Catalonia: Federalism or Secession?

Abstract

Is there a political space for a possible federal accommodation of the demands of self-government in Catalonia and how is it configured? In order to answer these questions, we address first the conceptualization of federalism, and then, from an evolutionary perspective, we focus on the "Catalan issue" and its institutional outputs. The general assumption, in political and media discourse , namely, that "being in favour of the independence process", "wanting to separate from Spain" and "being nationalist" constitute a single argument and mean exactly the same, has served to conceal a debate that is very complex , plural and full of nuances. We pose an analysis that pivots on the identity question and the type of political-territorial solution, the importance of the different leaderships in the process and the party identification with respect to the constructive nature of the political preferences of the electors and their positioning on the issues.