Thoughts on Catalunya

Hi there,

this is my first post. I would like to share some considerations regarding the current political situation in Spain. I graduated as a political scientist in 2011 with focus on the European Union and Spain in particular. Even though today I am working in organizational development, I remain interested in political processes, conflicts and dynamics.

Although present throughout vast parts of Spanish history, the discourse on Catalan independence (as an independent and sovereign nation state) undeniably gained traction within the last years. Spanish conservatives frequently blame soft national politics on the autonomous region of Catalonia to be the catalyst for a consolidation of the nationalist movement. However, I believe there can be few doubt that socio-economic reasons are the driving force in this conflict on the scenery of identity politics.

The current situation is a rather logical outcome of a discourse that has been seething under the skin of Spanish politics and now seeks for productive solutions. The fundamental philosophical question at stake is: how should a political entity cope with disagreement to national solidarity? At the same time, the lack of legal workflows to allow for political change toward self-determination, may have been a strong catalyst for independence movements and influenced the positive outcome of the Catalan referendum.

There are good reasons for an autonomous state of Catalonia, or rather, there are few against: Catalonia has a striving economy and established political structures to sustain governance on a national level. The size of its population is larger than about half of all European states and so is the linguistic community. Independent from rational arguments, however, the most profound reason is that large parts of the population within the autonomous community seek independence. The referendum of October 1st, 2017 showed impressive voter support of over 90%. Of course, the voter turnout of 42,3% compromises the strong vote and indicates the potential for a split in society. Thus, it doesn´t necessarily invalidate the outcome: the European Parliament has had comparable turnouts (i.e. 42,8% in 2014).

From a legal standpoint the solution to the current situation is rather simple: given the lack of legal basis for the referendum, any movement towards full national independence needs to be considered a breach of the constitution. Therefore, the Spanish government has no other option than enforcing the legal status quo. However, the heated political discourse shows that the execution of political power alone won´t solve the crisis of state. How could a political solution that respects the existing law look like?

1. Since the mere use of executive force has no prospect of solving the conflict of interest mid- to long-term, Spanish Prime Minister Manuel Rajoy will have to double down on the use of executive power on the autonomous community of Catalonia while proposing a roadmap to allow movements against national-solidarity to detach from the constitution.
2. A committee of all autonomous communities needs to prepare a change of the constitution which allows for detachment from the national state. This will lead to the appreciation of advocates of independence and at the same time invalidate mere protest voices from convinced voters for independence.
3. A change of legal state will justify a new conduction of a referendum on independence.
4. While from a legal standpoint, this solution increases the dynamics of separatist groups, politically I expect the provision of a legal framework towards independence to prove more efficient.

I believe that the political development has demonstrated that a mere legal solution has no prospect to provide political stability – insofar the Catalonian separatist movement has been successful. Confronting the Spanish constitution at this point may lead to an undesirable outcome for both conflict partners.

Given splits in the society, a change in the proposed direction may raise a new question: which is the defining political entity when it comes to self-determination? This eventually leads to the consideration of individual self-determination as well as self-organization. On which level are we dependent upon political structures? What alternatives exist in societies with considerable disagreement on the political community? Are there better ways to relate the basis of political entities (the constitution) to its citizens?