) Tabla 1 Competencia lingüística en la Lengua de la Comunidad en las Comunidades Bilingües (a) Tabla 1 Competencia lingüística en la Lengua de la Comunidad en las Comunidades Bilingües (a) Tabla 1 Competencia lingüística en la Lengua de la Comunidad en las Comunidades Bilingües (a) Tabla 1 Competencia lingüística en la Lengua de la Comunidad en las Comunidades Bilingües (a) Tabla 1 Competencia lingüística en la Lengua de la Comunidad en las Comunidades Bilingües (a) Tabla 1 Competencia lingüística en la Lengua de la Comunidad en las Comunidades Bilingües (a)
Cataluña C. Valenciana Baleares Galicia País Vasco Navarra Asturias Alto Aragón
Entiende, habla, lee y escribe 49 19 31 53 16 7 7.6 4.6
Entiende, habla y lee 23 19 25 15 4 4 14.6 3.7
Entiende y habla 8 17 16 21 8 5 26.8 10.3
Entiende 18 34 21 10 15 7 33.4 26.8
No entiende 3 11 7 1 57 77 17.6 54.6
NS/NC 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
(N) 1.004 771 473 680 609 449 1300 1000
Tabla 2 Competencia lingüística en la Lengua de la Comunidad en las Comunidades Bilingües (b) Tabla 2 Competencia lingüística en la Lengua de la Comunidad en las Comunidades Bilingües (b) Tabla 2 Competencia lingüística en la Lengua de la Comunidad en las Comunidades Bilingües (b) Tabla 2 Competencia lingüística en la Lengua de la Comunidad en las Comunidades Bilingües (b) Tabla 2 Competencia lingüística en la Lengua de la Comunidad en las Comunidades Bilingües (b) Tabla 2 Competencia lingüística en la Lengua de la Comunidad en las Comunidades Bilingües (b) Tabla 2 Competencia lingüística en la Lengua de la Comunidad en las Comunidades Bilingües (b) Tabla 2 Competencia lingüística en la Lengua de la Comunidad en las Comunidades Bilingües (b) Tabla 2 Competencia lingüística en la Lengua de la Comunidad en las Comunidades Bilingües (b)
Habla 79 55 72 89 28 16 49 18.6
Entiende 18 34 21 10 15 7 33.4 26.8
No entiende 3 11 7 1 57 77 17.6 54.6
NS/NC 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
(N) 1.004 771 473 680 609 449 1300 1000
Fuentes Siguan, M., Conocimiento y Uso de las
Lenguas (Madrid CIS, 1999). Llera, FJ. y San
Martín, P., II Estudio Sociolingüístico de
Asturias. 2002 (Uviéu Academia de la Llingua
Asturiana, 2003). Llera, FJ. y San Martín, P.,
Estudio Sociolingüístico de las Hablas del Alto
Aragón (Zaragoza Consejería de Cultura del
Gobierno de Aragón, 2001, unpublished report).
11Spain a multilingual state (iii)
Tabla 3 Competencia lingüística en Castellano en las Comunidades Bilingües Tabla 3 Competencia lingüística en Castellano en las Comunidades Bilingües Tabla 3 Competencia lingüística en Castellano en las Comunidades Bilingües Tabla 3 Competencia lingüística en Castellano en las Comunidades Bilingües Tabla 3 Competencia lingüística en Castellano en las Comunidades Bilingües Tabla 3 Competencia lingüística en Castellano en las Comunidades Bilingües Tabla 3 Competencia lingüística en Castellano en las Comunidades Bilingües Tabla 3 Competencia lingüística en Castellano en las Comunidades Bilingües Tabla 3 Competencia lingüística en Castellano en las Comunidades Bilingües
Cataluña C. Valenciana Baleares Galicia País Vasco Navarra Asturias Alto Aragón
Entiende, habla, lee y escribe 97 96 95 93 98 99 98.7 97.5
Entiende, habla y lee 1 1 1 2 1 0 0.6 1.3
Entiende y habla 2 2 3 3 1 1 0.5 0.9
Entiende 0 1 1 2 0 0 0.2 0.1
No entiende 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.2
NS/NC 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
(N) 1.004 771 473 680 609 449 1300 1000
Fuentes Siguan, M., Conocimiento y Uso de las
Lenguas (Madrid CIS, 1999). Llera, FJ. y San
Martín, P., II Estudio Sociolingüístico de
Asturias. 2002 (Uviéu Academia de la Llingua
Asturiana, 2003). Llera, FJ. y San Martín, P.,
Estudio Sociolingüístico de las Hablas del Alto
Aragón (Zaragoza Consejería de Cultura del
Gobierno de Aragón, 2001, unpublished report).
12Spain a multilingual state (iv)
- Lenguas minoritarias son aquellas que en ninguna
parte ocupan una posición dominante en la
sociedad donde se encuentran. En este grupo
existen lenguas que poseen un estatus de lengua
oficial (irlandés, vasco o catalán) o nacional
(el romanche en el cantón italiano de Suiza) y no
están, sin embargo, en situación dominante. - Etxebarria, M., La Diversidad de las Lenguas en
España (Espasa Calpe Madrid, 2002), p. 21.
13Any Questions?